Chapter 165
New Roads & Avenues

"I know that look," Lucas had told her, the night before, as they were settling in for the night.

"You know all my looks," Maya had reasoned with a hum as she'd turned herself and faced him outright. "And I know yours."

In this case, the look that Lucas had spotted on his wife's face was one he'd seen on her for about as long as they'd known one another, one that came on a schedule, without fail, so long as they were in school. Even if she had switched sides from student to teacher, it still applied: the anticipation for a new school year felt eternal, but the first week of classes went by in a blink. It wasn't as though she'd been checked out over that whole week, far from it, but for how long it had taken to arrive, far more than just a summer in her case, she wished she could have been able to just… slow time down, get a better chance to stop and take it in.

She wasn't going to remember all of it, she knew that. And even though it had all gone by very fast, it wasn't as though she'd forgotten it all or would forget it. Day by day, she had been getting to know her groups, her students, and in getting to do that, she was able to make memories she would hold on to. She would definitely remember her very first class, how nervous she'd been about actually starting. She would remember waiting for first period to end, and then for her first group of seventh graders to show up. The very first one to come, with a look about her like she'd bolted out of her first class as soon as she could, to make sure she would get there before anyone else. Maya guessed she'd also done it just because she'd guessed that her sister was nervous, and she wanted to support her. It took a lot for Maya not to go right up and hug her for it, but she had to be the teacher in that moment, and especially on her first day…

Once Eliza had arrived – and took the time to pick out her seat, and noted the apple on the board, and sat there for a couple of minutes like she wasn't sure what to do with herself in a room alone with her sister without forgetting that they were in school – the others came and joined her. It didn't take long to guess that some of Eliza's classmates knew that her sister was going to be their teacher. Others hadn't known, but then they took one look at her, and they asked… If anything, having this to explain served as the best ice breaker that she could need. It allowed her to make her introduction to the class, and once she'd done it once, well, the other three were a lot easier. Once they got past the names, and brief stories, once they actually got down to work, that all felt a lot easier, too. Sure, some of them looked like they'd ended up in art class because they had no choice or it was going to be easy, but that didn't stop her from looking at them and aiming to do her very best for them, just as she would do for those who had that clear artistic itch in them.

Where the seventh graders all had that double take of recognition, the eighth graders were something else. They knew her, to some degree or another. Whether they'd been in it or not, they knew her as the baking club lady. Better yet, they knew her as not Sue Cartwright. They had walked into class that first day and, even though they had known the old teacher was gone already at the end of the previous year, they came along, and they saw the way the room had been transformed, and it immediately felt like… they could expel one heavy breath and take a new one, lighter… a renewal. In that first week, it had become so clear how they had come along at the start of seventh grade, some of them so eager for art class… only to come head-to-head with Sue. It was to wonder if some of them would still have taken the class this year if she'd still been there, and in turn it made Maya wonder if there were any students who'd come through this class before and had their creativity, their love of art, just sapped away by their former teacher. She'd only have them in her class for one year, yes, but she would make it her mission to heal any and all leftover dark spots.

Well, that first week was done now, and the second had started. And when they woke up on Tuesday morning, Maya and Lucas both had just one thing on their minds before they ever considered the school, or the office… It was one rare night where they hadn't ended up in their usual big spoon/little spoon position and instead remained facing each other, but it worked out for the best. It made it so that when they did wake up, within moments of one another, they opened their eyes and saw one another… and they smiled.

It was the seventh of September, and one year ago to the day, in the midst of an unfortunate storm, Jamie Nathaniel Friar was born… right there on the kitchen floor. If the first week of school felt as though it had gone by in a flash, the last year had it beat from every side.

"Who do you think is going to get in there first, us or them?" Lucas wondered aloud, even as Maya threw the covers aside and very directly climbed over him instead of getting up and walking all the way around the bed to get out of the room. "Okay, okay, hey, careful!" Lucas didn't leave her the chance to accidentally hurt him in passing. He reached up and got hold of her, lifting and depositing her the rest of the way while she just managed not to squeak too loud.

"That was fun…" she breathed as she passed him a grin. "We'll have to try that again sometime."

Now that they were following a new schedule, with Maya having to get ready for work when she did, they had a fairly reasonable shot at being the first ones up. Elliott and Noah might have inherited their mother's early riser genes, if they existed, or it could only be their age, but they would be the first ones awake a lot of the time. They'd lost that title when teacher mom came along, and she only had to go up to the door at the end of the hall to know that the two of them were still asleep. Meanwhile, back in the nursery, where they would find the birthday boy…

"Just getting there…" Lucas whispered as he followed Maya into the room. Jamie was still asleep, but they could see that he'd started to wake. Seconds went by, and finally his eyes opened, found the two of them standing there, smiling down on him.

"Hi," Maya quietly greeted him as she reached down and brushed at his hair. He reached his hands up toward her, speaking faint little 'ma' sounds, so she picked him up, held him near. "Hey, tadpole, good morning… Happy birthday," she smiled as she rubbed his back.

He wouldn't soon let go, not first thing in the morning like this, but it didn't mean he couldn't divide his attention. He'd be holding tight to her, but his attention would be on Lucas, lowering himself as best he could to get closer to the boy's line of sight. Once he got there, he got a few 'da' sounds and an outstretched hand, which he promptly 'ate up,' prompting the boy to startle. He didn't start to cry, no. Elliott had cried, when he was his age and someone would try that. Noah had screamed bloody murder, even after he'd been shown that his hand was still there after all. Jamie would jump a bit, but then he'd get this look on his face like 'hold on a minute…' He'd see his hand was still attached to his arm, look at 'the biter,' and then he'd laugh and laugh.

"Can't get one past this guy, huh?" Maya beamed like the proud mom she was.

"You're one today, bud," Lucas told their clever tadpole, bursting with same pride of his own, looking into that little face. "One year old," he told him, holding up a finger. Jamie looked at him and did the same. "That's right, you…"

He stopped as the birthday boy did a surprise attack of his own, bowing his head toward his extended finger, giving his best approximation of his father's 'chomp' noise. Lucas just managed to get what he was trying to do, and he responded in consequence, bending his finger down and out of sight as Jamie pulled back. Playing like he had no idea, Lucas looked at his hand, one finger 'missing,' and gasped dramatically, pretending as though he suddenly found himself down a finger and panicking, flailing about. Jamie just burst out with giggles at that one.

"Quick, quick, put it back," Maya instructed, struggling not to lose it, too. Jamie looked at her and, whether he understood what she wanted him to do or not, he made a gesture in his father's general direction and up came the finger, back in sight, back where it belonged. Lucas 'saw it' and let out a great breath of relief.

"Oh, thank you, I don't know what I would have done without it," he intoned.

"Daddy, what are you doing?" They looked back to discover Elliott and Noah had arrived, both of them looking like they'd barely woken up. Something had pulled them out of bed quick, and Maya and Lucas had a good idea what.

"Drama," Maya informed them. "Very, very important drama. Scene's over now. Did you come to wish your brother a happy birthday?" Yes, they had, and so they did. Now, the day could begin.

At breakfast, Elliott brought up the fact that, at preschool, when it was someone's birthday, they would get cake. He wondered if they could get one for Jamie, even if he didn't go there like him and Noah did. Lucas wasn't sure, but he pointed out that there would be cake, that evening when they had dinner, which they knew, of course. The two brothers had helped their mother make it.

After she'd be through with her seventh graders in the morning, Maya would be free for a very long time before she saw her eight graders. She was still trying to figure out how best to use that time. Baking club was starting again next week, and she could see herself using some of that time to prepare, maybe bake and prepare some examples for the students… Until then, she spent most of her free time either tending to her classroom, preparing for the afternoon, wandering around the school, or sitting quietly to draw, paint, or knit.

That day, Jamie's birthday, she was compelled to draw, specifically the scene from that morning, with the great finger chomp of 2027. She was so focused that she almost scratched a big line across her page when her phone vibrated against the desk. She lifted her hand away just in time, thankfully, so the image was spared. Meanwhile, her phone said… Ah…

"Hey…" she smiled as she stuck the phone between her ear and shoulder and went back to work.

"Is this a bad time?" Charlie asked.

"No, no, not at all, I've got another hour before my next class starts," Maya reported. After a moment's consideration, she got up and went to shut the classroom door, in case her conversation floated off to bother a neighboring class.

"So, I have news…" Charlie started.

"Good news?" Maya asked.

"I hope so, otherwise this might all be a really big mistake," her aunt laughed. Now she was intrigued.

"What's up?"

"Right, well, it's like this. Over the summer, while we were in Austin, David and I spent a lot of time talking about things, how we loved being out there with you guys, and then Caitlin with your boys…"

"Yeah," Maya chuckled to herself. The separation had gone about as well as they'd expected, though thankfully things had started to perk back up by now.

"Anyway, when we got back here, we all just had this feeling like… it wasn't working out. It didn't feel right anymore. Usually when you're away from home for a while and you finally go back, it's just that, yeah? Finally… We never got that. We kept talking it over, and then we just knew we were on the same page. We both said what we were thinking, and it was the same thing." Maya wasn't sure she followed, so she waited for Charlie to go on. "It felt right, us in Austin, with you and yours, and Katy and hers… We want to come back, to stay."

Maya froze, blinked. Was she saying what…

"You mean… move here? To Austin?"

"Yeah," Charlie replied, a smile in her voice. "With our own place, obviously, not the little house…"

"No, yeah…"

"We'd have to find a house first, but we figure, once that's done, it's only a matter of getting packed, seeing to the house here…"

"But wait, what about the music store?" Maya asked as she thought of the place they had visited, the one time they'd gone out to Arkansas. The boys had loved it, and David had taken them around, shown them the various instruments…

"It'll be taken care of, don't worry. We're hoping to get to Austin before the holidays, after if we don't have a choice."

"That sounds great, that's… Wow… Have you talked to my mom yet?"

"Calling her next, I guess I needed to tell you first to sort of… get it out of my system," Charlie admitted, and Maya laughed. "I'll keep you posted, I promise."

"I know," Maya nodded to herself. After they hung up, she sat there for a moment, still stunned. She smiled. Oh, this would be so good… She could already feel this thought at the back of her mind. Imagine what it could do for the cake business…

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners