October 6th 2020

Chapter 280
Their Vacation With Peace

July 14th 2028 – The Hex

With only two songs set to be recorded that day, they might have finished earlier than those times when they had three, but then with Maya being recently back from her trip, they had veered off topic more often than they cared to admit. They got it all done as they'd intended though, so there was nothing wrong with friends catching up, right? That was the day Maya really came to realize it. She would never have even considered it before, would have told herself that she was getting too comfortable, that this was and would always be about the music, that she was writing songs for Ree Forster and that was all. But now, if she took a moment to consider their relationship, she could see that it was more than business. It was impossible not to look at her like a mentor, like an inspiration, to look up to her as though she was a giant, but little by little they had come to meet halfway.

When they had called it a night, two songs good and done, they'd ended up on the porch with iced tea and vacation photos, laughing at a whole stretch of pictures taken by Haley after she'd commandeered her big sister's phone. A good portion of them were selfies, intentional or not, others were blurry as though the photographer had been on the run, or crooked… Maya loved every single one and could not dream of deleting any of them.

"Our father is convinced that he passed on some of his photographer genes to her. He's been calling her Shutterbug since we got back," Maya chuckled.

"Start them young, I say," Ree laughed. "Here, look, look," she pulled out her own phone, searching very briefly before pulling up a picture to show her. There she stood, in a studio, with her daughter in her arms. Christina couldn't have been more than two or three, and she had a headset over her little ears which was so big that her mother had to hold it in place for her. The girl didn't give it much mind, as she was intent on the microphone in front of her, the expression on her face suggesting she was trying to sing, just as she would have seen her mother do. "Short of the pictures from the day she was born, this is easily my favorite."

"I can see why," Maya beamed. The now eleven-year-old had carried on following in her mother's musical footsteps, as Maya had gotten to see and hear. "What would you think of doing a second version of… By the Lights, with her, a bonus track," she suggested, finding the right song even as the idea came together. The way Ree's face lit up, she liked that idea, too. It would be in the fall, right around the festival, what better time to bring Christina Sutcliffe into the Hex.

X

July 10th 2028 – Honolulu, Hawaii

It was their last night in Hawaii. Tomorrow, after breakfast, they were checking out and flying off home. Sam was Tucson bound, as had been the plan from day one, when he had discovered his parents and siblings were coming on the trip, too.

At lunch time, with everyone reunited after their breakfast missing three of the group, a proposition had been made by Sam, Cecilia, Teddy, and Cara. They would have a movie night with the rest of the kids, watching over them, the better to give the parents and Maya and Lucas a chance to head out for a date night. Either their prospective sitters gave an excellent pitch or they were all just looking to spend a bit of one-on-one time with their significant other while they were still here, still had the chance, but the couples were soon on board. The Friars, elder and younger, the Hunters, and the Hart-Lanes were heading off on their own.

"Didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?" Maya asked as she came to find Lucas waiting in the lobby. It reminded her at once of those nights when they'd leave the hotel in Paris, and she was sure it was on his mind, too.

"No, not at all," he smiled, leading her out of the hotel.

"The twins wouldn't go and join the others until they got to play Fairy Godmothers to our mother and me," Maya explained with a laugh.

"So that explains that extra makeup on your mother," Lucas nodded. Maya's laughter increased at once.

"Yeah, I kept them off my face," she gestured to herself. "I might have to pay for that later, but I don't mind. Right now it's just you and me, no spies, no sad teenagers…" she sighed. She didn't want to go back to the whole Sam and Cecilia situation, but it was still sort of right there, wasn't it? They'd started the day off in their own corners, and somewhere in the middle they seemed to have gone and mended the gap, but it still felt like they weren't out of the woods.

"I'm going to miss it here," Lucas breathed as he and Maya walked hand in hand.

"Me, too," she nodded, looking back to him.

It had all been such a whirlwind, such a different pace than when they were in Paris the summer before, but they wouldn't have had it any other way. Their great big group was hard to miss, whenever they travelled together, and still if it had been possible there would have been even more of them here, enjoying the sights, the people, the sun… Alright, looking at him now, the redness peeking out of his collar, Lucas might have enjoyed a little less sun, but they could fill pages and pages with all the moments big and small of their days in Hawaii. Maya had certainly created something of a songbook, already six of them ready and waiting for the chance to be sung.

"I can't wait to come back… We're starting to have a travel list, huh?" she reflected.

"Good," Lucas nodded. "Keep them coming. I want to see it all, and I couldn't see it without you." She smiled at him, and it was a smile full of magic, for the power it had over him.

"That's good, because it's both of us or nothing," she joked.

"We're going to see a lot of places next summer," he pointed out, after taking a slightly exaggerated look around them as though to ensure no one was close enough to hear, especially anyone who might know them. Maya had looked so confused as to what he was doing, until he'd spoken, and then she'd laughed.

"A lot of places," she nodded. They didn't know yet exactly how many stops, how many shows there would be, or where they'd take place, but that was right at the top of their list along with getting to tell their people about the tour. "Should we break out our 'five pictures per day' rule again?"

"On the tour? I think that might be too little, no?"

"Yeah, might be…" Maya agreed. "We have time to figure all that out next summer," she raised her hand now, coming to the conclusion that they had to focus on this trip while it was still going on, before they could go and start planning things for the many stops of the Ree & Maya tour.

Having put the future aside, the night unfolded for them, the last night in Hawaii before they flew home to Texas. It was almost as though the city had turned on the very best it had to offer, either to entice them to stay or to send them off with wonderful memories, who was to say. It had been a gift, from Sam and the others, for them to get this one instance where they weren't surrounded by one or more of any number of Maya's siblings. Oh, of course, they loved them all in immeasurable amounts, and they had loved everything they were able to do together out here… but this was so nice… it was really just so nice…

They would wake for a good long while before stopping anywhere for dinner. Without really talking it out too much, they simply came to this thought of waiting for the right place to manifest itself, to call to them and pull them in. They finally found it, and they had a great last dinner out on the island, discussing any number of things they had seen on the walk from the hotel to here, dipping back into talks of the family, the kids and their many adventures since they'd landed here five days prior. As they were finishing up, Maya discovered several pictures on her phone and recalled the moment when she'd retrieved it from her little 4H sister's hands.

She was barely able to contain her laughter, showing these to Lucas, who grinned that great big Huckleberry grin of his. This one in particular came up more and more whenever there were kids involved. It was unavoidable. They were all of months away from entering 'the baby window,' and the wait was one of those biggest weighing on them both, right up there with Maya's tour with Ree and Lucas' starting the next step in his veterinary journey.

The walk back to the hotel was longer, as they walked slower, though neither of them was in any way disturbed by the length of the journey. This was it, this was their last chance to really take in the city. Once they woke up the next morning, it would all be about finishing up packing and getting off to airport to fly home. The city would still be there but it wouldn't feel the same anymore, same as Austin had felt different, on the morning they had left it to come here.

All the kids are staying with us in Lucas' parents room tonight. We're having a sleepaway-sleepover. Don't wait up. Sam.

The note was waiting on the stand under the television when Maya and Lucas walked into their room. Lucas was the one to find it, and he turned to show it to his wife, only to find her digging out her sketchbook. He had a feeling that was where she'd end up.

"New song?" he asked.

"New song," she nodded, holding the open book on one forearm even as she stood there, scribbling away. The pen scratched and scratched along, giving the impression of great hurry, which he took to come from the urgency of inspiration, of wanting to ensure that nothing would get lost along the way, which was always a possibility when ideas came faster than the hand went. And maybe there was a bit of that, too, but then when she finished writing she closed the book on the pen, deposited the lot on the table by the couch, and turned to look at him. Oh, he knew that look, too, and it made his heart go thumping in a whole other way than what her smile did.

"Hold that thought," he raised a finger, as though to say 'hold on real tight, don't let go for a second,' before moving to flip the latch on the door so that it couldn't just be opened by a key card. Almost any of their group could have barged in, and that was so not how they wanted to end their vacation.

"Smart," Maya nodded, almost squeaking when she watched him hurry over and braced herself for him to lift her off her feet. She laughed all the way to the bed, where he set her down and joined her in a kiss, the least guarded one he had given her all week out here. Pulling him closer, she doubted he felt any of his sunburns in that moment. Her touch gave no space for pain, only and always the opposite of it.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners