Kate frowned. “But this is our last one. We have to be in the parade.”
Layla shook her head. “She’s not coming. I heard my mom talking on the phone. I wasn’t supposed to be listening.” She bit her lower lip. “Taryn and Angel are getting a divorce.”
Eight pairs of eyes stared at him accusingly.
“We’re not getting a divorce,” Angel muttered. “We weren’t married.” That wasn’t making it better, he thought grimly. “I mean we were going out and now we’re not.”
Regan’s eyes filled with tears. “What happened?”
“Sometimes relationships don’t work out.” He felt small and crappy. Worse, he knew that Taryn would know what to say way better than him. “We’re still friends,” he added lamely, although that was a lie. They weren’t friends. They weren’t anything.
He waited for Chloe to yell at him, but she only turned away. He put his hand on her shoulder. “What is it?” he asked gently.
She looked at him. Her skin was pale and her freckles stood out. Gone was the happy, outgoing girl she’d become.
“We’re getting our family beads today,” Chloe reminded him. “After the parade. You can’t be part of a family if you don’t have Taryn.”
There were a lot of different ways to answer, he thought. Telling her that his relationship with Taryn was a grown-up thing and she wouldn’t understand. Explaining that he’d had a family once and lost it. That he hadn’t been able to keep them safe.
As he stared at Chloe, he saw the flash flood again. Her fear and how she’d reached for him. He’d saved her. He would have died to save her—to save any of them.
He hadn’t had the chance to try to save Marie and Marcus because he hadn’t been there. He couldn’t be there every second of every day. It was an impossible task. Even if he could make it happen, Marie wouldn’t have wanted that for either of them. She had wanted to live her life and have him live his. They had stayed together out of love, but she wasn’t looking for a bodyguard. She’d wanted a partner. He’d been that. He’d been a father and a husband.
“We miss Taryn,” Olivia said.
“Me, too,” he admitted.
There were no guarantees, he thought suddenly. No promises. There was only this moment and what he had accomplished so far in his life. If he were to die right now, he would regret not telling Taryn that she mattered to him. He would regret that he didn’t admit what had been so obvious all along.
“We need to get to the parade,” he told the girls. “Now.”
He passed out wreaths. When Chloe handed him the ninth one, he sighed once, then stuck it on his head.
They went to the start of the parade and got in their place. The music began. Angel walked with his girls but searched the crowds on the side. Whatever had happened, Taryn wouldn’t miss this. He was sure of it. She would be here and he would get his chance to talk to her.
He wondered how much he’d hurt her. Why couldn’t he have figured this out sooner? That she was so important to him. That somewhere, when he hadn’t been paying attention, he’d fallen in love with her, too.
He heard a loud whistle and saw Ford and Isabel. Ford gave him a thumbs-up. “Looking good, big guy.”
Angel smiled. He would get Ford back tomorrow—in the gym.
He saw a lot of people he knew. Parents of his Acorns, families from town. Montana with a couple of service dogs in training. The lady from—
The back of his neck tingled. He swung around, searching. Taryn was here. He couldn’t see her yet, but she was here. He studied the crowd lining both sides of the street, then spotted Kenny, Jack and Sam and knew he’d found her.
“Come on, girls,” he said, breaking from the rest of the groves and heading to the sidewalk. All eight Acorns scampered along with him.
As he approached, the three large football players formed a protective flank. Angel knew that together, they could do a lot of damage, but he wasn’t concerned. Taryn might have three football players watching her back, but he had eight Acorns and he would bet that heart beat brawn anytime.
He stopped in front of the guys. They all stood with their arms folded across their wide chests. Their expressions were menacing. At least until Chloe smiled and gave a little wave.
“Hi, Kenny.”
The tallest of the three smiled back, tentatively. “Hey, munchkin.”
Taryn pushed her way through the phalanx. “It’s okay,” she told the guys, then looked at him. “Angel.”
He hadn’t seen her in nearly two weeks. She was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. She’d always been thin, but he would guess she’d lost weight she couldn’t afford to lose. Her eyes were wary; her mouth trembled at the corner.