October 3rd 2020

Chapter 277
Their Vacation With Sun and Sand

July 14th 2028 – The Hex

Maya didn't exactly space out, whenever she performed, but it did sort of feel like flipping the world over, like flipping a mirror from a regular view to a closer, larger, more intense one. She had been performing on stages for over a decade now, and it was that feeling that kept her going. If she didn't feel it anymore, then she would know it was time to step back, but she did feel it, oh… she felt it so much that she missed it, whenever she was away for too long.

Performing here, in the Hex, for an audience of one, it didn't have that same sort of feeling as the stage, with a lively audience below, but it was her, bringing music to life, and that was enough that she'd be folded back in her own little space for a few minutes, until her song came to an end and she would re-establish contact with the person in front of her, in this case Ree Forster. She'd just finished performing the third of the songs she had composed while on vacation with her family.

This was the first one beyond the two which were earmarked as being for Ree, for the album they had been working on all this time. Those first two had already been received with such instant love, like Ree could understand immediately how Maya had felt these should be hers. They would be recording them shortly, but first there were those other songs she had wanted to hear, and so Maya had settled on the stool again, and she'd performed one. As minded as Ree had been as she listened to the first songs, concentrating on these melodies and lyrics she would soon be singing herself, here she just seemed… well, like she'd said, like a fan. She had such a smile to her, and a look which showed her for the fellow musician she was, taking in the piece in the way only one so finetuned to the art of music could do.

"Maya, that was beautiful," was the first thing she said, and Maya tipped her head in thanks, not trusting the words that would follow her smile. "I think you should keep that one, for the band. Mind you, I say that, and I might say the same thing for all of them. If I wasn't already so in love with my two, which I am, by the way, I would fight you for it."

"Thanks," Maya breathed.

"Alright, tell me about the next one. When did you write that one?"

"Third day, after we went to the beach."

X

July 7th 2028 – Honolulu, Hawaii

"Stop! There's enough, enough!" Wyatt squirmed as Maya put the sunscreen on his face.

"Trust me, you'll thank me later. You don't want to look like a lobster, do you? We are a pale people, it is our curse," she intoned, sneaking in the last of spot she'd missed. "Done!" she pulled her hands back, like a contestant in a cooking show when time out was called. "Next!" she called, and Haley came up to her, stealing a look to Wyatt and turning a confused look back to her sister.

"He's all white," she declared.

"Yeah, no kidding," Maya smiled. "Let's get your hair up, okay?"

James had gone off with Cara and Teddy for a surfing lesson, while Abigail had elected herself as keeper of camp, once they'd found a spot to call their own while they were at the beach that day. She was not much of a swimmer, but she could enjoy her surroundings, all while looking after one-year-old Maisie. She had a book, she had shade, she was good. From there, the rest of the group splintered off, some going swimming one way, some going another way… Melinda Friar spent some time with Abigail and little Maisie, while her husband joined their son and daughter-in-law in taking some of the little kids into the water.

To see him going out there in his trunks, the immediate impression was that here was a man who would continue to be in impressive shape as the years went on. Maya in particular loved messing with Lucas about this way too much. The other thing they would see, of course, were the old burn scars. They mostly saw the ones on his hands, which had faded enough as to just become something they were used to and didn't notice so much. They hardly troubled him anymore, though from time to time they did hurt some. But then the scar on his leg, that one they didn't see nearly as much, enough that they could sort of forget what it actually looked like. It wasn't pretty, and it sort of made them uncomfortable to look at it. Even if Thomas promised them that it didn't hurt much if at all, to look at it, the first thought would usually be that it had to hurt, for looking like that.

"You're a good swimmer, aren't you?" he asked MJ, as they walked to the water's edge, where it could wash over their feet. Mr. Friar held his hand, and as they went, the boy looked like he was trying not to stare at his leg but struggled to keep his eyes away.

"MJ," Maya tried to get his attention when he wouldn't reply. "MJ… Matthew," she pressed, and he looked at her. She nodded to Lucas' father and her brother looked over at him.

"Does your leg hurt?"

"Not at all. Want to poke my scar?" Thomas joked.

"Dad," both Lucas and Maya chimed in. They shared a look; they definitely didn't like how it sounded when they said it together.

"The easiest way to banish the unknown is to confront it," Thomas told them and MJ, too. After considering this a moment, MJ reached out and touched the area under the man's knee. He tipped his head, but he looked more curious than afraid. "See?" Thomas looked back up and nodded.

"Look, there's Sam!" Wyatt pointed, and they looked to find him and Cecilia wading along, a short distance away.

As much as Thomas Friar didn't seem in any troubled by showing his own scars, Maya knew very well the journey Cecilia had been on in dealing with her own leg, her own scars. Hers were not due to a fire, of course, but all those surgeries to fix her leg after the accident which had killed her mother and left her with her crutch had left their marks. Maya remembered those early days, when she'd taken the girl shopping and she had worked so hard not to show what it all looked like. It had taken until last summer before any of them – except Sam, no doubt – had been allowed to see. Cecilia was getting better about showing confidence, but it didn't come without hesitation. When she'd ditched her sundress, sandals, and crutch, heading to the water while holding to Sam's arm, she would have what felt like the opposite reaction to the others when they saw Mr. Friar's leg. While they would try not to look at him, she would try not to look and see whether anyone was staring at her.

Looking at her out there, with Sam, all those worries looked to have disappeared. She loved swimming, loved being in the water, where it would feel as though the odds were tipped back in her favor, where she could feel more like her old self again. For the most part, she was at ease with who she'd had to be since the accident when she'd been twelve. But she was seventeen now, and a year away from graduating high school and going to college. As much as Maya and Lucas had been wondering about what would happen with Sam, with Sam and her, and whether they would stay in Texas or not, there was also a lot of what this would mean for the both of them separately. Lucas could see just a bit of that struggle in Sam. And with Cecilia… She had grown more and more confident about confiding in Maya when it came to those things where she could not turn to her father or to Sam, and Maya took that role with a lot of care, always. Right now, she knew that the thought of 'what now?' was really getting to weigh on Cecilia. She had to make some choices, and she wasn't ready.

"You hold on to me, okay?" Maya told Haley, as she watched Lucas and his father go into the water with Wyatt and MJ.

"Okay," Haley nodded firmly, locking her arms around her sister's neck.

"Not that tight, okay," Maya squeaked, loosening the birthday girl's grip. "Coming into that four-year-old strength, huh?" she laughed at the sort of shy look on her little sister's face. "Don't worry, you didn't hurt me," Maya kissed her cheek. Sometimes, she was literally too cute to handle. All day, since they'd met up that morning, she'd been telling every single person she came in contact with that she was 'this many' now, holding up four slim fingers. And because she was clearly a grown girl because of this, she made sure to clarify that 'this many' was four, which was what she was.

The 'big girl' yelped nonetheless when the water splashed against her feet, and she kept a close grip on her sister.

"It's alright, you'll be fine in a minute," Maya promised her, just as any of them would have to do, whenever they took her swimming anywhere. This was different than the pool, of course, but the promise was kept, as by the time floated there, a little less than neck deep, Haley looked very happy to be where she was. "You want to go under?" Maya asked her, amused at the way she scanned her surroundings before looking back at her. "Yeah? Like at the pool, remember?" Haley looked uncertain. "I won't let go, I promise. Three seconds and we come back up, yeah?"

"One, two, three," Haley counted.

"That's it. Ready?"

"Ready." With a countdown, the sisters disappeared under the surface, emerging again three seconds later. Haley coughed and blinked, but eventually she laughed, and she demanded to do it again. "Figured you might say that," Maya reached to pluck some strands of hair out of her face. "Ready?"

When they'd had their fill of the water, for a while at least, they headed back to where Abigail and Maisie would be waiting. Thomas convinced his wife to take a dip with him, and off they went, while Maya and Lucas looked after the two boys and the birthday girl. MJ and Wyatt set about building a sandcastle, the better to host a party for Haley's birthday. She would have to discover the completed result when she woke again, as she soon fell asleep, now in Lucas' arm once Maya's expertise as an artist had been called upon by the boys.

Looking at the small blonde in his arms, at his wife helping her young brothers with their project, Lucas found he looked forward to more trips like this, just as Maya had done, already on the day they had arrived. By the time they would return to the hotel, they would be so spent, calling an early night as they had done, all three nights so far. But then wasn't that what you wanted on a vacation like this? They were clocking out after having spent all day having fun together, making memories.

"Another one?" Lucas asked, as he came down from checking on the twins in their loft to find Maya on the balcony, with her sketchbook and her guitar. All three nights so far, just when it seemed like they were bound for bed and some much-earned sleep, she would be scribbling at a page, not drawing but jotting down a new song. He could see, this was a third one.

"I don't know what it is, but it came to me," she shrugged, giving a light strum of the strings. It was all he needed to just go ahead and sit with her, where they could finish their night with her quietly letting him hear what she'd come up with this time.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners