December 23rd 2022

Chapter 189
Fall Time in Austin

Of all the times when they had experienced this feeling, as the first couple of weeks of the school year just slipped on by, Maya and Lucas both felt like this one was in a class of its own. It wasn't difficult to understand why, was it? Elliott was in kindergarten now, Maya was back to teaching full-time after the summer break, and Lucas and his father had been working on a few things that had kept them both very busy at the office… and they had Ava. Maybe something about essentially raising an eleven-year-old girl at the moment, when they had only ever had their tiny boys before. Whatever it was, suddenly the month of September was on its last legs when they could have sworn it had just begun.

If any of them was going to feel certain proof of that passage of time though, it was definitely going to be Maya. Oh, if all went by the date she'd been given, her twins were just two months away from being born now, give or take, but she knew very well it would likely be 'take.' She would be very surprised if she actually made it to her due date with the two of them, so really she was getting closer and closer to 'it could be any day now.' Somewhere in her mind she knew that even this day, today, could have counted, but no, this was much too early for her, and she was not going to so much as consider it. September would pass, and then October… November. It was going to be November, and the later the better.

At least she could count on her classes to keep her mind from spiraling down a path like that, her students… She had her little sister back for a second go, having ascended into the Polychromatics this time around, and as happy as she was to have her new 'badge' sticker to display, Eliza had been at her proudest in sharing a different 'upgrade,' Her name had changed now, she was Eliza Hart-Brett, and she announced herself as such because she was so very happy about her new family, her stepfather and sisters, and she wanted to show it.

Joining her in this group was Ruby Shelby… but not her twin. Due to other classes in their schedules demanding it, Abby Shelby was one period ahead of her sister, with the Mindscapes. It wasn't as though it had never happened before for them to be separated from one another in class, but generally speaking they preferred to be together, in some subjects especially, and art would have been one of those. Seeing the two of them and how they coped with this undesired split, Maya thought about her own twin sisters, Nellie and Gracie, but more than anything, as was to be expected, she thought of her unborn sons and how they would do someday. She also spared a thought for her eldest two, Elliott and Noah. They weren't twins, no, but they'd always gone around almost as if they were, hadn't they?

Now, in the morning, she had her brand-new seventh graders, and they were exciting and fascinating in their own ways, taking up the mantles of Morning Makers and Class Creatives and making them their own. She was very pleased, in the first of those groups, to be handed a couple of new students she knew, directly or indirectly, as little brothers. For one, she had Taylor Munroe, and she'd gotten to know him plenty even without his getting more and more familiar with his previously unknown older Orlando half-brothers. With Phoebe graduating from junior home baker to assisting at the bakery, Taylor had been known to drop in now and again, seeing perhaps if his big sister would be able to score him a free pastry. They were all for it, though they had compromised by giving him a part-time job, mostly to do any small task around the bakery that might need doing that a thirteen-year-old with no baking experience could do. He'd been spending enough time around them over the summer that Maya was willing to bet he had started learning things without ever realizing it. She was not surprised then when he'd signed up for the baking club. There was intrigue in him and he was following it. Time would tell if that would hold once the basketball season began…

If having Taylor there wasn't enough, Maya now had the privilege of welcoming her third student – if she could count the first as such when she'd only been a future teacher at the time – from the Day family. Lambert Day had arrived among her new students. After having known his two older brothers at one time or another, she had been curious to see what he would be like, and after a few weeks already she had found an affinity with him unlike that of Dakota or Roman. It wasn't difficult to see why. Lambert was an aspiring chef and baker, had been since he was barely tall enough to see over the kitchen counter, so even if he hadn't been an artist in the sense of pencils, paints, and the likes, he had an eye for creation that made him interesting to have around long before they factored the baking club into the story.

There had been no question of whether or not he'd do it. He'd been aware of Roman's participation in the club already, and even before last year had finished, Maya had been getting word via Roman that Lambert wanted in. Now here they were, the year was on, and the club was back, and Lambert Day could easily have led the whole thing. Thanks to Charlie, he had started working at the bakery, too, alongside their other junior bakers. It had been an easy leap then, with both boys working and being in class together, for Munroe and Day to become a familiar duo in hallways and classrooms.

Meanwhile, the month of September had slipped by just as quickly for Lucas for his own work, too. The longer he'd been working with his father, putting his degree to use, he had been finding his own rhythm, enough that he felt more and more like a partner, less so a son working under his father. It was reflected in the work they were putting down together, bringing new clients into the office...

