Page 123 of Fierce-Dane

“No,” Tiffani said. “Thank you for liking my shirt. I like yours too. I want one of those flannel shirts, but Mom said no. That only boys wear them. I don’t think so. Dad, can I have one like Shiloh’s? But I’d get a different color because I don’t want to get our shirts confused.”

Shiloh’s T-shirt was black. Just a solid color, but she had a button-down open flannel shirt over it that was like a light jacket. It was black and white plaid.

He held his smile back there too, because in her way, Tiffani complimented Shiloh on her clothing choices.

“I picked this shirt out myself,” Shiloh said. “Sloane took me shopping and said I could get what I wanted. I’ve never had that before.”

“Really?” Tiffani said. “Mom picks my clothes out. I don’t mind sometimes, but Dad lets me get what I want too.”

“If you want a shirt like Shiloh’s I think we can order one while you’re here. I think it’s nice and looks good on Shiloh. You can keep it here if you want so your mother doesn’t get upset.”

“I don’t care if she’s upset,” Tiffani said. “Why can’t I have my own style at times?”

“I think this is a conversation for another day,” he said. “But when you are with me, you can pick out your own clothes. You know that.”

Tiffani hugged him. “Thank you, Dad.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Can we gonow?” Tyler asked.

The five of them left and got in his SUV. After five minutes of the kids talking in the backseat, Tiffani asked, “Can Shiloh spend the night?”

This shocked him. Though the two girls got along muchbetter the second time they were together, he wasn’t forcing anything. It had to happen naturally or it was going to cause issues again.

Though he did have to admit the past few weeks Tiffani had been asking a lot of questions about Shiloh and Sloane. Nice questions. Things that let him know his daughter was warming up to everything more and remorseful over how she acted the first time.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” he said. “But that is a question for Sloane.”

He and Sloane hadn’t planned on that. She hadn’t spent the night once when he had his kids though Shiloh had stayed at his house a few times. Times when Sloane had to work late and he was home. He’d watch Shiloh and then Sloane would come over after work and they’d leave together in the morning if it was during the week. Most times it was on the weekends though.

“Do you want to?” Sloane asked Shiloh. “We don’t have any clothes here and would have to go home and get some, but it’s up to you.”

“I’d like to,” Shiloh said.

“Yay!” Tiffani said. “I’ll sleep on the top bunk if you don’t like heights and you can sleep on the bottom bunk. You’re my first friend spending the night at Dad’s. I get to use my bunks now.”

He hadn’t realized that. Tiffani had never asked for a friend to spend the night before.

When he looked in the rearview mirror he saw Shiloh’s shy smile over being included.

“I guess it’s settled then,” he said. “We can stop and get stuff when we leave Chloe’s.”

“Then you can see my room,” Shiloh said. “I’ve never had my own room before and Sloane let me decorate thisthe way I wanted. We painted it yellow and I’ve got bright rainbows and sun decorations on the walls and my bedspread is aqua.”

“Mine too,” Tiffani said excitedly. “The one at my Mom’s. Aqua is my new favorite color.”

Which he didn’t know and didn’t care either. Every week Tiffani changed her mind on her favorite color. He could barely keep up with her food choices let alone color decisions.

What he was more concerned about was the fact that his daughter was treating Shiloh like a friend and not an obligation.

“Can I have a friend spend the night?” Tyler asked. “It’s not fair. Shiloh should be my friend. We are the same age and in the same grade.”

Oh boy. He didn’t see this one coming.

“We’ll talk about it another time,” he said to Tyler. “Right now we are here and can enjoy the party.”

He parked in the road, as there were a ton of cars already.