A/N: Eighteen days behind...

September 14th 2023

Chapter 257
We Prepare To Go Back

There was a very small window of time between the end of their school year and the start of their camp season, and the Friar sisters treated it as though it was magical. They would wake up in the morning and immediately rush to one another, the better to start playing, or doing anything together that came to mind.

It was a good thing then that their parents were early risers and fully aware of this tendency. They were not surprised or startled awake by the sudden buzz of voices or running around, though the same might not be said for the rest of the household. Maya's siblings upstairs all had younger siblings they had grown up with, they understood, they remembered... but they were also very, very glad to be done with school for another semester, and they were not such early risers, not if they could help it.

That left the youngest pair in the house. Ezra was sleeping much better than he used to, and nowadays was a surprisingly good little sleeper, so much so that his sisters' antics did not disturb him. As for Finneas, who was just days away from his second birthday, the noise would compel him to get out of his little bed and try to investigate, until his father would be awakened by his movement and convince to come and join him for some morning hugs, which may or may not get him back to sleep in time.

Sooner or later, they would all be up, gathered below where breakfast would take shape. In that moment, they could all feel as though the girls' excitement was rubbing off on all of them, sending them off into a day that was maybe a little brighter because of them.

Lucas had that spirit well into his heart and mind as he took off for the ranch that morning. Each season had its own mood at Sullivan Stables, something he had been left to notice long ago, long before he had worked there. He had been made to notice it by his Grandpa Jax, and he had never forgotten it since. Some of it came down to decorations and activities, of course, but beyond that, they could just feel it in the air, in the horses a lot of the time... Each one was its own thing.

Summer couldn't help but feel... youthful. Soon they would be opening their doors to another year of campers. They would also be seeing a lot more of their younger riders coming along now that they were out of school... They may not have had the afterschool program and the groups, but plenty of them would be off at their own summer camps, and just about every last one of those could be counted on to take a field trip to the ranch here and there across the summer season. He couldn't see himself naming any favorite time of the year, but each one could be a contender in its own way.

"Good morning, Mr. Friar!"

He was barely out of the parking lot when the girl came jogging over to him. He was glad to see that after all this time Gianna was as vibrantly energetic as she had been on the day where she had landed in Texas. Their very first international exchange camper would soon be flying back home to Italy and, even as they simply talked, walking together, he could sense the bittersweet emotions churning in her. On the one hand, she missed her home and her family, but on the other, she had come to love her host city and family so much that she would be sad to leave it behind.

To help in this transition, both of their XCs had relocated from their hosts' to the B&B for the remainder of their stay in Austin. From what he heard out of Gianna, she was loving this as well, enjoying the sort of mini new experience she was given before going home. Sure, she had spent plenty of time at the ranch over the last year, but it became sort of like getting a near free pass. There were still places she was told not to go, for safety more than anything, but then there were also places she got to see in ways she never had before.

"I love waking here," she informed Lucas. "It reminds me of home, when the sun rises..." She took a breath of the morning air, and he knew just what she meant.

"That's why you were out here, huh?" he asked. "Enjoying the morning?" She gave a hearty nod, and it made him laugh. "I bet a lot of us could tell you about the best spots to go, early in the morning." He had her attention.

After she'd gone off exploring, Lucas turned back toward the B&B. He stopped and looked at the sign, the carving of his grandfather's drawing, of his mother as a small child, swinging lightly with the morning breeze. Marianne would see this as Melinda's spirit welcoming them, and he genuinely loved the idea.

He went up to the first floor, to one of the rooms that would soon host the boy campers and currently hosted their American camper. Brett sat on the edge of the open window, one leg in and one out, as he played on his phone. There was no danger of his falling out, but Lucas was still careful not to startle him as he made his presence known.

"Hi," Brett blinked before moving to climb back inside. Lucas motioned for him to stay as he was before moving to sit on one of the recently installed beds, still bare ahead of the campers' arrival.

He knew how much Brett had loved the year he spent in Austin. He knew that it had not been his own intention to be here, and he'd had to warm up to it all, but he'd done it, exceeding all expectations. Knowing that, Lucas could just guess how he would be feeling now, as he prepared to return home to the family who had essentially dumped him here.

"I told Gianna I'd see if you wanted to go for a ride, the three of us, this morning. Are you up for it?" Lucas asked. Brett considered the offer. He looked out the window for a moment before pulling his second leg back inside and slipping his phone back in his pocket.

"Yeah, okay," he replied, and Lucas got up to lead the way.

Gianna was already at the stables when the two of them arrived to join her, and they were soon saddled up and on their way. They didn't go speeding anywhere, only took the opportunity to enjoy the quiet of early morning. There were already a few riders out as well, and one meeting happening back in the main, but for the most part it was still the peaceful routine of the start of the day for everyone. It was never that loud to begin with, so to some it might have felt near silent.

Watching the two campers, Lucas thought of them at the start of the year and now at the end of it. What skills they'd had at first, he was happy to see, had increased. And whatever thoughts may have been rumbling through their minds earlier that morning were able to give way to the simple peace of a ride across the property.

"Have you selected new exchange students for the next year?" Gianna asked as they made their way back toward the stables.

"We've confirmed two," Lucas nodded with a smile. "Still have to sort out a few things with regards to the other two."

"I am glad that you will welcome more of them," Gianna declared, and Lucas felt the same. "Are they all high school students?"

"Assuming that all goes well, we will have two in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school."

He was glad to see that they were making it work. All they really had left to do was make sure that all the connections worked between the kids, their families, their host families, their schools here and back home... Their youngest XC was an international one, and while she would be making her way to Austin, another girl from the school would be headed to their XC's hometown back in Ireland.

They were being extra careful with the information they were letting out about this one, on the off chance that it wouldn't work out. They didn't want to disappoint by having to backtrack... The host family here was suddenly unsure they would be able to take her in after all, to which Maya had immediately suggested that the camper should come and stay with them, seeing as she'd be bound for Marianne's class anyway. They were already taking MJ in, so what was one more?

"Mr. Friar?" Brett asked, so soon after Gianna had wandered off that it felt clear to Lucas that this had been done on purpose, waiting until they would be on their own.

"Yeah, what's up?" Lucas asked. The boy looked decently concerned, almost as though he would be sick, trying to say what he had to say. Lucas faced him, gave him his most encouraging face.

"I... I'm not... I don't want to... no... I'm not going back," he shook his head, determined. Now that he'd said it, he looked more certain than ever. "I'm not going back to my parents."

"Brett... You're a minor, it's not just..."

"You don't get it, okay? If I tell them I want to stay here, they will set me up. It doesn't matter to them, having me near them. I mean, clearly," he gestured around, indicating his current predicament. "For once, it'll work out for the both of us. They never wanted me, and I don't need them."

"I'm sure that's not..."

"You don't know them, okay? You're a great father, I've seen it, like Mrs. Friar is a great mother. You have so many kids and you wanted them all, I can tell, even the one they left outside your house. It's the same way I know mine never wanted to be parents. It just happened to them, and they couldn't just sweep it under the rug. It never occurred to me, not until I got here, that I could actually go and live my own life. I want to do that now. I'm going to do that now."

Lucas had never seen him so assertive, and it was enough to convince him that everything he said was true, right down to how his parents would facilitate his staying back in Texas without them. It made him feel sad for Brett, but at the same time, seeing how much the decision had clearly done him a lot of good...

"So what's the plan? What are you going to do?" Lucas asked. Brett smiled. He knew just what he wanted to do and he had been waiting for a chance to discuss it in earnest.

"I want to be an actor," he revealed. "And I heard about this role that they're auditioning, for Goldenheart? I'm going to put my name in. I think I can get it."

Lucas knew just the part he was talking about, a new supporting role, and it was very important for Katy and the production to land on a new face, bringing it into the spotlight. He had never seen Brett's acting abilities, but he liked the idea of him taking this shot.

"Then you should go for it," he told him, and Brett smiled brighter than ever. A weight had been lifted from him, and it wasn't just about this part and whether he'd get it or not. He was finally making decisions for his life, and he never wanted to stop. Lucas, for one, couldn't wait to see what he would do next.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners