December 15th 2020

Chapter 350
Their Place to Tell

After a quick supply run at the grocery store, Maya had hurried on home to get started on dinner for herself, Lucas, Sam, Riley, and Dylan. Right as she'd walked through the door, all she could think to do was to make her friends something really good to eat. It wouldn't exactly make the rest of the night easy, but it couldn't hurt, could it? She was never a particularly 'in the zone' kind of cook, more the type to put on music, go through the steps in a most unhurried sort of demeanor. Tonight was different, tonight, she might have been on some cooking show with a ticking clock and very intimidating judges.

She was so focused in fact that, for the second time that day, she was startled by a voice. This time involved knives though, and the surprise was followed by a yelp.

"Did you cut yourself?" Lucas came up to see.

"Just barely," Maya breathed, already moving to the sink to run her finger under the water. "Can you get the…" she motioned, and he was already on it. A minute later, they were sitting at the kitchen table and he tended her finger. "I could have done it," she reminded him, even as her face suggested she was more than willing to let him play nurse.

"Indulge me," Lucas smiled. "How's that?" he asked upon finishing. Maya bent her finger to test it.

"Excellent work, Doc, thank you," she stretched to go and kiss him before returning to the counter to continue. "No hovering, I learned my lesson, I'll slow down."

The playful beat helped her get back on track, even as she knew it would be soon forgotten once the others arrived. It felt just a bit dishonest to wait until after they'd all had dinner, as it would mean going on like everything was normal over the meal, but then what was the alternative? If they told them as soon as they arrived, it would ruin their appetite, and they needed to eat.

In the end, it would only be the two couples. Sam had texted, saying he'd spend the evening with friends, the better to be out of the way when Dylan and Riley came over. There was a brief concern about what they would do if one of them arrived before the other, especially if that someone was Dylan, but thankfully the couple arrived together.

With the need to get through this part of the night without incident as well as Phoebe on her mind, Maya had found the ideal way to guarantee they'd have something easy to talk about from the moment they sat around the table. She mentioned the final games over the weekend, and the picture in the trophy case, and in no time the three former players and their very enthusiastic coach-in-the-bleachers were calling back tales of high school, and even middle school, when they had been on the school teams, called back team party memories and even some from all those afternoons where they'd ended up outside the Orlando house, tossing the ball together.

Next thing they knew, they were clearing the table, and the friendly chatter could no longer keep Maya or Lucas away from the true purpose of this night. They had to talk to their friends and fill them in on what they'd learned. Because of her connection to the information, and to some extent because she was best placed to know how this would hit Dylan, they had decided that Maya would be the one to tell him, while Lucas sat by, ready to bring additional support to his childhood friend.

"Why do you guys look so glum all of a sudden?" Riley asked, looking at the two of them as they came and rejoined her and Dylan at the table.

"We need to talk to you about something," Maya started, turning her gaze toward Dylan in particular. He looked surprised, looking back at her, at Lucas, at Riley…

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I realize that it's going to come out of nowhere, and you know I wouldn't ask this if I didn't have a good reason to, so… indulge us if you can?" Maya slowly asked him. Dylan was obviously taken aback by this, as was Riley, but he nodded. "In all the years since she left, have you ever seen or spoken to your mother?"

It took a second before he shook his head. Maya could see in his face how he had thought this would be about his mother somehow since just before she asked her question, but now that she had asked it, all she had to do was see the way his posture shifted and she'd have her answer right there. He was telling the truth, and it still took him to another place to think about her, as it sometimes did.

"Why do you want to know?" Riley spoke up, looking from her best friend to her husband. He was being put in distress now, which meant she would shift toward protection. They expected no less.

"I saw her," Maya confessed, and while Riley gasped, Dylan could only stare back at her. Somewhere in the back of his eyes, it was like he was nine again. Some people might have tried to play off their feelings, to act like they couldn't be touched, like they bore an unbreakable shell over their backs, but that wasn't Dylan. He had his openness right there, always, for good or ill.

"She's here? In Austin?" he asked, and Maya tipped her head. He probably thought she was just passing by for some reason, which only made the prospect of giving him the rest of the story feel that much more unpleasant. "How do you know it was her? You… you never met her," Dylan quietly stated.

Maya looked back to Lucas for a moment. He nodded to her. She could do it.

"Dylan, what do you remember about the time before she left? The days before, the weeks, months," Maya asked him. It felt important to ask him about this before dropping the bombshell, while his mind had little more than thin, thin cracks in it, spidering along. He hesitated, still caught up on his own query, but Maya gave him a friendly plea with her eyes, so he sat up, willing his memories to assemble about him.

"I don't…" he shook his head, rubbing at his eyes. Riley reached over the table, taking his other hand where it sat. Dylan squeezed it, moving his first hand to sit over the two they'd joined. He breathed, focusing some more before he could open his eyes again. "She was the same way she always was, with me and Kyle, I mean… she was there, and she looked happy to be with us," he shook his head. It hadn't made sense to him then, and it still didn't now.

"What about with your dad?" Maya asked. He looked at her.

"They weren't fighting, they… I know it's going to sound weird, but I can't remember when I ever saw them alone together for… I don't know how long before she left? Never came in the room or heard them talking just the two of them. If it was the three of us and I left the room, she'd come with me. I guess that was kind of weird, but I didn't see it that way at the time."

"Why do you need to know all this?" Riley asked. "You said you saw her…"

"I did," Maya confirmed it once more, turning to Dylan again. "Do you remember ever hearing the name Peter Munroe?"

"Sure," Dylan shrugged at once.

"You did?" Lucas asked even as Maya thought it.

"Yeah, I mean, he and my dad played basketball together in college before he hurt his back and had to quit the team. They stayed friends though. He'd be over at the house a few times a year, you know, fourth of July, playoffs, Christmas sometimes… Haven't seen him in years, I…" Even as he was saying it, Maya and Lucas both saw the pause shift on to his face, like he'd tried to think how long it had been and realized exactly how long it had been.

"I've met him, too," Maya quietly told him. "Three times, at parents' night. But last night, he couldn't make it, so his wife came instead."

It felt in that moment as though Dylan was unable to do anything but stare back at her, as the words and their implication sank in. When he finally blinked, he stood from his chair, taking a few steps, turning again… It was too much at once, as gently as Maya had worked to approach the subject. It would have been a lot no matter what she did. Even Riley was so caught off guard that she just sat there for a few beats before looking to Dylan where he stood.

"She came into the room, and I just…" Maya started again, gesturing toward her face. "She looked familiar to me, and I couldn't figure out what it was, she… She goes by Jo Munroe now." Maybe for having heard the surname said enough times in the last couple of minutes, Riley looked to Maya like it was all pulling at something she'd told her about before but she couldn't get to the bottom of it. "She was there for her daughter… Phoebe," Maya said the name now, looking only to Dylan.

"Her d…" Dylan spoke so softly that the word broke apart before he could say it. He couldn't stand still, would step forward, step back, turn on his feet… "Phoebe," the name came forward, and he recalled its origin before his wife could get there. "Isn't that the girl you… you gave dance lessons to, the… the clumsy one?" he breathed in.

"That's her," Maya confirmed. The way he was looking at her now, the question was in his eyes, on his lips, but it would not dare to pass. Still, he had to know. "She was born in 2011," Maya told him.

At this point, he didn't look shocked so much as resigned. After everything they'd been talking about since the conversation had started, he could piece it all together very well. He sat back down in his chair, elbows on his knees, hands meeting at the back of his neck as he bowed his head. Riley stood now, moving around so she might put her hands on his shoulders. When she did, Dylan's left hand moved down to find hers. All this time, he could only ever wonder at that piece of his mother's story he'd never gotten, and now…

"She has a younger brother," Maya went on, figuring she might as well give him the last of it now, so he could process it all. "His name is Taylor, he'll be thirteen or so by now, in the seventh grade. I saw a picture of him, that's how I really knew for sure, he… he looks a lot like you, back when we met."

There was little else to say after this. Dylan needed time. He and Riley would soon head out for the night. Despite everything he'd just learned, he turned again before leaving, hugging Maya with unspoken gratitude. He wouldn't have known what to tell her, but this was enough. She knew what he was trying to say. As he moved to go, Riley had her turn of embracing her best friend, too.

"Keep me posted, okay?" Maya quietly asked, and Riley nodded into her shoulder before joining Dylan on their way to their car. Maya and Lucas watched them drive off. After they were gone, Maya was the one giving hugs now, turning to put her arms around her husband before he went and did the same with her. The night couldn't have gone better, whether they could see this as a good thing or not. Now they could only wait and see what would come next.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners