“Not much of one.”
She thought about pointing out that he hadn’t been all that upset about the loss, either. Having a child would mean getting involved emotionally. Something Jack did his best to avoid. But that wasn’t the point.
“I’m helping out Angel, and the girls are a part of that. I think it will be fun.”
In a strange way, she was looking forward to being part of FWM, even if only for a couple of months.
“You’ll do great,” he told her.
She studied him. “Are you okay?”
“The best.”
She didn’t smile. “Sometimes I worry about you.”
“Don’t. I always land on my feet.”
“It’s your heart I worry about,” she said without thinking, then shook her head. “Sorry. I meant—”
He pressed his fingers to her mouth. “Don’t apologize. I know what you meant.”
She leaned into him. He pulled her close and held her. “I’ll always love you, big guy,” she whispered.
“I’ll always love you, too. Even with your bony ass.”
“My ass is not bony. I’m trim. I do Pilates.”
“You’re such a girl.”
“Which makes our sexual past easier for you to explain.”
He chuckled, then released her. He pointed to the clock on the wall. “You’d better hurry or you’ll be late.”
She followed his gaze and groaned. “I already am. You know where the FWM hut is?”
“Not a clue.”
* * *
OKAY, ANGEL THOUGHT. He was willing to admit it. Nothing had ever terrified him as much as facing eight seven-year-old girls at his first FWM meeting.
It was Tuesday at three and there were two very, very long hours to fill. He had a handbook, a box of supplies and a large open room in the FWM hut not too far from the Hunan Palace restaurant.
The girls sat in front of him on the carpeted floor. They were wide-eyed and eager, dressed in jeans and T-shirts. They’d been dropped off by the parents and told to have fun. Expectation filled the air and he had no idea what on earth he was supposed to do to fulfill those expectations. Once again he wished Mayor Marsha were forty years younger and a guy, so he could take out his frustrations in a way that made sense to him.
“Hello,” he said, conscious of the door only a tantalizing few feet away and the beckoning freedom beyond. “I’m Angel.”
They stared at him. He swore silently. Old lady or not, he was going to have to assassinate the mayor.
Just then the door to the hut opened and Taryn walked in. She wore jeans and a silk blouse tucked in to the tight waistband. Instead of athletic shoes, as the girls favored, she had on black boots with four-inch heels.
As she shut the door behind her, she laughed. “I got lost. Can you believe it? Everybody talks about how small Fool’s Gold is, but not to me. There I was, down by the park, looking for a hut. This isn’t a hut, by the way. It’s a building. Why did anyone say it was a hut? And it’s sure not by the park.”
She walked to the front and sank gracefully to the floor. “Okay, what did I miss? Oh, I’m Taryn, by the way. Did we already do names?”
Angel felt himself start to breathe again. The girls stared at Taryn with amazement. He knew just how they felt. She was larger than life and simply being around her caused a person to feel something good was about to happen.
“We didn’t do names yet,” one of the girls said.
“Excellent.” Taryn smiled at her. “Why don’t I start? I’m Taryn. I’m friends with Angel. I’ll be helping out for our season. I have never been in the FWM, so I’m really excited to learn all about it.”
Each of the girls said her own name. Chloe went last and spoke quietly. Taryn didn’t seem to pay any more attention to her, but Angel had called to explain about her special circumstances, so he knew she was keeping track of the girl.
Taryn shifted to her knees and bent over the box of supplies. “I read my handbook last night and I believe we’re supposed to have a project today.”
“We play get-to-know-you games,” a little girl named Allison said. She was blonde with glasses perched on her nose.
“You’re right,” Taryn said. “Don’t you love games?” She looked at him. “We’re supposed to divide into two groups,” she began.
“Or we could do one big group,” he said quickly.
Her mouth twitched. “Is this where I make the clucking sounds?” she asked quietly, before smiling at the girls. “Okay, there should be a ball in here.”
She pulled out a big red ball, then motioned for everyone to get in a circle. “I’m going to roll the ball to someone. When she catches the ball, I have to say her name. If I get it right, I get to ask a question. Once she answers the question, she’ll roll the ball to someone else, and so on.”
She shifted onto her butt and sat cross-legged, then waited while the girls formed a circle around her. She rolled the ball to the girl directly across from her.
“Charlotte, who prefers Char,” Taryn said. “Right?”
Char Adelman, a petite brunette, nodded vigorously.
Taryn grinned. “And I get to ask a question. Do you have any twos? Oh, wait. Wrong game.”
The girls all laughed. Angel didn’t get it. Chloe, who had ended up sitting next to him, leaned close.
“It’s Go Fish,” she told him. “A card game.”
Chloe was tall and thin, with bright red hair and equally vibrant freckles. When he looked at her, she ducked her head.
“Thanks,” he said in a whisper.
She nodded without looking up.
“My question,” Taryn said slowly. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
Char wrinkled her nose. “Two brothers and they’re both older. They tease me a lot and try to make me cry. When I get bigger, I’m going to be strong enough to beat them up.”
Angel started to say he could help her with that, but before he could speak, Taryn put a hand on his arm, as if urging him to be quiet.
Good idea, he thought. He probably shouldn’t offer lessons like that. At least not on the first day.
Char shot the ball across the circle. It headed directly for him and he caught it.
“Hi, Angel,” Char said with a shy smile. “Are you and Taryn married?”
“No.”
He sent the ball to another girl and asked his question. She returned the ball to him. “Have you and Taryn kissed?”
The other girls laughed.
“I sense a theme,” Taryn said, taking the ball from him. Her eyes were bright with amusement. “Angel and I are grown-up friends. We’re not married. I wanted to learn more about FWM and he’s letting me tag along. Now let’s continue with the game, but ask questions of each other, okay?”
There were a few grumbles, but the girls all agreed. At the end of about half an hour, they all knew a lot more about each other. Angel noticed that only one girl had sent the ball to Chloe. He wasn’t sure if that had relieved Chloe or hurt her feelings.
Taryn reached into the grove box and pulled out large sheets of paper along with boxes of crayons. There were tables and chairs along the perimeter of the room. Taryn rose gracefully and started putting the paper on the desks. Angel pulled chairs around and then handed out crayons. The girls scrambled to see what was next.
As he got everyone settled, he saw the paper contained lines where they were to list each girl’s name and one fact about her. Angel immediately looked at Chloe. The only question to her had been about whether or not she had pets. She’d whispered, “No, but I’d like a dog.” Not exactly information someone needed for a lasting friendship.
He waited until the girls were settled, then pulled Taryn to the back of the room.
“What about Chloe?” he asked in a heated whisper.
“What about her?”
“They don’t know anything about her except that she wants a dog. Do you know how bad that’s going to look? Char has two brothers and Chloe doesn’t have a dog.”
* * *
TARYN WATCHED THE emotion simmering in Angel’s usually cool gray eyes. He nearly vibrated with concern, which she found really sweet. The big, bad soldier brought to his knees by a bunch of little girls. It might be a cliché, but it was a good one. Just when she was prepared to go live on Cynics Island, something like this happened and restored her faith in humanity.
She put her hand on his upper arm and squeezed gently. “She’s been dealing with things a lot worse than this for a long time,” she said quietly. “We’re going to help her fit in, but we can’t fix the problem in an hour. Stay calm.”
“I am calm.”
She raised her eyebrows.
He exhaled sharply. “Fine,” he grumbled. “I’m not calm. You shouldn’t be, either. I’ve never had a daughter. You don’t have kids. We’re not qualified.”
“Possibly not, but I’m thinking we’re not going to do much damage, either. Try to relax. The girls already adore you.”
He scowled at her, which was totally cute, she thought happily.
“You can’t know that,” he grumbled.
“We’ll see.”
The girls worked on their lists, which were then posted on the walls of the hut. Taryn was pleased to see that girls who knew Chloe from school had added things like “good reader” and “best drawings in class” in addition to a couple of “doesn’t have a dog.”
Once all the lists were posted, they walked around as a group and talked about them. Taryn noticed that there was a lot more conversation between the girls and everyone, with the possible exception of Angel, was more relaxed.
She walked back to the supply box and lifted out the last two packages. There were plain leather bracelets with adjustable chains by the clasps. She studied the simple leather thong, noting how it was sturdy enough to last through a lot. Good thing, as the girls were expected to wear them for the next five years. There was also a package of small wooden beads. The beads were decorated with a simple carving of two hands clasped. The printed label on the plastic bag said Friend Beads—Acorns.
She sat on the floor and the girls joined her. She waited until Angel had settled next to her before opening the bag of bracelets and passing them out.
“You’ve earned your first bead,” she said with a smile. “For friendship.”
Angel shook the small wooden beads into the palm of his hand, and then each girl took one. They strung them onto the leather bracelet, then began helping each other put them on.
“Aren’t you going to wear one?” Angel asked with a grin.
She batted her eyes at him. “Only if you are.”
“You have to,” Char told him. “All the Keepers wear the bracelets.”
Suddenly eight little girls were looking at him. Taryn saw the tightness in his jaw and knew there was an internal battle going on. Reluctantly he took the thong she held out and strung a bead into place. The girls cheered as he secured the thong around his wrist.
Taryn noticed it barely fit and there was no way he was going to be able to get more beads on it and keep circulation to his fingers.
“We’ll have to talk to someone about getting you a bigger bracelet,” she murmured.
“Could we?”
She laughed. “Sarcasm in front of your Acorns?”
She glanced at the clock on the wall. “We still have about fifteen minutes,” she said, and reached for her backpack. “Who wants me to braid her hair?” she asked as she pulled out her brush.
“Me!”
“Me, too.”
The girls scooted over so they were sitting in a line. Allison sat with her back to Taryn and waited. Taryn gently brushed her hair, then started to braid it.
“I have some ties in that outside pocket,” she told Angel as she motioned to her bag. “Would you get them?”
He looked at her as if she’d asked him to stick his head in an alligator’s mouth, then collected the ties.
Taryn worked quickly, French-braiding Allison’s hair, then securing it with a bright pink tie.
“You could do some,” Taryn told him.
Panic flashed on his face. “I don’t know how,” he said quickly, tucking his hands behind his back as he spoke.
“I’ll teach you.” She had a feeling there were going to be lots of meetings where there was a bit of time to fill, and this was an easy activity.
Taryn looked at the girls. Her gaze fell on Chloe, who sat more on the edge of the group rather than in it.
She smiled at her. “Chloe, are you feeling like you could be patient while Angel learns on your hair?”
Chloe’s eyes widened in surprise. “Okay,” she said softly, and moved to sit in front of Angel.
Taryn grabbed a second brush from her bag. She was always losing them, so she made sure she had a spare. After today she would make sure she had two or three and lots of extra ties.
“You know how to braid, right?” she asked Angel.
“Of course.”
“Then this will be easy.”
As the other girls watched and Chloe sat without moving, Taryn talked him through the process of French-braiding the girls’ hair.
Angel’s fingers were clumsy, but he kept at it and eventually had a reasonably straight braid.
“Not bad for a rookie,” Taryn told him. “What do you think, Chloe?”
The girl touched her braid and offered Angel a slight smile. “Thank you,” she whispered.
The door to the hut opened and the first of the parents arrived. The girls scrambled to their feet and started to talk about their afternoon. The new bracelets and beads were shown off. Taryn rose and introduced herself to some of the parents. Angel did the same. Fifteen minutes later, they were alone.