Despite her frequent maternity leaves and her greatly
reduced work hours, Maia had achieved her final promotion to Master of
Mysticism at Lucky Fortunes. When her psychic energies peaked, she often glowed
with a magical blue aura.
When they arrived, Maia noticed that there were party balloons decorating the lot.
“You wouldn’t be throwing me a surprise party here, would
you?” Maia asked Joy with suspicion.
“Oh no,” Joy reassured her. “The casino is hosting a black-tie
charity event tonight to raise money for Pools Without Ladders. Do you want to go? I’d like to, and I think you’d have a good
time...” she added mysteriously.
As long as it wasn’t a surprise party for her, Maia figured
she’d let Joy keep whatever information she was withholding, so she just laughed
and agreed to attend.
In the meantime, Maia and Joy spent the day trying their
luck at the slot machines and gambling tables, and relaxing at the bubble bar.
They also spent a little time hanging out around the
casino’s outdoor swimming pool—with
ladders!
After night fell and the time for the charity fundraiser
approached, Maia and Joy changed into their formal wear and went into the event
room and were served appetizers along with the other attendees while they
waited for the event to begin.
Shortly afterwards, the Master of Ceremonies stepped up to
the onstage podium. “Welcome to the
Pools Without Ladders Third Annual Charity Bachelor Auction!”
After the emcee finished her preliminary speech, the men were
introduced as they filed onto the stage. The attendees crowded near, and went
absolutely wild once the bidding began, shouting out bids as they waved their sign-paddles
enthusiastically.
“Boxers or briefs?” someone catcalled playfully.
A few women were completely overcome with excitement when a
bidding war erupted over Bachelor Number Two after he’d removed his shirt and
jacket to better show off his assets.
“All the men! All the
money!” one of them screamed.
“Ooh! Check out Bachelor Number Five,” Joy whispered in
Maia’s ear. “Wouldn't he make a great baby daddy?”
Maia giggled behind her hand. “Stop it!
You know that’s not included
as part of the date package!”
“True, but whatever you both decide to do together afterwards is your
own business. At least make a few offers
for him, Maia,” Joy urged. “I swear, if
you don’t... I’ll do it for you!” her friend cackled.
Maia allowed herself to be persuaded and soon got caught up
in the bidding. With Joy cheering her on, it wasn’t long before the emcee
announced that Maia’s offer was the winning bid for Bachelor Number Five.
Maia introduced herself to Mr. Ilivit, the bachelor with
whom she had purchased a date. “Call me Kale,” he said, “unless you’d rather
just call me Five,” he joked. “But seriously, I’m really glad it was you who
bought a date with me. I just know we’ll have an amazing time together!”
Kale and Maia made plans to go out for a lunch date together
later the following week and do some sightseeing afterwards, and Kale seemed as
though he was genuinely looking forward to it. Maia knew for certain that she
was!
As Maia and Joy left the casino to head home, Joy remarked,
“Well, don’t you just look like the cat that got the cream!”
“What? I only participated since it was for a good cause!”
Maia said with mock solemnity. “I believe every pool deserves a ladder!”
Joy just snickered.
The next morning, Kieran and Keegan aged into toddlers.
Maia began teaching them their toddler skills.
And later, while they played with their IFs Biscuit and
Boomer, Maia had a party for her older twins, complete with party balloons.
Happy birthday Thaddeus!
Happy birthday Layla!
Shortly afterwards, it was time for the witch quads and
their IFs to celebrate their birthdays as well.
Happy birthday Elise!
Happy birthday Ties!
Happy birthday Chloe!
Happy birthday Snaps!
Happy birthday Brielle!
Happy birthday Buttons!
Happy birthday Ian!
Happy birthday Zippers!
The following day was Graduation Day. Ties was named valedictorian, but all of them
had done extremely well in school.
Elise wasn’t sure if she’d rather be a singer or an actress,
but she did know she wanted to be famous! Regardless of which profession she
eventually chose, Ties was determined to be her press agent. Chloe was already
making money as a freelance photographer and planned to travel the world with
her IF Snaps, who wanted to participate in martial art competitions. Brielle
had decided on a career in music, probably as a temp for the local symphony at
first since she could play practically any instrument well. Buttons was going
to teach ballet. Ian had dreams of becoming a gourmet chef and Zippers was
going to create the perfect garden for Ian to get his produce from. Maia hugged them goodbye, knowing they would
all be very successful in their chosen occupations.
Finally the day Maia had eagerly anticipated arrived—the day
of her date with Kale. After the kids were off to school, Maia called Joy over to watch the babies while
she got ready and headed off to her lunch date.
Maia met Kale Ilivit at the Industrial Rose Eatery.
While they dined, the couple chatted away easily. Kale
talked about his job as a lifeguard and shared a little of his history, while
Maia told him about her family and her recent promotion.
After paying for lunch, Kale asked Maia if she was ready to
go sightseeing and if there was anywhere in particular she’d like to go. Even though she was a local, Maia hadn’t visited
very many places in Lucky Palms yet, so she asked him to surprise her.
Kale drove them to a little place called The Launching Pad,
and rented a hot air balloon for the rest of the afternoon.
Once they were aloft, he said, “Since I couldn’t decide on
just one thing you might want to see, I figured I would show you everything in
Lucky Palms all at once!”
Seeing the landscape from above was beautiful, and Maia told
Kale how much she was enjoying the view.
“Me too,” he answered, but Kale was looking at Maia when he
said it.
Slowly the day faded and evening approached. Maia knew their date would end, so she
suggested they share the champagne that had been packed in the basket with
them.
Maia offered a toast to the gorgeous sunset.
The couple got a little closer, and Kale made a toast to lovely views and winked at Maia.
Back and forth they made toasts, and as champagne bottles
emptied, the toasts got sillier.
“To unlimited free champagne!”
“To excellent lunches with enchanting women!”
“To ladder-less pools that make date packages possible!”
“To hot air balloons!”
“To charming bachelors in
hot air balloons!”
And then... Maia pounced.
Unsurprisingly, she returned home rather later than she had
originally intended. But that didn’t stop Joy from expecting Maia to recount
the date—in great detail.
Maia made it to bed eventually, and Diana curled up next to
her to sleep.
She expected to dream about her date with Kale, but come
morning, the only dreams Maia recalled were those of Samael.
Later that night, Maia found out that she was pregnant
again.
But even though she’d had a wonderful date with Kale and
would soon be having his baby, it wasn’t Kale she thought of. She could only daydream of being with her
soulmate again and imagine how wonderful it would be if she were carrying
Samael’s baby instead. Was this a sign that she was becoming obsessed—that she
couldn’t stop dreaming of being with him, even when she was awake? Was she so
focused on the possibilities of the future that she was no longer seeing the
precious moments of the present for what they were?
