Chapter 150
Ingredients For Potential

As they rolled into November, an opportunity presented itself to Maya. Maybe more to the point, a previously benched idea – on account of her advancing pregnancy and eventual delivery – was pulled back to the forefront by a… kindly agent of rebellion. Back when she'd done her field work at the middle school, she had discussed the thought of forming a baking club for the seventh and eighth graders with friend and former science teacher Felicia Brown. It was a thought that meant a lot to her, especially for the work she had done and still did with her own junior bakers, but of course with summer, and the wait for Jamie… she hadn't been thinking about the school at all. She'd merely concentrated on her boys, now a trio, did some reading for Patty… For now, it felt like more than enough.

And then she'd gotten a call. Felicia Brown asked if she could drop by for a visit. She had checked in now and then since Maya had finished her time at the school, and she knew that she'd had Jamie, but there just hadn't been time to come by and see him or anyone else before. So, Felicia and her wife, Marlene, came for dinner, giving Maya her first occasion to really go about baking something more than cupcakes or cookies in some time. It wasn't until this cake was brought to the table that the underlying reason for the visit – other than to get a look at the Friar boys – was revealed.

Much as the kids had been showing a strong, united front against art teacher Sue Cartwright and her behavior toward certain students, primarily eighth grader Bodhi Thompson, the situation remained an ongoing one. Despite a spreading hope, she was there, immovable, and it was of Mrs. Brown's opinion that what was at risk of spreading now was something harmful to the student body, and she would not stand for it. If she couldn't vacate the bad, then she felt that what they needed to do was balance things out with an equal and in fact stronger force of good. And that meant getting Maya into that school. She couldn't be the art teacher ("Not yet.") but that didn't mean she couldn't have another purpose.

So, she'd gone to the principal. She was pretty immovable, too, and she knew how to make her argument for this. In no time at all, she'd convinced the man to approve the baking club and to hire Maya as its instructor.

"He's going to call you tomorrow, which is why I had to come and tell you tonight," Felicia revealed with a proud grin, seeing the stunned smile on her former student and would-be colleague's face.

She'd still been too stunned to speak, so Felicia had used this as her chance to explain further. They would meet twice a week, potentially Tuesdays and Thursdays, after school. She would have a budget – provided by the school, Mrs. Brown said, though Maya suspected part of her argument to the principal had her footing part of the bill – and access to facilities through the school cafeteria. And she already had several interested potential club members lined up.

"Please say yes, because if you don't, I will have to do it, and… Marlene…" she'd turned to her wife, hearing her make a noise to suggest this would not have been a good idea. "Please… say yes…"

She's said yes. And now here she was, headed into the middle school for her first day of baking club. She was excited… a little nervous, of course, but mostly excited. She presently had sixteen kids signed up to be part of the club, nine from the eighth grade, seven from the seventh grade. From what she'd been hearing – through those of the club members she already knew or counted as her junior bakers – they were just as excited at the prospect as she was, if not more. Maya had not had any direct contact with the art teacher since her hiring, and frankly she was in no hurry of changing that, but everyone she'd spoken to between then and now suggested that Sue Cartwright was not pleased.

"She knows her days are numbered," Felicia declared with a near cackle of a laugh.

Maya was not going in there with the intention of paying any mind to her possible processor. All she cared about was being exactly what those kids needed her to be. She had worked out a plan for that first week, knowing that some among them would already have some skills, whether via her intervention or not, and she needed to know what she was working with before getting in any way ambitious about her projects.

The one part she'd had to consider about taking up this position that had nothing to do with the school itself was what to do about the boys. Would she be allowed to bring them along if she decided to? Maybe not Jamie, not now, with how small he still was, but then Noah… He liked to help her, same as Elliott did, but he had preschool, and when he was done, he'd come home, and she wouldn't be there, two afternoons per week. Pappy Joe and Patty assured her they'd be more than happy to look after the three of them while she met with her club on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons… on the promise that she bring them back something, of course.

She'd spent weeks back here when she'd done her field work, and it had been like travelling back through time, returning to a time when she'd been a student, when she'd met the people who had forever changed her life, either with mentorship, with friendship, in time, with love, and little blond boys that brought even more love… The entire time of her field work she had done her best to simply focus on what she had to do. She didn't want to get it in her head that she could ever return to this place and see it become her home once more, the place where she would get to be a teacher and carry on with the dream she'd envisioned for so long. There was no guarantee, especially with a teacher who seemed unlikely to be retiring any time soon. She couldn't just wait for the position to open up, not with a growing family. She needed the work.

It was different now. She still wasn't a teacher, Sue Cartwright still held the post, yes, but she was here, too. Two afternoons a week, for a few hours, with fourteen kids… A start. More than a start… Was she launching some kind of outright battle against the problematic woman? No, not at all. All she was bringing was… something different. And maybe, just maybe… the tide would turn. Whether she would only continue from the sidelines, leading her baking club here while maybe gaining a teaching post elsewhere, or find herself lined up to take over once the other teacher finally got the message, well… Time would tell. She just couldn't sit back and do nothing. This school, these kids… They all meant too much not to try.

She was walking in as even less of a stranger as she had done the last time she'd returned here. The faculty and staff remembered her well, and they were happy to see her, happy to have heard about the baking club. Soon, she was on her way to the cafeteria, there to be reunited with the kitchen staff. Some of them had been here even when she'd been a middle school student, and they felt as good as family. They showed her where everything was, and she went right to work. She wanted to have a couple of things either out of the oven or in the process of baking by the time the kids showed up. Today would mostly be about getting to know each other, seeing what skills they already had on hand, but also liked the idea of having something to offer them as a greeting. How better to get to know one another than with some treats to share, especially after a day of classes?

When the last bell rang, she was startled. Oh, they would be here soon… Well, her cupcakes were not frosted, but they were ready, so… they could decorate them, that'd be something. She soon went about setting out various toppings, the better for the kids to help themselves. Hearing the telltale squeak of the swing door, she looked up to find an uncertain boy standing just inside, staring back at her.

"Baking club?" she asked him, and he nodded. "You're in the right place," Maya smiled. "Come in, please. You're in the seventh grade, I think?" she asked. Sure, she'd mostly interacted with those kids who had taken art last year, so he could have been an eighth grader this year who hadn't been in her class, but she didn't think so. The boy nodded. "I'm Maya," she held out her hand. She hadn't been sure whether to introduce herself by her first name or not, but she'd gone with her gut here and it felt right, especially with how the boy started to relax and shook her hand.

"Roman. Roman Day," he introduced himself, and she chuckled. The boy blinked.

"I should have known. I had your brother in art class while I was here last year," she explained, and he understood. More than that, he had the face of someone who'd just put two and two together, suggesting that big brother Dakota had mentioned the teacher in training. That reminded her… "You've got… two more brothers, yeah?"

"Yeah, we're all two years apart," Roman explained. "I'm the second." So, they would be somewhere in fifth and third grade… Maya smiled to herself, thinking of carrying on at this school, seeing all four of those Day boys go by, one by one.

"Nice. Well, happy to have you here. Do you already bake or…"

"Yeah, our dad showed all of us. I'm okay," Roman shrugged. "Thought it'd be fun."

"It will be," Maya agreed, then, "Hopefully. It's my first day, kind of nervous," she admitted in a whisper, which Roman probably hadn't even heard. His attention had been drawn over to the cupcakes. "Go ahead and grab one of those, decorate it however you like."

X

Lucas remembered being here, at the ranch, with his grandparents. He remembered being a kid, not that much older than his own boys, riding along with Granny Emm or Grandpa Jax, then on his own… He couldn't say whether he'd ever pictured himself going on to do anything like competing, making it his focus, his goal. Either way, as most stories rounded up when they involved him and the ranch, there was that familiar beat again. After his grandfather and then his grandmother had passed on, he'd stopped coming… so he'd stopped riding. He hadn't even thought about it, as though he could never consider it, because his inner grief would keep it from connecting with him.

Now he was back, he had been back, and as he'd been considering what his place might be here, now that he wasn't going to be a vet anymore… His eyes would keep turning whenever he'd see riders go by, whenever he'd see them with their trainers, developing skills… It had taken a little while but he'd finally started going out there. He didn't know what possessed him to decide that day was the day, only that he'd been helping out in the stables one afternoon, and there he'd been… Jet… He'd been on the verge of being sent off to another ranch, just outside of Austin, but then the move had fallen through. Lucas suspected that Juliet had made a last-minute switch, for his sake, for the boys'. Elliott loved Jet, and when Noah had met him, oh… He'd never asked her for sure, but it felt like something she'd do, her gesture to show that he belonged here, in whatever way he'd end up taking his place.

When Lucas had first taken Jet out to ride, he felt, again, some discreet guiding hands putting him on the path. Whether that was true or not, whoever it was… it had been worth it. By now, any day he found himself stopping by Sullivan Stables, he didn't think he'd had one of those days without stopping in to see Jet and take him out for a turn around the property. The horse had become just as attached to him, they were becoming a team, and it felt as though reaching across time, back to his days with Marianne Sullivan, Jax Murphy…

Maybe this was his road, opening up ahead of him. He still worked with his father, and he would continue to. But he would come here, he would ride, more and more… He had this idea, maybe inspired by his sons, of ending up as a riding instructor, and as soon as he'd started to think about it… it had felt right. Would that be the extent of his involvement with the ranch? No, not at all, but it was a start. He'd been spending a lot more time with the team here, in part for him to improve his own riding skills but also to watch them, to see what they did and how they worked.

Very recently, his contribution to the ranch had turned toward assisting Juliet, Donna, and several others in preparing as Sullivan Stables was about to host a state-wide competition. He had always loved when they'd have those, back when he was little, coming to see his grandparents. He had many memories of sitting with them as they'd watch various competitors. He remembered sitting between them both, then by his grandmother after his grandfather had passed, listening to them as they told him what was going on, like his own personal commentators. He had never competed in any of those events, and the only event he could be said to have competed in, elsewhere, was… well, not one he'd ever wanted to look back on. They didn't speak about it, especially not Pappy Joe, who understood better than ever the rift he'd nearly caused. That was all in the past, though it had skimmed near the surface, as Lucas worked to assist in the ranch's preparations.

They did have one event where he could potentially be entered, him and Jet together. It would be about as low stakes as could be, kind of more for fun than anything else, a ribbon and a small cash prize… that, and maybe something that would give his sons a thrill, something small to honor the memory of those who'd led him here, as he went about taking his place at the ranch. The only thing that possibly held him back at first was this thought like maybe he was getting ahead of himself. Maybe he needed to wait, until the next one, keep practicing until then.

"No," Maya had shaken her head when he'd finally told her all this. He'd looked puzzled, and she'd repeated herself. "What are you waiting for? You should do it. You said so yourself, it barely counts." He'd given her another look at this and she'd pointed at him. "If you wait, and you keep training, you'll be too good, you won't be able to do that one," she'd challenged, and from there he'd really had no leg to stand on.

"You're going to make a sign, aren't you?"

"Oh, a big one. Maybe in three parts, then Elliott and Noah can both have one of their own."

The competition had been held just this past weekend, and Lucas felt deeply that he would remember it for a long time. It wasn't so much about the competitions themselves, the riders and their horses, but the fact that he got to attend it with Maya and their boys. He would remember sitting with Elliott and Noah on his knees and giving them the same sort of commentator treatment that his grandparents used to give him. Now and then, he'd turned to include Jamie into these exchanges, even as the two-month-old spent the better part of the events asleep in his mother's arms. Maya would just nod and smile, as though standing as their baby boy's proxy.

Finally, he'd left the boys to settle on the bench while he went to find Jet when their event came up. As promised, there was the sign in three parts, held out to cheer him on. They were not exactly aligned… or held the right way up in places… but the sentiment was there.

He did pretty well for himself, as far as he was concerned. If you asked his 'cheering section,' he'd been the best one out there, all levels combined. He appreciated the sentiment.

"We did pretty good, huh, Jet? Yeah, you were the best one there, I agree," Lucas smiled as he walked the horse around that afternoon, thinking back to the weekend's event.

If he'd wanted it all to show him something, not just about personal skills but his plans, his ideas, then he really thought he'd achieved this goal. There were very few things he'd felt this sure about in his life, and he'd always found that following his heart where it told him to go was usually the wise move.

"One last walk around, and then I have to go." The horse nudged at his shoulder and Lucas chuckled. "No, I know, but I have to go. I was told there'd be cupcakes," he insisted with a shrug. Jet sounded almost disappointed. "Tell you what, I'll see if we can't make you one that's okay for you to eat, deal? You earned it."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners