“Okay. What about the flowers?”
“I thought they’d look nice on the table.”
“You’ve never been camping before, have you?”
“No, but that’s not the point.”
“I guess not.”
He followed her down the trail to the lower-level campsite. At the bottom, Taryn waited for him to point out where their grove had been assigned. She let her backpack slide off onto the ground.
“It’s nice,” she said, looking at the trees, then up at the sky. “It’s been clouding up all day. I hope it doesn’t rain.”
“Your tent is waterproof.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t care. Having it rain would really mess up the weekend. The outdoor activities wouldn’t be as fun and my hair would frizz.”
Angel laughed, then pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “Dammit, Taryn, how do you do that?”
She looked up at him. “Do what?”
“Constantly surprise me.”
She smiled. “It’s a gift.”
He stared into her eyes. He wanted her, but there was something else. An emotion that made him want to say...
He released her and stepped back. No getting involved, he reminded himself. He couldn’t. Or maybe it was better to say he wouldn’t.
“Angel! Taryn!”
They turned and saw Kate and Regan hurrying down the trail. Their parents were behind them and laden with camping gear. Over the next half hour the rest of the girls arrived. Allison’s father hovered, as if he wanted to step in and help. Taryn walked over to him.
“She’ll be fine,” Taryn told him. “You’re just a few hundred feet away. If she needs you, she’ll come get you.”
The man nodded. “Yeah, I know. But this is her first campout. I don’t want her getting scared.”
Taryn murmured something Angel couldn’t hear and Allison’s dad reluctantly left.
“What’d you say to him?” he asked when she returned to his side.
“That she might be embarrassed by having him here. She wouldn’t want her friends calling her a baby.”
“Shame as parental control. Interesting.”
She smiled. “Allison’s a great kid. He should trust her to be okay.” She glanced around at their camp area and then at all the tents piled up. “Do you have a plan for all this?”
Angel looked from the tents to the eight girls watching him. Taryn was right—he needed a plan. He stood and put his hands on his hips. “All right, Acorns. Line up.”
The girls looked at each other, then at him. They slowly got in a semistraight line.
He frowned. “I said line up.” He raised his voice slightly with the last two words.
Chloe started to giggle but straightened her part of the line. The other girls did the same and all of them grinned at him.
“Better,” he told them. “We’re going to pitch tents. We’ll all work on every tent so you have a clear understanding of how they’re the same and how they’re different.”
Chloe’s eyes brightened. “For our camping bead.”
“That’s right, Acorn.”
Chloe giggled. “You sound like you’re in the army.”
“I used to be. Now, which tent is first?”
They picked a tent and went to work. Ten people working on a tent that slept two was problematic, but they got through it. They rotated through jobs on the tents. Each of the girls got to practice sliding together poles and hammering in stakes. By the end of the exercise, they’d put up his tent without any help, then the eight of them crowded inside and collapsed in mock exhaustion.
By six they were all lined up for dinner. Taryn stood next to him.
“Our group is serving breakfast, right?” she asked.
“Sunday morning. I brought eggs and sausage. They’re in the refrigerator.” Each grove was responsible for a meal. The Acorns had the second breakfast. It was going to be easy work, he thought. The girls could cook the scrambled eggs and sausages while he and Taryn supervised.
“Good. I’m having Danish delivered,” Taryn said.
Angel raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t that cheating?”
“It’s Danish. I don’t think anyone is going to complain. To make sure, the delivery includes lattes for all the adults.”
“Sneaky,” he murmured in her ear.
“I try.”
They waited while their girls served themselves from the buffet of burgers and salad, then joined the others in the communal dining area. After dinner, there was a quick cleanup, then Denise Hendrix started with announcements that included the schedule for tomorrow.
There would be a nature hike followed by the knot proficiency tests. After lunch there was an hour of free time before the group listened to a lecture by an ecologist from UC Fool’s Gold. One of the fathers would then be demonstrating martial arts.
Chloe turned to Angel. “They should have asked you to do that.”
Layla nodded. “You could so kick his butt.”
Angel appreciated the support but knew it was important to have unit solidarity. “You haven’t seen the other guy,” he said.
“We don’t have to,” Chloe told him.
The other girls nodded.