A/N: One day behind...

August 30th 2023

Chapter 242
We Look As We Ride

It was never hard to find their international XC on the days where the afterschool program would be running, when the kids would be all around them. She'd be with them, with their littlest ones in green group more often than not. She just had a way with them, and they all adored her, she was a big sister, she was a friend, she was the best young camp counselor anyone could ask for. Mackenzie and Aubrey Friar had for sure taken a shine to her, something aided by the fact that, as daughters to the ranch director, they got to see even more of her than their group buddies. The way things were going, they would have themselves a monster of a fit when the day would come for her to fly back to Italy at the end of the school year… and it was coming up so, so fast.

Today, she was showing the children a bit more of her native Italian language. She hadn't set out to do so nearly as much as she'd been doing it, but then they all loved it so much – probably because she was the one teaching them – that they would ask for more, again and again. Gianna would meet their enthusiasm and match it without giving any of it too much effort. The initiative had come from the two Friar sisters, and their father was the opposite of surprised at this. They were just like their big sisters, they had both an avid curiosity and an undeniable knack for new words, for new languages, so to have it come from Gianna, who they both adored…

"There he is!"

Lucas only managed to hear the voice and know, unmistakably, that it belonged to Kacey, and when he looked up there were three small blondes in blue bandanas rushing toward him. He'd already been on his way to them, but evidently that was not him going fast enough for their liking. He was just about sure that he knew what it was that had them so eager to talk to him, and the way they looked past him as much as at him, he was positive. They were checking to make sure that someone had not followed him out from green group, because it would really not be proper for them to discuss birthday things in front of the person whose birthday the things were for.

"Dad, we know what we want to get Mack for her birthday," Remy informed him as she and her fellow triplets fell in around him. At six and a half – a distinction that had been very important a couple months back – it felt evident, looking at them all, that they had not inherited whatever genes were putting their other biological sisters on the taller end of the growth chart. Mackenzie and Aubrey had some way to go before they'd ever catch up with Lucy, Kacey, and Remy, but still it felt like they were gaining on them at every check-up and measuring. Well, they were gaining on the twins. Lucy was and would clearly remain their shortest girl unless she caught some kind of unexpected growth spurt.

"You do, huh?" Lucas asked the girls, casually walking them back toward the rest of their group. They talked over one another, all three of them, which could be disorienting for the untrained ear. To their father, as with their mother, there was a science to it all, and he could understand what was at the heart of the chaos.

As Lucas and Maya had both predicted, as soon as the rest of the girls had learned that Mackenzie had asked to go for ice cream with their father on her birthday, they had gotten instant looks in their eyes like they couldn't believe none of them had asked for the same thing before. Lucas had made sure to get ahead of the situation by cordially asking his daughters if he might take them out on these ice cream outings on their birthdays as well. Those birthdays were further and further away the older they got, a month away for Aubrey, four for the triplets, and six for Marianne, which might have been the best way to guarantee they'd manage to accept the delay.

Lucas received a text from Sylvie, letting him know that Brett had yet to show up at the stables, and he frowned to himself. Their other XC did not spend his afternoons on group day with the kids. It wasn't that he minded them all, but he didn't have Gianna's way with them, and if he got to choose – which of course he did, then he'd rather be out in the stables, with the horses, as much as possible. Lucas was all for it, and so that was where the boy would be, working alongside Sylvie especially. She was showing him new things every time, and he looked deeply invested. But for all that, there would be days, like this one, where he would be notably late, if he bothered to show up at all. It wasn't exactly mandatory of him, but it was hard not to feel as though his absence showed a lack of respect to the people who awaited him on those days where he was late or a no show. So, while they hadn't pushed on any of this up to now, it did feel as though they would have to say something now.

With little else for him to do, giving the camper a bit more time before trying to track him down, Lucas moved on to red group. As he knew they would be in arts and crafts at the moment, he made his way to the studio. The dance lessons had only just resumed, following Donna's passing, and it was fine, but all of them who'd been there before had to agree that it really wasn't the same. Walking by the painting that Maya had done, he took a moment to look at it, knowing that the girls had taken to greeting it like they did their grandmother's picture back home, before heading up the stairs.

The activity here was unchanged, with the kids talking as they worked, some louder, some silent and focused. He greeted everyone in passing, but he went and sat across from one girl in particular, his one and only sneaky granddaughter. Of course, the way things were going, maybe both of his granddaughters would become worthy of the title. For all her hesitation before her baby sister was born, Tori had really made a complete turnaround when it came to Sunny. Ella and Taylor would share so many stories, and Lucas and Maya would see others for themselves, of how Tori had settled into her role of big sister. Her little sister might still only have been eight months old, not yet ready to follow her along wherever she went, but the way Tori was with her, the way she spoke of her, as far as she was concerned, it was only an eventuality. And she would teach her all that she knew. Sunny was already showing small mannerisms that reminded them of when Tori was her age.

Lucas was just stepping out of the studio again when he spotted Brett sprinting on his way to the stables. He whistled loud enough for him to hear, and the boy stumbled and almost fell before catching himself. When he looked up and saw Lucas, he looked as though he'd been busted coming in late after curfew. They walked toward one another and met halfway.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Mr. Friar, I-I missed the bus, and then I got turned around, and I wasn't sure where I was for a bit… You'd think I'd know, after all this time…" Brett frowned.

"Are you alright?" Lucas asked, to get it out of the way.

"Yeah… yes… I'm fine, I wasn't…"

"You know you can tell me, whatever it is that's going on. At least, I hope that you know. You won't be in trouble unless you actually did anything wrong. Sometimes it feels like you don't actually know what's real trouble and whatever you were told should be." He hoped that his tone would convey that he was being honest, and by the way Brett let out a slow breath, maybe he had done it.

"I… well… There's this girl…" he started, and Lucas smiled at once, letting out a chuckle. Yes, this more or less explained everything. "She takes the bus across the street from mine, every day, and… she's so…" Brett gestured, at a loss for proper words to define this unknown girl. "And well, I…"

"You actually missed your bus and got lost," Lucas nodded. Brett nodded back. "Because you were looking at her." He had. "You should talk to her."

"What's the point? I'm going back home soon. I'll never see her again."

"You don't know that. Trust me, taking a chance might be the way to go on this one."

Moving on to the last group where he was compelled to visit on these afternoons, what he found was not quite what he might have hoped to find. Yellow group was filled with so many of those kids he had followed from the very beginning, now in what had previously been their final age group, and when he would go and see them, he'd remember them as they were, while they would look at him like he'd been part of their whole lives and they were all excited to see him.

He got a lot of that still, sure, but there was a very clear sense of things not being as bright as they normally were, and it made him frown as he realized that his daughter and her friends were the area where things were off. As it turned out, there'd been a bit of an argument earlier, between Marianne and her group. It had been rectified now, so they all claimed, but it didn't change that the kids all had this look to them like they had not come anywhere close to forgetting what had been said, and they didn't know how to deal with it yet. It took a while longer for him to confirm that the whole thing had started out of some of the others – Marianne would say which ones – complaining about her spending so much time off doing 'musical things,' which in turn made it so that she wasn't around with the rest of them. From there it had snowballed into some suggestions that she might have found herself better than others because she did all those things. It could not have been further from the truth, and Marianne tried not to look hurt, but her father could always see right through her there, and this was no difference.

Lucas would never go and try to brush off any of his girls' big feelings, but he had to say that he was glad, when they were all in the minivan and on the way home again, to see how the others zeroed in on their big sister's mood and took it upon themselves to cheer her up. It was very easy right now, with all the big secrets regarding Mackenzie's upcoming birthday, and even he struggled to keep a straight face, watching and listening to them as they teetered their way across the tightrope that was keeping their mouths shut about what they were planning for Mackenzie while she was right there with them. It was made that much funnier for how Mackenzie was remarkably oblivious to the entire thing. There was music in the minivan, and she was always one to be counted on for singing and emoting along to whatever she heard. This led to a rousing round of 'Mack the Radio,' where Lucas would be tasked with changing whatever they were listening to again and again, just to see how Mackenzie would change her performance. Marianne was howling with laughter by the time they made it home, not a worry in mind.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners