Never Surrender

Max and Kennedy sat next to each other at the dinner table that night. Her dad sat across from them with a bowl of his homemade chili in front of him.

"So what are you two kids going to do for the rest of the night?" Sam questioned between bites, watching at as Kennedy and Max shared a glance.

Kennedy dropped her fork back into her bowl. "I was thinking about taking Max downtown and showing him around Main Street, do you want to come?"

Sam smiled but shook his head. "No thanks, Sweetheart. I think I'm going to prop my feet up in the living room and see if they have anything good on TV."

Kennedy glanced to Max. "We can watch TV with you," she offered, meeting her dad's eyes, "We can go downtown tomorrow."

Sam shook his head adamantly. "No, no. It's the most beautiful at night. You two have fun. We have an entire month to be lazy together," he promised, lifting his spoon to his mouth.

Max leaned back in his chair and watched the father/daughter duo interact. He'd never seen Kennedy so soft spoken and considerate before. Usually, she was a rowdy out-spoken young woman, and that was the girl he was used to.

Kennedy and Sam talked easily as they finished their dinner. Max sat just on the edge of their conversation, nodding when someone pointed their words towards him.

"We should get going," Kennedy said when they were almost done washing their dishes, "I want Max to see it before the lights go out."

Sam and Kennedy stood at the sink. He washed and she dried. Max stood on the other side of the room, leaning against the counter as he waited for them to finish. When Kennedy spoke, he nodded just like her father.

"Go ahead and take off," Sam encouraged, "Just promise me you'll drive carefully. I don't want anyone showing up at my house in the middle of the night."

Kennedy smiled softly, touching her father's back. "Max is a good driver," she promised, "We'll be fine." She reached up and gently kissed his cheek. "See you later, Dad."

She dropped the drying rag into the empty side of the sink and turned away, nodding for Max to go with her. The two of them funneled out of the kitchen and up the stairs to get their jackets.

Max frowned as he slipped his onto his shoulders. "I feel kind of bad for leaving your dad," he told Kennedy as she stepped into a pair of boots, "The whole reason you came here was to see him and I keep stealing you away."

Kennedy smiled over her shoulder at the lanky man. "Don't worry about it," she encouraged, reaching for her heavy jacket, "He would tell me if he wanted me to stay here with him. He doesn't mind."

"I don't think-"

Kennedy walked over and zipped Max's jacket for him. "Stop it," she demanded, looking up into his eyes, "I promise everything is fine, Maxie."

He smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he agreed.

They gathered their things and trampled down the stairs. Kennedy shouted a loud goodbye to her dad and Max echoed it much more quietly, allowing Kennedy to yank him out of the front door.

Max fished the keys out of his jacket pocket and unlocked the doors of the rental car using a button on the key chain. Kennedy quickly pulled open the passenger's door and climbed in, rubbing her hands together to combat the cold.

Max rolled his eyes at her as he sat down. "You grew up here," he muttered, "How aren't you used to this weather?"

Kennedy glared at him. "California changes people!" she defended, "I assimilated, Maxwell."

Max laughed at her use of words. "If you say so, Ken," he replied, turning on the heat for her, "Where are we headed?"

Kennedy literally pointed the way to Main Street. The long gravel road from Kennedy's house to an actual road was covered with snow, so Max drove slowly as Kennedy belted out the lyrics to whatever was on the radio.

It was only two turns until they were driving on the most popular street in the town. "You have to park on a side road," Kennedy instructed, motioning the way, "You can't drive down there any farther."

Max reluctantly pulled his eyes from the street and turned off on a side road. He pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car.

"You ready?" Kennedy asked, grinning widely as she gaged Max's reaction.

"Yeah." He nodded, unbuckling his seatbelt.

The both climbed out of the shiny little car and locked it behind them. Kennedy raced around the car and looped her arm through Max's. Her cheeks were already reddening from the bitter cold, but her excitement was enough to keep her from noticing.

"What is this?" Max asked as they turned onto a cobblestone road. On either side were building two and three stories high, each one lit up like a Christmas tree. In the windows of the shops were holiday displays glowing brightly.

