Bea scratched at the ground and munched on the flowers surrounding Lotty. The boys hunted for almost-ripe huckleberries with Jason’s help. Lotty leaned her head back and let the sun warm her face. If only time would stand still. Everything about this moment was perfect: the smell of wildflowers, the bright blue sky with picturesque fluffy clouds, and the boys’ sweet sing-song voices.

She felt light enough to float away at any moment. Closing her eyes, she thought about Jason. He loved her. He hadn’t left her because he was annoyed by how emotional she’d been or because he’d fallen out of love. He’d left because he thought that was what she wanted. Then both feeling rejected, had pushed each other away. Images of her mom holding her and comforting her came into her head, and with them a wave of nausea. How could her own mother lie to her and hurt her so badly? The betrayal hurt more than Lotty wanted to acknowledge. She quickly changed her thoughts back to Jason and how incredible it had felt to sleep in his arms last night.

A kiss on her forehead made her jump. She wasn’t used to affection from Jason. He sat next to her with a smile. “Nervous?” he asked. 

“Just lost in my thoughts.”

“Any about me?”

“Plenty,” she said with a grin.

He was silent for several seconds before he said, “We need to figure out our next move. As much as I love hiding out here, we can’t stay here forever. We’re almost out of food and your sons’ ability to find edible berries is abysmal.” He nodded toward the boys who were dropping rocks in the little bowl Jason had given them.

Lotty smiled. “Can’t we find a store, get more supplies, and come back?”

“I have to get back to my job. I mean, I want to stay here if that’s what it takes to keep you safe, but we need a plan.” He rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand.

Lotty sighed. “I like it here, without your job. And without Officer Netley, Trinity, the gym, my mother, and...a killer. There are a lot of things I like being without.”

“Me too,” he said. “Why don’t we try to hike high enough to get cell reception again? We can check our voicemails and see if anything has happened. Maybe Kimberly knows something by now. Your phone’s been off, right?”

Lotty nodded. “Yeah, it should have plenty of battery left.” She shivered at the reminder of what they’d been avoiding. She didn’t want to know what Kimberly knew or find out if anything had happened. It felt much safer not knowing. She wrapped her arms around herself. 

“Good. Mine too.” He stood up and offered her his hand. “There’s a cool trail on the other side of the waterfall, but the base is a couple of miles away so why don’t we drive over and hike up from there?”

Lotty nodded and set her hand in Jason’s. He helped her up and pulled her close to him. “It’s going to be okay, Lotty. We’re going to figure this out together,” he said before rubbing his thumb along her cheek and kissing her.

Warmth spread all the way to her fingers and toes. It was such a small thing, but she loved the way her name sounded on his lips, the reassurance she felt when he told her it would all work out. She had just started to relax and feel safe again when he pulled back, kissed her forehead, and said, “I’m going to tether the hens back to the tent posts.”

She reluctantly let go of his hand and headed toward the tent. She packed a backpack with snacks, diapers and wipes, and water while Jason loaded the boys into the van. As soon as he put the van in reverse, the hens went ballistic. Their bocks turned into wild shrieks, their wings flapped so fast feathers flew everywhere, and they pulled on their twine leashes so hard the entire tent began to move.

“They wanna come,” Ty said. “Please, can we bring them?”

Lotty looked at Jason with wide eyes. Watching the hens get worked up was heartbreaking. They had solidified their standing as official members of the family this week and she didn’t want to leave them behind.

“They’ll overheat in the van. It’s too hot,” he said.

“Not if we bring them on the hike with us,” she said.

“Yeah,” Ty yelled, throwing his hands into the air. 

Aiden mimicked his brother and yelled.

“They won’t be able to walk that far,” Jason said.

“We can carry them,” Lotty said with a smile.

Jason sighed. “Fine, we’ll bring them.” He loaded Bea and Princess Sophia into the van. “So now we get to carry the boys and two hens up the mountain. Maybe we should see if we can find a few bunnies or a deer or two who’d like to be carried up to the waterfall.” He shook his head, but Lotty saw the smile he was trying to hide. 

They parked the van in the shade of a thick grove of pine trees next to a wide opening in the river. There was a large, sandy beach similar to Berry Beach, but it was covered in chunks of drift wood. To the side, large rocks stood as sentinels to the river. Lotty walked out toward the water and climbed onto one of the taller rocks. The deep, sparkling water below begged her to jump in, but her family was already waiting on her.

She hopped back off and helped Aiden into the carrier on Jason’s back. Ty clasped his hand around hers. In his other hand, he held the pieces of twine which were acting as leashes for the hens. Letting the hens lead the way up the trail made for a tediously slow pace. After a few minutes and less than fifteen yards of progress, Lotty scooped up the hens, one under each arm, and jogged up the trail. Ty ran after her, giggling while Jason watched with an amused grin. After they’d gone what Lotty assumed had been about a mile, Ty’s cheeks were dark red and his breathing was heavy. The poor kid was trying so hard, but his little legs couldn’t keep up. Lotty handed Jason the hens, which he accepted with a smile and raised eyebrows. Lotty scooped up Ty, who wrapped his arms around her neck and laid his head on her shoulder while exhaling, “Thanks, Mom.”

Before they could see the waterfall, Jason’s phone beeped. He set the hens down and sat on a rock. “We have service,” he said excitedly.

