When We Met (Fool's Gold #13)(30)

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.