Free Guardian Angel by Leanne Banks Page B

all three of them.
    â€œGreat!” Jason said.
    â€œGreat,” Trace echoed, taking her arm.
    â€œWhat about the coupons?” she asked, trying to ignore her quickening pulse. “Don’t you want to get the bear, Robby?”
    â€œGosh.” He stared at the strips in Trace’s hand, then looked at Talia’s empty hand and frowned. “Well, what about Jason’s coupons?”
    Talia and Trace shared an expression of chagrin. Talia had gotten so caught up in being with Trace, she hadn’t considered the inequity of the situation.
    Robby’s little eyebrows wrinkled in concentration, then his whole expression smoothed out. “Why don’t we split them? What do you think, Jason?”
    Jason liked that idea. Both boys snatched up their share of the coupons and ran to the prize counter. Trace halted the smaller boy and bent down to whisper something in Robby’s ear that brought a smile to his little face. Talia’s heart felt squeezed tight when Robby stretched his arm around Trace’s neck and kissed him.
    Trace straightened as Robby dashed off, looking after his son with an affectionate, proud light in his eyes.
    â€œPretty impressive,” Talia said.
    He turned to her and nodded. “That’s what I told him.”
    And another stone fell from the fortress around Talia’s heart.
    Â 
    Everything was going fine at Walton’s Ice Cream Parlor. The boys had conned a double dip out of the adults without too much trouble. While Talia splurged on a hot fudge sundae, Trace opted for a root beer float.
    â€œJason will be getting a new brother or sister any day now,” Talia informed Trace.
    Trace glanced at Jason. “Is that so? I bet you can’t wait.”
    â€œYeah, I’m really hoping for a brother. Getting a sister would be awful,” Jason said, and rubbed his chocolate-smudged nose.
    â€œHey,” Talia said in mock offense. “I’m a sister and you don’t think I’m that bad.”
    Jason grinned. “Nah, but you don’t act dumb like most girls. It’s probably ’cause you’ve got a real neat brother like Kevin.”
    Talia laughed. “I’m sure Kevin would agree with you.”
    â€œWhen’s he coming home? He promised to take me to the lake this summer.”
    â€œHe’ll be home in a few weeks,” Talia assured him. “He’s taking exams, then going camping with his friends.”
    â€œIn New England?” Trace asked, remembering Kevin attended MIT.
    â€œVermont.”
    â€œKevin’s great,” Jason said, “but he doesn’t smile very much.”
    Talia’s stomach clenched. “He used to smile a lot,” she murmured.
    The group fell into silence. Unaware of the tension, Robby continued mauling his melting lime sherbet. Jason concentrated on scooping up his last few bites.
    Trace thought of the phone calls he’d made to Philip, phone calls his brother hadn’t returned. Wrestling with his impatience at being left in the dark, he twirled his straw through the float and looked at Talia. “Did Kevin change when your mother died?” he asked gently.
    She drew a deep breath, the kind of breath a person takes when she feels tired or burdened. “Some. It was really the next year, though, when…” She broke off, and her sad expression tore at him.
    With lips and cheeks covered in green, Robby suddenly said, “Daddy’s got a brother. He wants to be President and Daddy’s going to help him.”
    Talia sucked in a quick breath and pushed away her bowl of ice cream. Her stomach would revolt if she forced down one more bite. She’d pretended she bore no animosity against the Barringers, but it had taken only a couple of innocent comments to bring reality crashing down.
    She was frustrated with the tug-of-war she felt when she was around Trace. On the one hand, she couldn’t dismiss what the Barringers had done