“Aria, look at me,” he said softly. He revealed the sand dollar in the palm of his hand.
She inhaled sharply. “How?” She reached out and caressed the top of the shell. He took her wrist with his other hand and flipped it so that the sand dollar transferred to her palm.
“The string was pretty flimsy,” he answered. “But can you tell me why was it hanging in your car? Why’d you keep it?”
She inhaled. “Have you ever heard about the story behind the sand dollar?”
He tried not to laugh at her attempt to change the subject. “You’re avoiding my question.”
SIXTEEN
Aria’s gaze never left the sand dollar. She had it preserved because it was the most romantic gift she’d ever received and it made her smile whenever she looked at it, but he didn’t need to know that. “They say this flower shape here—” her finger drifted over the top of the shell “—looks most like an Easter lily. Then inside the center of the flower is the star of Bethlehem.”
“That is extremely cool,” David said, “but—”
“Oh, there’s more,” Aria continued, trying her best not to smile. He was so cute when his brow furrowed. She sobered at the next part. “The four holes represent the...the scars Jesus has in his hands and feet and side. But when you flip it—” she looked up to make sure she had David’s attention and turned the sand dollar over “—the back looks like the Christmas flower.”
He scrunched up his forehead. “The mistletoe?”
“No.” She giggled. “The poinsettia. Look!” He stepped closer and bent down to see it in the little light that shone through the windows from the moon. “And...they say if you snap the sand dollar in half it’ll break in a way that leaves you five doves so you can use them to spread goodwill and peace.”
David pressed his lips together and nodded. “Pretty cool.”
She sighed. “But for me, I love the sand dollar because it’s so delicate yet it can withstand the waves hammering it from all sides...over and over. And the shell doesn’t break until its occupant leaves it behind. It gives me hope that God made me to survive whatever life throws at me even though I feel like breaking.”
Her eyelids fluttered to fight back the tears. She had meant to tell the story in order to keep things light and redirect the conversation but somehow her true emotions kept leaking out—literally, sometimes—in front of David. She inhaled deeply, then forced a laugh. “And then there are those who think they are mermaid coins.”
Aria looked up, expecting to find David’s laughing eyes, but instead his intense gaze locked on hers and he looked anything but amused. He lifted the string from her hand and looped it around her wrist so the sand dollar hung from it. Before she could ask him why, his hands slid over her jaw and behind her neck. He dipped his face and their lips touched.
His hand dropped to her back and pulled her closer. She rose on her toes to deepen the kiss, and the armor around her heart broke. To care and be cared for—oh, how she missed that. If only she could pretend they were just kids again. That there were no worries, no circumstances...
Three loud beeps reached her ears. Her heart dropped and she stumbled back. “What was that?”
His face paled. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop thinking about mistletoe and how much I’ve missed you and—”
“No!” A laugh, deeper than anything she’d experienced in the past two years, erupted. “Not the kiss,” she said, trying to stop laughing at his injured expression. “The...the beeping.”
“Oh. That.” He produced a sheepish grin that made him all the more attractive. Her heart was in serious trouble now.
“That was my phone.” He slipped it from his pocket and groaned. She peeked to see the message from Valentina.
I think they’ve found me. Hiding in closet.
“Are the bombs ready?”
He shrugged. “I would’ve liked to give it more time for the potassium nitrate crystals to form, but I’ll take what we can get. If she needs us, we go now. Help me wrap the underside in foil?”
Aria took long strides to the pantry and, after finding the foil, got right to work. “Text Valentina and ask her if she could describe her hiding place. If she can give us the house color or some kind of landmark it will help us find her faster. I don’t know the north side as well as the south.”
David nodded. A moment later the phone buzzed and they read the text together.
1521 Sunrise Blvd. Battery Almost Dead.
She watched David text an encouraging reply with a missive to stay put.
Aria ripped off a strip of tinfoil and wrapped it around the underside of the smoke bomb. “Seems odd, don’t you think?”
He joined her in the task. “What do you mean?”
“Do you know where we are? Do you know the address?”
He shrugged. “No, but I don’t know the area as well.”
“I’ve hiked these streets and trails for two years, and I don’t know the addresses. I have a vague idea of the road names—I recognize Sunrise Boulevard—but even tonight, I didn’t stop and look at the numbers by the door.”
“If you were all alone and wanted someone to come and help, you might have paid more attention.”
“Maybe,” she acknowledged. “But it was also the speed in which she replied to you. Instantaneous. As if she had it copied and ready.”
His fingers stilled. “You have a point. Are you changing your mind about going?”
She shook her head. “No. If there’s a chance she’s in danger, we need to help her. But your hostage theory seems more and more likely. I’m glad you thought of the smoke bombs.”
His hands reached for hers. “Aria, I owe you an apology. It’s clear to me you aren’t running from risk.”
She squeezed his hand and let go of him, but continued working, too shy to look up. “Thank you.”
“And when I kissed you—”
“David,” she warned. She really didn’t want to start talking about their possible relationship right now.
“No, just let me finish. I know you don’t want to start up where we left off so...so I will try to respect that, even though it’s clear we’re perfect for each other.”
She let out an exasperated laugh. The man was stubborn.
“But I’m not trying to sway your opinion. Except it seemed like you wanted to kiss me just as much as I wanted—”
“David! Please!”
He held up his hands. “Just trying to communicate everything I’m thinking. Seemed you were really big on that earlier today.”
“You know this isn’t what I meant,” she growled.
“But there’s some truth to it,” he said, his voice soft this time. “If I had just told you how much I loved you in person instead of in a card, then maybe you wouldn’t have had to deal with your dad’s passing alone. Maybe things would have been different.”
Aria had suspected, maybe even hoped, that’s what the card might have said. But by the way he carried on today she hadn’t wanted to believe it. Her vision blurred, which didn’t take much in the low light conditions.
“Did you...did you ever love me too?” he asked.
“Of course I did.” She jerked her focus to the windows. She hadn’t meant to raise her voice. “But...but things have changed, circumstances have changed. Sometimes you don’t get to have everything you want because it might not be the best decision in the long run.”
“What I want or what you want?”
Aria balled her hands up in fists. It seemed as if he was trying to trick her into saying something, but she didn’t have anything to hide. She had told him everything. “Does it matter, David?”
“It depends,” he answered. “Are you staying away from me and architecture for your sake or your mom’s sake?”
Ar
ia’s mouth fell open. She had never considered...but she was so tired and her emotions so confused she honestly didn’t know. There was a time that she admired and loved how David always went for what he wanted. He wasn’t passive, given to waiting for things to work themselves out. He was a man of action. Usually, she preferred that, but tonight she was so weary she wanted him to give up without a fight. Besides, even if she was able to analyze and explain in detail all her reasoning, he still might not agree with it. This was partly—or maybe mostly—her fault. She should’ve never kissed him back. Her lips burned at the memory. She shook her head. “I can’t separate it right now, and I’m afraid you’re just going to have to accept that.”
David stared at her for a moment before he nodded.
Aria breathed a sigh of relief. He had let it go for now.
“Daylight will be here before we know it. That was the last smoke bomb. Are you ready?”
“No,” Aria answered truthfully. “But I’ll go anyway.” She grabbed her bag but after fingering the heavy laptop, she realized it would only weigh her down. David filled his tool belt with the prepared smoke fountains and a lighter. He lifted the nail gun, made sure it was fully stocked, hooked it on a loop on his right side and led the way out the front door.
“Wait.” She fingered the note she had revised on the counter. “Do you have any cash?”
He laughed and pulled out several twenty-dollar bills. “Wow. You have a lot of cash.” She placed them on the counter, underneath her note, and followed him. “I’ll pay you back my portion as soon as I can get to a bank.”
“Aria kidding me?” he asked, chuckling at himself. “Seriously, don’t worry about it. I always stock up on cash before I travel. When we get back home, we’ll contact the owners and make sure everything gets squared away.” He opened the door but held a hand out, indicating she should wait and let him go first. After a moment he nodded and opened the door wider. “I think it’s clear,” he whispered.
She set her laptop against the side of the house underneath the porch overhang. If they got out of this alive, maybe she could pick it up later. It was doubtful the hard drive was still intact, but she’d like to at least make an effort to see if anything could be salvaged.
“Do you know which way to go? There’s not enough network available to let us use the map features on our phones. I checked.” David grabbed her hand and squeezed.
“I think so. The state park is nine miles wide near the highway. It’s more narrow here, which means we’ll need to go off the beaten path to get there faster.”
“So be prepared to crawl over fallen trees?”
“Maybe. I think there’s a thin trail to the west that should take us where we want to go. If I’m remembering right, that is.”
“I think we better go back to the no-light policy, but I brought the flashlight with me just in case.”
She took a big breath and let her eyes acclimate to the outdoors. Mentally, she tried to get her bearings and picture where Sunrise Boulevard was from their location. Once she was sure they weren’t being watched, she tugged on his warm hand and they entered the dark forest once again.
SEVENTEEN
David figured they had walked forty-five minutes in silence. The quiet was making him sleepy, and the fog that had settled on the ground made it even harder to see each step in front of them. At least she was still willing to hold his hand. He’d already kept her upright three times and she’d helped him not fall on his face...well, who was keeping score anyway?
If Aria felt anything like he did, then she was too exhausted to keep up conversation anyway. “I’m starting to wonder if we should’ve stayed the night and rested before trying to find her.”
“Me too,” Aria admitted with a sigh. “But if I’m leading us where I think, then we’ve got a fifteen-minute walk ahead of us. That’s it. And I figure we have a better shot at helping her escape in the dark than the light.”
“Agreed. It’s too late to turn back around anyway.”
“So what exactly is the plan? I’d feel a lot better if we knew how this was going down.”
He shrugged. “What’s to plan? If we see the Hummer, we know we’re dealing with a hostage situation. We light the smoke bombs underneath their car. When they run out, I shoot them with the nail gun...probably aiming at their legs so they can’t continue to chase us. We rescue Mrs. Swanson, run away and hide somewhere else until the cops can help.”
Aria put her palms against the sides of her face. “First off, I know she’s Mrs. Swanson, but could we just refer to her as Valentina? I know it’s not fair to her, but whenever I hear the name Mrs. Swanson, I think of Barbara.”
“Yeah, I get that—she made the best cookies in the lobby. Better than my grandma’s cookies, but don’t tell anyone that. Remember the oatmeal butterscotch ones?”
Aria put a hand on her stomach and a loud gurgle erupted in the forest. “More than ever. I’m hungry again. New rule—no talking about food. Second, could we come up with a less gruesome plan? Shooting those guys in the legs sounds so medieval.”
David crossed his arms over his chest. “What did you have in mind? You want me to shoot their pant leg, taking care not to hit any flesh, but still trapping them to a post?”
“I’m guessing by your tone that’s not a very likely scenario?”
David laughed. “Aria, I haven’t even taken this thing for a practice round. And I’m not a teenager anymore. I don’t spend time shooting rounds in my dad’s garage for fun. There are no more contests with my brothers.”
The hard-packed dirt trail widened and a layer of mulch covered the remainder of the path. “We must be getting close,” Aria commented. “So let’s stop now.” She pointed at a sign ten feet in front of them. “I think it’s time to work in a little practice.”
David raised an eyebrow. “You’re serious?”
“Aim for the first letter.” She squinted. “I can’t really tell what it says from here.”
“In this fog and lighting, I can barely see it at all.” He lifted the nail gun off the tool belt. “I have it set up for fast succession. Did you know this puppy can shoot sixty nails per minute? The magazine holds six hundred. Of course I can probably only get that much out of the battery charge, but it would be a pretty intense ten minutes.”
“Will the gunmen know there’s that kind of time limit on it?”
He pursed his lips. “Let’s hope not. Give me a minute. I’m switching the drive to a single shot instead of rapid succession. I need to disable the safety. Normally you have to press down into the surface to get it to shoot.”
“I’m aware,” she said.
David tilted his head right to left to loosen up his neck muscles. Of course she knew that. He flicked the switch, removed the safety and exhaled.
Ka-ching. Dirt flew up ten feet away.
Aria gasped.
“Pretty safe to say I’m a bit rusty.”
“Looks like it.”
“Would you like to take a shot, my lady?” he retorted.
“I was merely agreeing with you. Please continue.”
David stared at her a moment and recalled her teasing about being the fastest nail gun shooter in the West. Even years ago she had a sly smile about her when he relayed his ability and stories about shooting practice. Why hadn’t he seen it before? “You’re a good shot, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
There it was. More of her evasive techniques. He grinned. “I should’ve known, growing up with your dad...”
Her lips twisted to the side, confirming his suspicions. “I knew it.”
“David, it was a long time ago,” she said.
“No, no. The least you could do is show me now.”
“I told you I don’t want anything to do with...”
“Ye
ah, I’ve heard you and I don’t buy it. The least you could do is save my pride by showing me what you got.”
She huffed then stepped to the side. “Fine. But Dad didn’t teach me to shoot one of these.”
“What did you shoot then?”
“My dad loved going to the shooting range. He had an assortment of guns.” She flashed an apologetic smile. “Real guns.”
“I see. Well, I’m man enough not to be threatened by a woman that can shoot better than me. Have at it.”
She took a step away from him. “You’ve been warned.”
Ka-ching. The branches to the left fifteen feet ahead shook, startling her. She took a step back and then pow, pow, pow.
“Whoa. Hold on. Hold on.” He held his hands out. “Hopefully all the trees give us some sound barrier, but it’s still not quiet.”
She handed the gun back to him. “It’s not as loud as I thought it would be either. Certainly not as loud as a 45-caliber. You have the safety back on?”
He nodded.
“Then I want to see how I did.” She hustled to the sign and held her phone up to the wood.
David quickened his step and let out a small groan. She had hit the first three letters of the sign. Right in the middle. “I want a rematch,” he said. “You got a warm-up shot. I think I should too.”
They ran back and this time he made his mark each time.
“Feel better?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. And if we’re going to face guys with real guns, a little confidence can go a long way.”
“Good. Because even if I was a better shot, there’s no way I would be able to shoot at those gunmen. That gun is too heavy for me to go more than a few shots.”
He slipped the safety on and reattached the gun to the belt. “Fair enough. Speaking of which, we should keep moving. If they did hear us, no doubt they’ll want to investigate.”
“We’re still a good mile away. No way anyone heard us.” She trekked forward at a much faster clip than they had previously set. The adrenaline from shooting practice seemed to have taken the place of caffeine. They both were more awake and alert.
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