September 3rd 2020

Chapter 247
Their Flight to April

"One small suitcase," Lucas announced, as he pulled it from the closet and over to the bed, as requested.

"Thanks," Maya turned from where she'd been picking out a few things from the dresser. "That should be enough, yeah?"

"Depends. How many wardrobe changes are you planning to have this weekend?" he asked.

"Oh, not that many," she smirked. "It's not just about clothes though," she added, before briefly considering things again. "Lucas?"

"Duffel bag?" he guessed, already picking up the suitcase again and carrying it back to where it had been not too long ago.

"Yeah, that sounds right," she nodded, bringing the small pile of clothes up to the bed. When he brought over the bag, she turned to him and stretched up to kiss him. "See, all this is going to do is to make me want to bring you along."

"You're definitely going to need a bigger bag for that," he joked, making her laugh.

A conversation with the Hart-Lane girls the previous week had led to them all calling on their 'contract' and scheduling Sleepster 2028… or at least a Sleepster, as they would never restrict themselves to a single sister sleepover in a year if the opportunity presented itself for them to have more than one. This April one was the very first of the year, they could say that.

It was hard to believe that they'd made it this far already, but then again, when did they ever feel any different about the passage of time? But here they were now, advancing through the fourth month of the year as though each day could turn into a week in the blink of an eye.

Lucas could believe it had gone by at least, by looking at his parents, back at their house. The new kitchen had gotten to the point where it was just 'the kitchen,' without any of them to call on the fact that it had been entirely redone after the fire. They barely mentioned that anymore, left the traumatic event to the past, where it belonged. Oh, it wasn't as though there weren't any signs of it left. The biggest one of those existed in Thomas Friar's hands. They had healed, on the whole, but they still pained him sometimes, and he would lament the fact that he wasn't as strong as he used to be, had less force in his grip than he had before his hands were burned, no matter how much he worked to regain it.

Still, he tried not to vocalize this if he could keep it quiet, knowing how it would worry his wife, and his son, and his daughter-in-law, and his father… He was alive, and Melinda was alive, and their house still stood, and their new kitchen was beautiful. Really, he saw no reason to complain. As for his wife, well, Melinda Friar had always been known for her skills in focusing on the good and casually ignoring the rest, as she had done in the past. This one may have been the biggest challenge to that skill as of yet, but this only proved the point that they had gotten far enough into this recovery, this return to the day to day, that she was once again able to become the Melinda they knew and loved.

These days, she was caught up on how excited she was to think that her son, her sweet baby Luke, was coming so close to finishing school, to become a veterinarian and joining the team at her mother's ranch. Thomas would tease that she couldn't wait to refer to him as 'my son, the doctor,' and Melinda would 'scold' him, but all the while she'd have a smile on her face.

Lucas had to say, he was getting pretty excited, too, with no need to dip into his mother's anticipation. After all this time, he had just over a year left of school, and he was just itching to get out there, to Sullivan Stables, for good. Every now and then it would feel more and more like a reality. He would be at school, or at the bookstore, and he would be reminded of how that period of his life was drawing to a close, as quickly as those weeks went by, taking them from March into April.

They had not been so eventful for him, as those went, but then he preferred it that way. He was comfortable in just doing his thing, driving to school, joining his friends, attending his classes… And being at the bookstore, after having worked at one or another for seven years, just about, the place felt like second nature to him. He knew that in no time he would be submitted to his wife's teasing, much as he got when they would go to museums and he would say something that gave him up for being a former tour guide. He looked forward to that, actually. It would be a reminder of a good portion of his life, one he could look back on with wonderful memories, thinking about the people he had worked with and those he had worked for, the clients, from his regulars to the occasional odd balls. It had given him an appreciation for books he might not have had otherwise, much as his guide job – and, well, his wife, too – had given him a greater appreciation for art in its various forms.

"Hey, do you have room to bring these with you?" Sam came into the room, carrying a pair of small boxes. Lucas and Maya looked at the boxes, then each other. Without a word, he moved to get the small suitcase again, while she emptied out the bag of the items she'd already packed.

"For the girls?" Maya asked, taking the boxes.

"This one is," Sam pointed to where he'd stuck little post-its on each one. "The other is for Wyatt and Teddy."

"Got it, consider it passed on," Maya nodded.

"Thank you," Sam smiled. "Do you need anything?" he asked, the better to make himself useful in return for the favor.

"No, no, I'm good, go on," she waved him out of the room, and so he went. When he was gone, she let out an all too sigh-filled sound. Lucas turned to her. "I'm being the emotional big sister again, sue me," she shook her head, setting the boxes down as he brought over the suitcase.

"We still don't know what he's going to do when he graduates," Lucas reminded her. "Maybe he'll stay in Austin. He's got plenty of reasons to stay here, with Cecilia, and him wanting to play uncle when the time comes…"

"True, yes, but then one of those reasons might take him out of Austin, and then the other won't hold him back, will it?"

It wasn't about Sam, not entirely. The real culprit for her easy emotions here was the realization that she was about to lose her first group of kids, her seniors about to graduate. Sure, that was always going to happen, and she'd only had them for a year, so it wasn't as though she was saying goodbye to a group she would have followed for the whole four years yet, but that wasn't so big of a comfort as to make things better, was it? She got attached to people, couldn't help it, and saying goodbye was her least favorite thing to do.

She comforted herself in the knowledge that their departure meant they were all going off on the next step of their journey, that this was always where they'd been headed and she should be happy to have been a part of getting them there. But they had all just become so important to her, every single one of them, and now she was supposed to set them aside, to stop thinking about them and replace them with a new batch of kids… Alright, she was kind of excited at the prospect of welcoming new students, but still, her seniors…

She continued to have her weekend sessions with Milena Janacek, and much as those were about the girl writing out her answers to the essay questions given to her by her teacher, and then the two of them going over what she'd write, sooner or later, as their work would be finished, they would just keep chatting. More than once, Milena had joined her teacher and her family for dinner. This weekend, while Maya was gone, she was to go to Mr. Matthews' house for him to administer the questions while she was out of town. She had a feeling that Milena would be all for it. She and August had been growing closer.

He had broken up with Michaela Zhu, not long after Riley and Dylan had been engaged. As far as Maya had been able to overhear, the two of them had been struggling for a while with their long-distance relationship, and by the last few weeks, the extent of their conversations seemed to be centered on status reports for Daisy the parakeet. Finally, the relationship, which had seen some ups and downs in the time it had lasted, had reached a conclusion which felt entirely final. Michaela had reportedly asked if August might just hold on to Daisy for good, as she didn't think she'd be able to get her back any time soon, and by then it would have felt impossible to take her from the home she now knew. Maya and Nadine both were of a mind that the Zhu girl just felt bad for how things had turned, and she wanted to leave August something good to remember her by.

August didn't appear too heartbroken over the break, but then that only went to show how frayed the relationship had already become, like the crack had already run almost to the edge, and the last sliver had released, not with a snap but a whisper. This did not mean that he suddenly flipped gears and started courting Milena, though he clearly had been harboring feelings for her for some time. At the very least though, their friendship had gotten to feel that much more open. They'd had this unfortunate connection, the past few years, with what had happened sophomore year, and what it had led to, so it was almost as though they were getting to start over from scratch, getting to know each other again. They were both Houston bound for college in the fall, and so was Milena's big brother and August's new best friend Tony. The three of them were now talking about getting an apartment together once August's punishment was lifted at the end of the summer.

"There, that should do it," Maya breathed, flipping the suitcase lid shut to make sure it would close, without crushing the boxes she had cushioned among her clothes. "I should really ask him what's in those so I can say in case I get asked at the airport…"

"Dylan's coming out here for the weekend," Lucas revealed, which made her laugh.

"Boys' weekend, huh? When the wife and the fiancée are gone, time to play?"

"That is for us to know, and you to maybe find out, if we decide to tell," Lucas joked.

That might have been the part of this Sleepster she most looked forward to. Riley was coming along. Oh, she had always considered her a sister, the very first she'd had, but then something about the engagement, and 'bringing Dylan into the family' had just renewed Maya's feelings of sisterhood with Riley in ways she could not have foreseen. The two of them had been spending more time together again lately, and it had been a highlight of the March into April weeks. So, when the coming sleepover had been organized, it had felt like an automatic choice. She'd called up her best friend and asked if she was free to come along. Now, they would be Tucson bound together, and neither of them could wait.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners