She looked around at the event, pleased to see so many women trying on clothes and shoes. The bowl they were using to collect money for the exchange had already been emptied once that night, and it was going to have to be emptied again.

Taryn thought about how Mayor Marsha had forced her to solve the Bailey problem on her own and had a feeling that once again the wily politician had been right.

* * *

THE SITE OF the FWM all-grove campout was about fifteen miles outside town. It was a public camping area that the groves had taken over for the weekend. Not only were there lots of trees, permanent restrooms and big fire pits for group bonfires, but the campsites themselves were separated into two levels. The lower level, by the stream, and the upper level, closer to the parking lot. The latter provided parents who wanted to stay close but not get in the way of the experience a place to hover out of sight. If one of the girls needed a parental hug in the middle of the night, Mom and Dad were there to provide it.

Angel had parked in the designated “Grove Keeper” section of the parking lot. His SUV was filled with all kinds of gear—most of which was new. He was the kind of guy who loaded up a backpack and took to the mountains. But this was different. He wanted his girls to enjoy everything about the experience. Which meant roughing it had to be done in a gentle way.

He loaded up with as much as he could carry and headed down the steep trail to the lower campsite. A couple of other Grove Keepers were already there.

Large trees provided shade and cover. The east side of the site was up against the mountains. The stream cut through on the west side, then flowed along the edge of the grounds. With the warmer days, the snowpack was melting and the water moved at a fair clip. But it was shallow—eight inches or so. From what he could tell, the area wasn’t prone to flooding.

He found the Acorn section and put down his pack and a couple of boxes. There were two picnic tables and a marked, paved path led to the restrooms. The area for the tents was big enough for them to be pitched in a circle, with the entrances facing each other.

Angel had brought along a mallet to help secure the stakes, and a rake to clear the site before they pitched the tents. Although there were eight Acorns, they would be sleeping two to a tent. Including his tent and one for Taryn, that was a total of six. The space was plenty big.

For a second, he thought about sharing a tent with Taryn. They could zip their sleeping bags together—something he would enjoy. He gave himself a minute to think of her na**d, her long legs tangling with his, then shook off the image. He had a feeling somewhere in the Grove Keeper Handbook was a rule forbidding unmarried Grove Keepers to have members of the opposite sex in their tents.

He took the fresh food he’d brought over to the communal kitchen area. A small generator powered a portable refrigerator. The woman there picked up her clipboard when she saw him.

“You’re with the Acorns?” she asked.

“That’s me.” He handed over the eggs and sausage he’d brought. The fresh fruit would keep in their site.

He made two more trips and brought down the rest of his gear. As he was locking up his SUV, Taryn pulled in next to him. When she stepped out of her car he saw she’d dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. She had her hair pulled back in a braid and even wore sensible hiking boots.

“Don’t look so surprised,” she said, slapping his arm. “I know how to dress for the occasion.”

He peered at her. “You’re not wearing any makeup.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I know. Sunscreen only. I didn’t think I could take it off tonight and reapply that easily so I’m going natural. Don’t get used to it. Next time you see me, I’ll be back in heels and mascara.”

“If only that was all you were wearing,” he murmured.

Her mouth curved up in a slow smile. “We might be able to negotiate that.”

Which was one of the things he liked about her, he thought as she opened her trunk. She came to their relationship as his equal. She was willing to take him on and win. She was smart, sexy and unexpectedly charming. Just when he’d thought things couldn’t get better, she’d taken care of him when he was haunted by missing his kid. She was a hell of a woman. Different from Marie, but amazing in her own way.

She hauled a huge backpack out of her trunk and slung it over her shoulders. Angel started to take it from her, but she shook her head.

“This is the stupid thing I have to wear when we go out with Cole,” she reminded him. “If I’m going to hike for a day in it, I should be able to trudge down to the campsite. But you can carry the rest of it.”

“The rest of it” turned out to be supplies for the weekend, but not the kind Angel had brought. The shopping bags were filled with hair clips, ribbons and glitter nail polish, several kits for making sparkly jewelry and two small bouquets of flowers.

Angel stared at her purchases.

“Don’t give me that ‘what were you thinking?’ look,” she told him firmly. “We’re here until four on Sunday. Do you know how long that is? Sure, there are grove activities, but there is still plenty of downtime. Do you really want eight bored girls on your hands? This stuff will keep them busy, and that’s a good thing.”

“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.

“You’re our hero,” Taryn said, her voice teasing.

Angel cleared his throat and motioned for them to pay attention to the rest of the announcements. While he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, he appreciated their faith in him. He was proud of his girls and pleased they were proud of him.

After the announcements, they went to sit by the big fire pit. Large logs surrounded the stone-ringed pit. Denise pulled a name from a box. The FWM girl called got to light the bonfire.

It didn’t take long for the kindling to catch. The sun was setting as the flames reached up toward the sky. One of the Grove Keepers brought out her guitar and began to play. Taryn nudged Angel.

“Turn,” she said, pointing to Regan, who sat next to him.

“What?”

“You and I are going to sit back-to-back.”

He didn’t know what she was talking about, but he did as she requested. Regan shifted so her back was to him, as did the girl in front of her and so on until four of the Acorns sat with their backs to him and four sat with their back to Taryn.

Taryn handed him four small rubber bands. “You’re going to French-braid Regan’s hair while she does Allison’s and so on.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s our thing,” she told him. “Go with it.”

He dutifully finger-combed Regan’s hair, then separated the strands on her crown into three sections. He worked easily now, not having to think about what he was doing.

Back when he’d first agreed to be a Grove Keeper, he’d been disconcerted to discover he would be working with girls. Now that he’d been with them nearly two months, he was pleased with the assignment. They brought something special to his life, and he hoped he did the same for them.

His initial plan had been to resign as their Grove Keeper at the end of the first year, but he was rethinking that. He wanted to see what would happen when they were Sprouts. It seemed that Mayor Marsha had known what she was doing.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

TARYN WAS ENJOYING the storytelling part of the evening right up until it started to rain. At first there was just a light mist, but that quickly turned into something steadier.

“Tell me again why we love camping?” she asked Angel as they led the girls back to their tents.

“This’ll pass. Even if it doesn’t, you’ll be dry in your tent.”

“Famous last words,” she murmured before turning her attention to the girls. “Okay, let’s get our toothbrushes and toothpaste and head to the bathroom. We’ll get ready for bed, then all pile into Angel’s tent until we’re sleepy.”

He looked at her. “Why my tent?”

“Because you’re our Grove Keeper. Where else would we go?”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “You’re paying me back because your hair is going to frizz, aren’t you?”

“Something like that.”

The girls dove into their tents and collected what they needed and then all trooped off to the bathroom. The other campers were there, so there was a line for the toilets and the sinks, but eventually they were all done with their evening ablutions.

Taryn went into her tent and zipped it closed. Angel had insisted they take the time to tuck the edges of their tarps under so that any rain would roll down to the ground rather than under the tent. At the time his concern had seemed silly, but now she appreciated his thoroughness. She wasn’t all that interested in getting soaked in her sleep.