Page 95 of Fierce-Dane

“No,” Shiloh said. “But this has pictures on it.”

“What do you see you want on it?” Sloane asked.

Shiloh pointed to the French fries. “Did you still want grilled cheese or something else on that?”

Shiloh pointed to everything and they said what they were and the little girl still got her grilled cheese but fries with it.

“If you tell me the food you like to eat,” Sloane said. “I can make sure you have it in the house when we get there.”

“I don’t eat much,” Shiloh said.

She looked thin to him, but so was Sloane. There was no reason for him to think she was starving, but he’d see when she ate.

“Are you a fussy eater?” he asked. “My daughter is. She gets it in her head that she likes one thing and that is all she will eat.” He rolled his eyes and had her giggling. “I told her one day she was going to turn into a bowl of spaghetti if she ate one more.”

“I like spaghetti but with butter and not sauce.”

“I ate that a lot,” Sloane said. “Did Mom sprinkle some cheese on it for you? Or put strips of cheese slices?”

“It’s good,” Shiloh said. “I like cheese.”

“Do you like milk?” he asked.

“It’s okay,” Shiloh said. “We don’t get a lot and have to make it last so I don’t drink it all the time.”

Public assistance only went so far.

“If you like it we can get as much as you like,” Sloane said. “I drink milk too. When I was a kid we drank it right from the cow. Sometimes from a goat.”

The look on Shiloh’s face might have mirrored his. “Did you live on a farm?” Shiloh asked.

“Kind of,” she said.

He didn’t even know these things about Sloane. “You could have gotten a glass of milk with dinner,” he said.

“I like water. I like juice too but only get that at school for special things. I have milk with lunch at school.”

“That’s good,” he said. “What kind of juice do you like? Apple? Fruit punch? Something else?”

“Both,” Shiloh said.

The server came back and they placed their orders.

“Do you have a lot of clothes at your apartment to get tomorrow?” Sloane asked.

“I have most of everything with me,” Shiloh said.

There were two duffel bags in the back of his SUV. He saw Sloane look at him, but there wasn’t much he could say.

When Shiloh started to squirm in the seat, he asked. “Do you need to go to the bathroom?”

She nodded her head yes really fast.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Sloane asked and moved out quickly. “I’ll take you.”

He smiled. She’d learn that you’d have to get good at looking at the signs more than anything.

When they returned five minutes later he wondered if there was a problem but noticed that Shiloh was walking funny.

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