Kennedy squeezed Max's arm. She beamed up at him. "This is Main Street," she said, although he already knew that, "For every holiday they decorate all the little shops with different themes." She pointed in one of the windows were a Thanksgiving scene was set up, obviously portraying the Pilgrims and the Indians. "My favorite part is the tree," she added.

"What tree?" Max asked, looking around the street.

Kennedy lightly bumped his chest and then pointed far ahead of them. Taller than all the buildings, sat a huge Christmas tree, decorated from top to bottom with thousands of blinking lights and shiny ornaments.

"Holy shit," Max exclaimed, "That's a big tree."

Kennedy smacked him for cursing. To her, it didn't feel right to talk like that in a place she loved as a child. "Every year, all the little kids in the town decorate their own ornament. They write their names on the bottom and the day before Christmas one of the old people from our nursing home picks one from the tree and the kid who it belongs to gets to be the prince or princess in our Christmas parade." She looked to Max's face. "Cute, right?"

Max nodded, looking at all the ornaments on the tree. "Were you ever the princess?"

Kennedy grinned and nodded excitedly. "When I was nine! The woman who picked mine said she loved my ornament because it reminded her of her childhood."

Max looked at Kennedy with raised eyebrows. "What did you put on the thing?"

"It was a drawing of my family," Kennedy spoke, "We were all dressed up in our Christmas clothes and we were holding hands. Konner was sitting on one of those old rocking horses." She didn't meet Max's gaze as she remembered the year their mother brought home the little wooden rocking horse. She was no more than a baby when Konner opened it for Christmas. She couldn't really remember the day, but she remembered hearing about it.

"Konner loved that thing," she murmured, "He was obsessed with cowboys that year and asked for a real horse to go along with his costume. He was so disappointed when Mom and Dad told him he couldn't have a real one... but magically, the wooden one made it all better." She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Nobody could ever bear to see Konner upset."

Max lightly wrapped an arm around her waist. "What happens to the rest of the ornaments?" he questioned, "Do they just throw them away?"

"No," she replied, "The winning one goes in a case until Spring and the rest get sent back to the kids."

"How many of them do you have?"

"I made seven of them," she said, "Konner made even less than that. He kind of gave up on the whole idea of Christmas when the cancer started."

"I can understand that," Max murmured, pulling his eyes from the huge tree, "Do you want to go look around?"

Kennedy put a smile on her lips and dipped her head in a nod. "Yeah, of course. There's this amazing fudge shop. You've got to buy me some when we get there."

She took his hand and pulled him to the closest shop. It was a little doll making place that'd been in business since before Kennedy's grandparents were born. Dolls upon dolls sat on the shelves, each one specialty made by the man behind the counter.

"Mr. Harvey," Kennedy greeted brightly as she pulled Max into the tiny workshop, "Do you remember me?"

The old man looked up and immediately grinned at the girl. "My gosh," he stated, "Kennedy Santos, I'd thought you'd left for good."

Kennedy laughed and shook her head. "No, just took a break for a little while. You and Marion should take a trip out to California someday. You'd love the weather."

Harvey smiled, the skin around his eyes crinkling. "Marion would love me even more if I took her there," he laughed, "But, we've got so much to do here!"

Both Kennedy and Max looked around the room. "I think you've got enough dolls in here to put Santa Claus out of business, Mr. Harvey," Kennedy said finally, touching the lacey dress of a doll that sat on the edge of the counter.

Harvey nodded and sat the blonde doll up straighter. "Well, I've got grandkids to teach."

The faces of three young kids came to Kennedy's mind. The last time she'd seen them, the twins hardly could walk and the youngest was still drinking formula. "Things sure have changed," she murmured.

Harvey nodded towards Max. "I see you've brought a friend home with you," he said, smiling as Kennedy playfully rolled her eyes.

"Mr. Harvey, this is Max. He's my best friend from out west," she introduced, "Max, Mr. Harvey is married to the best baby sister in Rhode Island."

"I'm glad you think so highly of me, Kennedy," Harvey chuckled, "I seem to remember you begging your mother and father to bring you in here." He looked back to Max and welcomed him warmly.

"Nice to meet you, too," Max replied, "You're really good at what you do, Sir."

Harvey shook his head. "Thank you, Max, but I've just had a lot of practice over the years."

Kennedy talked with the old man for a little while longer before she and Max left the doll store empty handed. They linked arms as Kennedy led him past some of her least favorite stores and over to the candy store on the left.

Max piled a bunch of candy into a bag as Kennedy stood at the front of the store and talked with the owner's daughter; a woman who had once been a girl who went to high school with her.

Max brought the large bag to the front and set it on the counter. Kennedy wrapped one of her arms around his waist and introduced him.

"Serina, this is Max. Max, Serina."

Serina lifted the bag onto a scale. "Nice to meet you," she replied softly, looking away from the tattooed man in front of her. "That'll be four dollars and thirty-two cents."

"Shit, that's cheap," Max muttered out of surprise, "In Vegas you can't hardly even find a gallon of milk for that price."

Kennedy rolled her eyes at him, facing Serina so he couldn't see. "This is a small town, Maxie, things are different."

"Obviously," he muttered, handing the money to the woman behind the counter.

"So, did you and TJ have any kids?" Kennedy asked, leaning on the counter even though Max was ready to go.

Serina glanced at Max and then nodded, turning her gaze back to Kennedy. "A little girl," she said, "Her name's Tabby. She's three now." She set Max's change on the counter. Kennedy quickly scooped it up and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans. Max rolled his eyes, but Kennedy paid him no mind.

"Wow," Kennedy replied, smiling, "I bet she's beautiful."

"She is," Serina agreed, "She looks just like her father." She pushed the cash register closed and clicked a couple of buttons.

"Have you been here since high school?" Kennedy questioned, politely, "You and TJ got married right after graduation, right?"

Serina's eyes flicked between Max and Kennedy. "Yeah, four weeks after. We went to Florida for our honeymoon but came right back. We had our house."

"That's great," Kennedy said enthusiastically, "I'm glad you and TJ ended up together after all. We all knew you would." She stood up straight and let Max take her hand. "Well, I'll see you around. Tell TJ I said hello."

"I will," she replied, smiling politely, "Have a goodnight."

Kennedy would never hear the things Serina and her husband talked about that night and that was a good thing. Once they laid their daughter to bed in her room they sat together on their bed and talked about Kennedy as if she was ghost who'd come back from the grave. Disappearing after high school had created a reputation for Kennedy. It seemed that people had started to think that she'd died too, laid to rest in the ground with her mother and her brother by her side, leaving her dad all alone in their quaint little town with only the memories to remember his family by.

Serina told her husband about the man Kennedy had in tow. She'd never seen anyone like him before. The tattoos and the piercings were a rarity in Tiverton. The town had borne a humble, but unoriginal kind of people. Most lived their entire lives between the fields surrounding their homes and those who dared to step outside rarely came back, swallowed up by the excitement of the big cities.

Max's long hair coupled with his all-black clothes surprised those humble people. Surprised Serina and TJ Mcnally. They'd never imagined Kennedy leaving Tiverton and they certainly never imagined her returning with a man as free as Max on her by side.

Max and Kennedy walked down to the end of the avenue and looked at the all the decorations on the three story tree. The lights reflected off of the bulbs and down onto the road in front of them. Kennedy pointed out one of the ornaments on the bottom of the tree as Max bit into a thick piece of fudge.

They stayed for a little while longer, until the chill from the air managed to outsmart their jackets, leaving Kennedy shaking as she leaned into Max's warmth. He carried the candy back to the car and Kennedy walked with her side pressed into his, her arms wrapped tightly around his slim waist.

"I'm glad you came," she said abruptly as they rounded the end of the street towards where they parked.

Max pressed his cheek against the top of her head. "Yeah, me, too," he replied, "This little place is kind of amazing."

"Yeah," she breathed, pulling away to head to the passenger's side of the car. "I kind of forgot about that fact after I left."

Max unlocked the car and they both got in. Kennedy cranked the heat and pressed her frozen fingers against the vents. Max shook his head at her and tossed the bag of treats onto her lap before he started the car.

They drove back slowly through the darkness. Kennedy laughed when Max almost missed the hidden road down to her house. He rolled her eyes at her and followed the almost-invisible tire tracks down to the two story house that sat on the edge of the frozen bay.