Never Surrender

by Stacy Claflin

  After what felt like five years, the class finally ended. But it brought only a little relief since she still had two more to sit through before lunch.

  The only good thing was that she and Damon had the same lunch period. The question was how would she survive the next two hours if they dragged on as slowly as the last.

  Luckily her next class, history, was showing a movie about Viking times. That held promise of keeping her attention and making the time pass more quickly. The only thing it didn’t allow for was her looking outside because the outer shades were drawn. But it wasn’t a huge deal—if she couldn’t see out, nobody could look in.

  Nothing to worry about.

  She quickly got sucked into the movie and was disappointed when the bell rang for the next class.

  Math. She’d have no choice but to focus since everything built on the previous lessons. Her eyelids grew heavy, but she managed to stay awake enough to take notes and mostly pay attention. The concept made sense, and she could find videos online to fill in the blanks later.

  The bell rang, meaning it was finally time for lunch. She wasn’t particularly hungry but couldn’t wait to see Damon.

  He put his arm around her. “How was your morning?”

  She groaned. “Awful. I could barely pay attention.”

  He frowned. “Thinking about everything else?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know how Mom expects me to go on with life as normal. Can you believe she’s still in Idaho? So much for just looking at houses.”

  “She’s with her friend, right?”

  Ariana shrugged. “Brenda was there for the weekend. I don’t know what’s going on now.”

  “Why don’t you call her?”

  “Brenda?”

  “No. Your mom.” Damon kissed her forehead. “I can grab our food while you talk to her.”

  Ari frowned. “I’m not sure I want to deal with her right now.”

  “Tell her how all this is affecting you. She probably doesn’t realize.”

  “How can she not?”

  “She isn’t here to see how stressed you are.”

  Ariana crossed her arms. “She should know.”

  “I’ve never known her to be a mind reader. Just call. Hearing from you could be what it takes for her to come back.”

  “But how long will she stay?”

  “Long enough for you and your dad to convince her to forget moving. Just try. For me?” He gave her his puppy-dog eyes, an expression she could never say no to.

  “Fine. You do realize one of these days I’m going to be able to resist that look of yours.”

  He gave her a playful smirk. “But until then, I plan to use it to my full advantage.”

  “Enjoy it while you can.” She gave him a quick kiss. “I’ll meet you out by that oak tree.”

  “You’re going to make me carry all the food by myself?” He gave her the puppy eyes again.

  She shoved him. “Stop.”

  “Wow, you’re resisting it already. Bummer.”

  Ariana managed a small laugh before heading outside. Glancing back, she noticed Lieutenant Johnston tailing her. Usually, it would annoy her, but given someone had been following her and Ava, she was grateful.

  Once outside, she looked around for anyone suspicious. The man might change his coat or even trim his eyebrows, but there was nothing he could do about his big nose. She’d recognize that easily enough.

  Thankfully, the only people outside were students. Mostly outcasts who avoided the drama of the cafeteria and the pecking order of who sat where.

  Leaning against the oak tree she and Damon liked to eat under when they were in the mood to get away from everything else, she glanced around for any teachers before making her call. Kids weren’t allowed to use their phones during school hours. Lieutenant Johnston wouldn’t care, but any teachers wandering around would.

  Much to her surprise, Mom answered almost right away. “Ari, sweetie! It’s so good to hear from you.”

  “Where are you?” Ariana didn’t feel like dealing with pleasantries. Especially since she had such limited time.

  “Didn’t Dad tell you? I’m looking at houses just outside Boise.”

  “For three days?”

  “Some new houses hit the market this morning. Brenda told me two of them were even better than my favorites from the last two days. I had to stay and see them.”

  “Where are you staying?”

  “One of Brenda’s rentals. The last renters just moved out, and in exchange for board I’m cleaning it for her.”

  “How convenient,” Ari muttered.

  “What’s the matter, sweetie?”

  “Seriously?” Ariana snapped.

  “I know you and Dad aren’t happy about this, but I made my intentions clear. Our town isn’t safe anymore—if it ever was.”

  “You can’t just leave without telling us! And you really can’t go looking at houses on your own. You’ve split our family up. I can’t pay attention in school, and it’s your fault. My grades are going to fall, and I won’t get my academic accomplishments. Then where will I go from there? Not graduating at all?”

  “Ariana, you aren’t giving this a fair chance.”

  “No. You’re the one who’s being unfair! Dad would never try to move away if you didn’t agree.”

  “He’s certainly doing what he wants. Which is nothing.”

  “Mom, would you listen to yourself?”

  “You two need to listen to me. I know you don’t want to leave your friends, but you have to at least give this a chance. Neither of you have even been here, felt the freedom. Come with your dad and see. What’s the harm in looking?”

  “Maybe because we don’t want to. We’re happy with our lives the way they are. The—”

  A man in a trench coat appeared from behind a black van across the street.

  “Ari?” Mom asked.

  Heart pounding, she leaned forward for a better look. He had a prominent nose but was too far for her to see any other features, like bushy brows. However, there was no doubt in her mind that it was him.

  It was the stalker.

  “Are you there, Ari?” Mom asked.

  “I have to go.” She ended the call and held up her phone to capture a picture.

  He stepped back behind the van.

  The photo came out a blur.

  A door slammed and the van sped away.

  Ariana tried to snap another picture, but it also came out blurry.

  She texted them to her dad, anyway.

  Chapter 16

  Alex paused to listen to snippets of conversations every time people passed by his desk. So far, there were no updates on the trench coat man or his black van since being seen at the school. Not surprising since Ariana had spotted him and witnessed him speed away.

  Finally, he couldn’t take it another moment. He closed his laptop then marched into Nick’s office, having to go the long way to avoid Crawford. Every time they crossed paths, the chief felt the need to talk to him. It was beyond annoying at this point.

  Alex tapped on the captain’s office door.

  Nick waved him in, his expression pinched.

  “Any news on the stalker?” Alex asked.

  “I just got a call from Ava that he was at the laser tag place. I sent Lieutenant Johnston to check it out, since he was already in the area.”

  Alex slunk into the chair, still feeling the aches from stress. “What does the guy want?”

  “I’m hoping it’s just a ploy to try and throw us off from focusing on the ring.”

  “Nobody else’s kids from the precinct have seen the man?”

  Nick shook his head. “Not that anybody has mentioned. Everyone knows about him at this point, so if anyone else’s kids were being targeted, they’d speak up.”

  Alex rubbed his temples. “And no civilians have called with complaints matching his description?”

  “Nope. Just appears to be our girls.”

  They exchanged a knowing look.
>
  “I assume you haven’t said anything to Zoey about this?”

  “Not a chance. She’s already halfway moved out of state.”

  Silence settled between them before Nick spoke. “Does it make you think you should give moving a chance?”

  “Are you on her side now?”

  “Of course not. It’s just that our girls are being targeted, so nobody would blame you.”

  “Are you having second thoughts?”

  Nick lifted a brow. “At this point in my career? After buying the house not too long ago? Not happening. But you have more flexibility, and your wife already wants to move. It just seems like more of a possibility. Something to think about?”

  Alex shook his head no. “I want Zoey to be happy, but not like this.”

  Nick’s phone rang. “I’ve got to take this. Talk soon?”

  “Yeah.” Alex headed back to his desk.

  Crawford stopped him halfway there. “Any more sightings of our guy?”

  “Nick said Ava saw him at the laser tag center. Ariana hasn’t seen him since lunch.”

  “Good thing you both have smart kids.”

  “Right.” Alex tried to move around the chief. “Excuse me.”

  Crawford didn’t budge. “Can we talk? Privately?”

  Alex’s pulse raced, but he kept his face steady. He started to say something, but then his phone rang. “I’ll find you in a while. I need to take this.”

  “Sure.” The chief sauntered away.

  Alex breathed a sigh of relief—until he saw the caller was Zoey. He accepted the call, despite his reservations. “Hold on. I need to go somewhere quieter.” He found an empty conference room then closed the door behind him. “I’m here.”

  “Have you thought more about coming over here?” Zoey asked.

  “I need to work all week. You know that.”

  “You also have extra time off from all that overtime you worked not long ago. Bring Ariana for a day or two. It’ll be fun.”

  “In the middle of the week?” Alex nearly asked if she was losing her mind, but he kept silent.

  “She has half days the rest of the week,” Zoey said. “It isn’t like she’s going to miss anything important.”

  Alex wracked his mind but couldn’t recall anything about half days. “Are you sure it’s this week?”

  “Yes. I’d planned a lunchtime photo shoot with her on Wednesday.”

  “And you want me to bring her to Idaho for a photo shoot?” Alex couldn’t hide the annoyance from his tone.

  “Not for pictures. So you two can look at some of the houses. There are two I’m in love with—and I know you’ll feel the same when you see them. Did I mention how much open space there is over here? Not just the homes, but the property. You’ve mentioned wanting land to build—”

  “Zoey, you can’t seriously expect us to pick up everything in the middle of the week?”

  “Why not?” she countered. “It isn’t like you have any big cases going right now. Or do you? New kidnappings I should be worried about?”

  “There have been no abductions around here.” Although he was skirting the truth since they were following a string of kidnappings—but none in town. And that trench coat guy hadn’t actually done anything wrong. Just hanging out where teenagers went.

  “Just come and have a look,” Zoey pleaded. “Then you can say you gave it a chance.”

  “Why do I need to say that?” he snapped.

  “For our family.”

  “If you cared about our family, you wouldn’t have left like you did.”

  She sighed dramatically. “We’ve been over this. I didn’t leave without letting you know. Did you ever find the note I left?”

  “Haven’t looked since I spoke with you. I’ve been busy.”

  “Please, Alex. I don’t want our family split apart. But at the same time, I can’t keep living where we are. I just can’t do it. How else was I supposed to get you to understand my desperation?”

  “So, you admit what you did was wrong?”

  “Not wrong. It was a ploy, though. I had to do something!”

  “We were going to talk it over with the Fleshmans over brunch. You didn’t even give that a chance.”