And Thomas Friar was noticing it, too. He had not expected to find himself sharing an office with his son, not when he'd grown up with dreams of being a veterinarian. But then the shift had happened a few years back, because it had to, with the young Friars' circumstances being what they were, and so Lucas' course had deviated away from animal care to business, to business with his father. He would show it in gestures far easier than in words, but then his wife had been saying it for him. Melinda had told Lucas how much it meant to Thomas to have him there, how much it had reinvigorated his own feelings toward the work that he did. Now they were getting to see it, both of them, in how the business was growing.

That wasn't where it ended for Lucas, not when he also had the ranch. He continued to give Ava her weekly riding lessons, and maybe in due time he would agree that it was time to take on a second student, but between the office, and home - especially with two new babies on the way - and what he was already doing at Sullivan Stables, it felt more reasonable to stick to one for now.

Anyway, he preferred to keep his focus on Ava for now, for so many reasons. A lot of that came down to her whole situation at the moment, living with him and Maya while her father was in rehab... She was doing so good, most of the time, especially now that she'd switched classes and befriended Kelsey Farrell, but then every now and then, it would be like she'd been so caught up with being on the inside and suddenly she'd see herself from the outside and remember... and then she'd be sad all over again. This tended to happen not long after she'd get her letters. Bill had been writing to her, once a week, without fail, keeping her updated as best he could on how he was doing. She would write back, but there would still be that effect on her afterward, and that would come right at the end of the week, right on time for her riding lessons. That was when he could step in and try to lift her up again, and he would, no matter how long it took. So, no, he couldn't have any new student yet. Or if he did...

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked with a curious smile as he found Ava searching through some of the ranch equipment after her lesson ended, the last Saturday of September.

"Looking..."

"I can see that, yeah. If you tell me what you're looking for though, maybe I can help you find it... if it can be found." She stood back and turned to him, hands on her hips.

"Do you have a saddle for someone in a wheelchair?" she asked, and her aim revealed itself. He guided her out to where they might find someone who'd know for sure. As far as he could recall, he had definitely seen one somewhere around the ranch, but that had been a grown man, and he didn't know enough to be certain whether they had something suited for a child... say an eleven-year-old girl.

As it turned out, they did have one, but it hadn't been used in a very long time and had seen better days.

"Kelsey said she wants to ride?" Lucas asked Ava as they sat together, contemplating the worn seat.

"Sort of," Ava shrugged. "But I was telling her about my lessons with you and she sounded interested, so I figured I'd check first."

"Good plan," Lucas nodded appreciatively. "How about we see with Juliet if it would be possible to replace this one, get something suited for Kelsey, and then if she says yes, you can run it by her..."

"Okay," Ava quickly agreed, and Lucas was glad to see her smile as she did.

They were thankful each day, not so much for their own thought to reach out to the Farrells, or one connection that enabled another. They were just thankful for Kelsey herself and who she was, what she brought into Ava's life as her friend. It could just as easily not have worked with them, but it had, and the effects were clear. For one who'd claimed herself to be perfectly good with flying solo, facing any and all who would try and pick at her like she didn't care and couldn't be touched, now she got to see that it wasn't always true.

But she had Kelsey, and Kelsey made things better. Now, as much as she would be at the Friar house after school, and over the weekends, she would also go to the Farrells' just as Elliott would, Noah sometimes, too, or Max and Kelsey would come to the Friars' instead. Some days it would be the Friars, Farrells, McAllisters, and Olsens, all together, and that would be a lot of kids going around the house, but then to see them go as they did... They were and would always be welcome to bring this noisy chaos around.

"You know, I'd like to do another series, like the first one we did, you and me," Lucas told Ava after they picked up their now post-lesson snack from the ranch kitchens and sat outside.

"Yeah," Ava nodded with quick interest and possibly a few suggestions stored away for such an occasion. She always had ideas whenever they did their regular segments.

"But, also, I was wondering about how you would feel if we brought more kids in for this series," Lucas went on. He had been unsure how she would take this idea, afraid that she might see it as him being dissatisfied with the way things were at the moment, that she'd think she wasn't enough anymore or anything like that, which couldn't have been further from the truth. But that never happened, no. Instead, she received the idea with a gasp and wide eyes.

"That's a great idea," she nodded.

"Yeah?" he laughed.

"Yeah! Oh, we can have the boys..." she started, thinking aloud.

"Absolutely."

"And I bet Kelsey would want to..."

"I think so, too."

"Oh, of course, we can just have..." she gestured around an invisible group he could identify without further prompt. The usual suspects, right? Friars, Farrells, McAllisters, Olsens. Lucas just smiled at the idea, at the way it lit up her face, and at his inner admission that he now counted the Nash girl as a Friar, all the way, and maybe she counted herself that way, too.

"Alright, so we're going to need a plan, won't we?" he asked, and she bolted from the bench. "Hey, where are you going?" he called after her with a laugh.

"Paper and pen, what do you think?"

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners