But she couldn’t say that to the girls, she thought. Nor could she fake her way through knot teaching. Before she could figure out a way to confess all and then look up knots on the internet, Kenny walked down the hall.
Taryn called to him. He stepped into her office, took one look at the girls and raised his eyebrows. “Something you want to admit to?” he asked.
She ignored the humor in his eyes. “Kenny, these are two of my Acorns. Chloe and Layla. We were discussing the knots we have to learn and I was wondering if you knew anything about knots.”
Kenny glanced from her to the girls and back. He leaned against the door frame as if he had all the time in the world...and he planned to use every second of it to torture her.
“Camping?” he asked.
Chloe nodded. “We’re having an all-grove campout. Layla and I are Acorns, like Taryn said. We’re the youngest. The other groves are Sprouts, Saplings, Sky-Reachers and Mighty Oaks. We’re going to be Sprouts next year.”
Layla nodded.
Kenny’s mouth twitched and Taryn knew it had nothing to do with Chloe’s innate cuteness. Instead he was storing information he would use against her when she was least expecting it.
She thought about pointing out that she hadn’t been exactly hiding her position as assistant Grove Keeper from anyone. She just hadn’t been talking about it much. Jack knew, but now that she thought about it, there was a good possibility the other two didn’t.
“Sprouts, huh?” Kenny asked. “Which means you belong to the...”
“Future Warriors of the Máa-zib,” Chloe said helpfully. “FWM.”
“Right. It sounds fun and I can see you’re fierce warriors. I’m impressed.”
Taryn was about to glare at Kenny when she realized how much Chloe had been talking. Usually she was the shy one but not, apparently, around Kenny. Interesting. He was a big guy. Tall and broad, with massive hands. People were often nervous around him. But not these two.
“Tell me about your knot experience,” Taryn said. “Can you help?”
“Oh, I can,” he said, grinning at her. “I used to be an Eagle Scout.”
“I know what that is,” Layla said. “My brother wants to be an Eagle Scout.” She wrinkled her nose. “But he said he wouldn’t help me with my knots.” Her lips turned up at the corners. “He’s mad because he snuck out to be with his friends last weekend and I told.”
Taryn nodded at Kenny. “Still want to mock the FWM?”
“I wasn’t mocking,” he said as he walked to her desk and sat in one of the chairs. “But I’m impressed with your tracking skills,” he told Layla.
“He goes out the window at the end of the hall,” Layla told him. “It’s right by my room and the floor creaks really loud right there.”
“Sounds like he deserved to get caught. Did he get in trouble?”
Layla nodded. “He’s grounded.”
“And pouting,” Kenny said. “Otherwise, he would have helped you.”
Both girls giggled.
Kenny held out his hand for the rope. Chloe passed it over. They told him what they were trying to do, and faster than Taryn would have thought possible, he’d twisted the rope into place and handed it back to them.
“Wow,” Chloe breathed. “Can you teach us that?”
“I can.”
Taryn sat back in her chair and watched as Kenny slowly went through the steps of the knot. The girls watched and nodded, and then each of them repeated his actions. She noticed that both of them crowded closer and closer until they were leaning against him. Chloe seemed especially smitten, watching his face when he talked and smiling up at him as if he were some kind of superhero.
When they’d mastered the knot, they thanked him and left. Taryn waited until they were gone to thank him.
He shrugged. “No big deal. Happy to help.”
“You were good with them,” she said. “They liked you.”
Kenny’s blue eyes gave nothing away.
“You’re great around kids,” she continued, watching him carefully as she spoke.
“Forget it,” he said flatly.
“Kenny, you need to get over it.”
“I have.”
“No, you haven’t. You’re ignoring what happened. You don’t talk about it.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
He got up and left. Taryn sighed, not sure how hard to push him. Everyone had things from their past—she knew that better than most. But she hated to see Kenny avoiding getting involved because of what had happened before. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right. But it also wasn’t her problem to solve.
* * *
DESPITE THE QUICKIE wedding Dellina had pulled together with what Taryn would guess was maybe fifteen minutes’ notice, she still managed to get the clothing exchange organized in a matter of days.