  “To give everyone a chance to try and talk me out of it? No. What we need is to work this out together. Just us. Nobody else. You don’t even have to drive. There are cheap flights, and they’re barely over an hour long. You two can come over for the day tomorrow. You could even stay longer—I’d love it if you did, and so would the twins. They keep asking about you two.”

  “You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?” Alex pinched the bridge of his nose, barely holding in a deep sigh.

  “I can book the flights if you want. All you have to do is show up.”

  “Fine.” The word flew out of his mouth before he realized what he’d agreed to.

  But he also didn’t regret it. It would show her that he was trying—even though he didn’t need to prove anything when she was the one who had left. Plus, it put space between Ariana and the stalker. With any luck, he would be caught while they were gone.

  “What?” Zoey exclaimed. “You’ll come?”

  “Yes. Book the flights for tomorrow morning and evening. Ari and I are only missing one day of work and school.”

  “I can look into tonight through tomorrow night. That’ll give us more time.”

  “No. We’re going to need to pack, and Ari has homework. Tomorrow or nothing.”

  “Tomorrow it is. I’ll text you the information.”

  Hopefully he wouldn’t regret the decision.

  Chapter 17

  Alex nudged Ariana. “We’re about to land.”

  She glanced up from her homework. “Already?”

  “The flight’s under ninety minutes.”

  Ari groaned. “I’m never going to get all of this done.”

  “You don’t have to look at the houses if you don’t want to. I’m sure Mom will let you stay in the house she’s taking care of.”

  “Fat chance.” Ariana tucked some hair behind her ears. “No, I actually need to go with you. If we’re going to convince Mom to come back home, we both need to play this game, give our all today. Then maybe she’ll book flights with us back home tonight.”

  “She drove over.”

  “Well, she could still decide to drive back.”

  “We can only hope.” With any luck, he didn’t sound as doubtful as he felt.

  Ariana went back to her studies. Five minutes later, they were on the ground. After another twenty minutes went by, they saw Zoey and the twins waiting for them. All of Alex’s anger and frustration melted away at seeing them, and he raced over. He wrapped his arms around her, taking in her perfume and never wanting to let go.

  She clung to him. “I’ve missed you so much!”

  “So have I.” He let go of her then pulled Laney and Zander from their double stroller, squeezing them tightly while Ariana and Zoey reunited. Ariana didn’t look nearly as happy to see her mom as Alex felt.

  “Are you two hungry for lunch?” Zoey asked.

  “It’s only ten.” Ari’s tone held staunch irritation.

  If Zoey noticed, she didn’t react. “We can look at the houses first, then we’ll eat. Brenda’s updating listings while waiting for my call. She can meet us whenever we’re ready.”

  After Alex returned the twins to their stroller, he kissed their cheeks again. “Sounds good to me. Ari?”

  Their daughter shrugged.

  “Perfect.” Zoey hugged Alex again before pushing the stroller, leading them to her car. She asked Ariana questions about school but only got one-word replies.

  Once they were in the car, Zoey called Brenda then chatted excitedly to Alex and Ari about the houses they were about to see. The way she described them, they sounded like castles at the edge of the world.

  Ariana gave him an annoyed glance from the back seat. Laney tugged on Ariana’s shirt, and soon she was smiling as she played
with her younger siblings.

  Once they got out of the city, the traffic thinned and they passed more grassy fields. Eventually, Zoey turned off a main road—though calling it that was a stretch since they’d only seen two other vehicles—and onto a driveway. A long driveway. It took three full minutes to reach the house.

  “Look at that!” Zoey gestured toward the sprawling stone structure as if they couldn’t see it.

  “We’re looking at that?” Ariana exclaimed. “I mean, it’s okay. I’ve seen nicer.”

  “Castle!” Laney clapped.

  “I told you these places are amazing. This one is nearly four thousand square feet.” Zoey beamed as she parked the car in the circular driveway. “Brenda should be here any minute. Let me show you the yard. The property is on six acres, so we can’t see it all before she gets here—it’s huge.”

  Laney and Zander squealed once set free. They ran toward the house, chasing each other, Zander clinging to his favorite blue teddy bear.

  The trimmed grass seemed to go on forever, but there were pine trees in the distance behind the house.

  “Smell that air.” Zoey took his hand and smiled.

  He took in a deep breath.

  “There’s even a pond out back,” she said before he could respond. “We can sit on the porch and enjoy the view. It’s the same from the master bedroom. Want to see? It’s just around the house.”

  “A pond?” he asked. “Isn’t that dangerous with toddlers?”

  “Only if they’re unattended, and when does that ever happen?”

  Ari stepped in front of them. “It’ll happen a lot more without any grandparents nearby to babysit.”

  Zoey ignored the remark and led them all toward the back. Ariana brought up the rear, talking to the twins.

  While Alex definitely liked the property and the house from the outside, he couldn’t picture moving all the way out there. And given the way Ari kept looking at everything with her nose up, she wasn’t softening to the idea, either.

  “How far did you say the police department is?” he asked Zoey.

  “The one that’s hiring?” She looked deep in thought. “I’ll have to look again. It’s less than an hour.”