Lotty wasn’t ready to face her phone yet. Hiding from reality was much more appealing. “We’re so close to the waterfall,” she said, motioning to where the sound of rushing water was coming from. “Let’s get up there before we check our voicemails.”

“Okay,” Jason responded, scrolling through his texts.

“We’ll meet you up there,” she said, continuing up the trail.

“Gabriella sent me twenty-seven texts,” Jason said as Lotty rounded the bend. “Clients must be upset they can’t reach me.”

The path wove through a thicket of bushes and trees until it opened up next to the waterfall. It was even more beautiful from this side. It was slightly higher than the opening on the other side so they could look down on the waterfall. As she watched the hypnotic, rushing water, Jason, with Aiden on his back and the hens’ leashes in his hand, appeared by her side. He slid his free hand into hers. Ty watched intently. He looked from Lotty, to Jason, and back to Lotty and his face broke into a smile.

The hens checked out their new surroundings and Jason pulled his phone back out. “I’m going to have to get in touch with Gabriella soon. Clients are wondering what’s up and she has no answers for them. I’m going to lose a lot of business if we don’t find a way to go back quickly.”

Lotty found a flat rock and sat down. She pulled Ty onto her lap while she took her phone from her pocket and held the power button. When her screen showed she had fourteen voicemails, she sighed.

Jason sat on the edge of her rock and put his phone on speaker. His first several voicemails were from Gabriella. Lotty’s mind wandered in boredom until she recognized Cade’s voice. “Hey, uh, it’s Cade. I need to talk to you as soon as possible. I think I figured something out. Just call me back.” He rattled off a phone number.

Jason’s brows furrowed and little creases formed in his forehead.

Next came a message from Nikki. “Jason, where are you guys? I can’t get you or Lotty and I’m starting to freak out a bit. I hope you’re okay. It’s been almost twenty-four hours and then I can file a missing person’s report so if you’re not missing, please let me know! Um, also, I just gave Cade Warner your cell number. He was at your house trying to find you, saying he’d already been at your office, and he looked desperate. So, I gave him your number and Lotty’s. Hope that’s okay and sorry in advance if it’s not. Okay, bye. Call me.”

He had a couple more from Gabriella, several from Nikki, each one increasing in urgency, and finally one from Kimberly. She said they needed to get in touch, that the underground site had been taken down or, more likely, moved, and that the last message on it had been one targeting Brent and Nikki.

Lotty felt the blood drain from her face. While she and Jason had spent days playing in the woods, they’d put Brent and Nikki in danger. They were their closest friends so it made sense for someone to go after them to try to find Jason and Lotty.

Lotty looked at Jason, whose pale face probably matched her own. He motioned to her phone. She dialed her voicemail. The first message was from Nikki and it was practically identical to the first one she’d left Jason. Next came the frustrated screeches of Trinity. “Lotty Brooks, if you don’t get this chicken out of my yard, I will kill it. I will. It’s destroyed all my Peonies. I guess this just-” 

Lotty skipped it and the next three, which were also from Trinity. Cade left one saying he needed to get in touch with Jason and that it was urgent. Nikki said she’d had Brent file missing persons reports for the whole family and left another saying the police were guarding her and Brent’s house now.

The last message was from Sarah Higgins, who was the head of Strawberry Lake Estates Home Owner’s Association. She said she needed to get in touch with Lotty at her earliest convenience. Lotty pushed end and stuffed her phone back in her pocket.

Jason set his hand on her knee and they sat in silence. She wrapped her hand around his and asked, “Now what?”

He watched her. “I don’t know. Maybe I call Kimberly and see what she knows and if she has any ideas.”

“We need to get back. This has spiraled out of control and is way beyond just us. We’re not the only ones in danger so I think it’s time to take it to the police.”

“What about Netley? You think he can be trusted?”

“I don’t trust him, but maybe if we talk to Brent he could somehow keep Netley uninformed.”

“What if something happens to you because we go back?” He shook his head. “I was hoping our messages would offer some clarity on what to do next, but now I’m more confused than before.”

“Let’s go pack up our stuff. You can call Kimberly when we get to the freeway and then we’ll go talk to Brent.”

He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before nodding. He kissed her hand before standing up and grabbing the chickens. They trudged down the mountain with much less enthusiasm than they had jogged up.

By the time they reached the van, the boys were asleep and Lotty’s arms burned. She’d carried Ty for the last fifteen minutes while her body screamed at her to set him down. Even the hens, who’d been in Jason’s arms ninety-eight percent of the hike, were exhausted.

She buckled Ty into his car seat and plopped into her own seat. They wound back through the trees and toward their campsite. As their site came into view, Lotty’s stomach sank. She froze. There were words she wanted to scream, warnings to yell to Jason, but the message was getting lost somewhere between her brain and her mouth. She gripped his leg tightly and stared ahead with wide eyes.

Next to their picnic table, sat a car. A blue car. An Acura. Two men exited the tent with armloads of Jason’s and Lotty’s belongings. Jason threw the van in reverse as a third man came running from the trees. The sun reflected off something shiny in his hand and Lotty had to look away from the glare. It took her a moment to realize it was a gun. Jason shoved his foot down on the gas pedal as a loud shot pierced the air.