The woman scoffed. “You sure don’t know much of anything.”
Ellis rolled her eyes. “They are on a mission. The military isn’t going to tell us much.”
“Oh, they’re military?” The woman narrowed her gaze. “Why aren’t you working with the military then?”
“She isn’t military, and they aren’t married. Why would they work with her?”
The woman sighed heavily and shook her head. “Send me the information on where you were, and we’ll get on it. I can’t promise anything, but we can start working on it. It will take a while, months, maybe a year, but we’ll start.”
“Thank you. That’s all I can hope for.”
They left and Ellis stopped by something called an ice cream shop, which smelled so amazing Flora couldn’t believe there was anything this good in the world.
“That smell. How can anything smell so good?”
“Wait until you taste it.”
“What does it taste like?”
“You’ll see. We can get a sample before you make a decision.”
“A sample?”
Ellis nodded. “Not every place gives samples, but some do. They’ll let you have a few. You should try vanilla and chocolate, but there are some other flavors that are interesting, like butter pecan and mint chocolate chip. That might be too much for the first time.”
Flora nodded. “Okay, I’m going to let you guide me.”
They moved to the counter, and the door opened behind them. Remi stepped in with another woman.
“Oh, it’s Remi and Wren. Hey, ladies, this is Flora.”
“Hi, Flora,” Remi said as she waved and came over. “Ice cream. Did you all have a lot of ice cream where you’re from?”
“Actually, I’ve never had it before.”
Wren’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“I grew up in a cult. We had no sweets. Food was for nourishment, not pleasure.”
Wren’s mouth fell open. “Oh, crap. That’s wild.”
Flora nodded. “Yeah, that’s one word for it.”
Remi shook her head. “So you’ve never had ice cream. My favorite is chocolate chip cookie dough, but I also like old-time flavors like rocky road and chocolate ripple. But honestly, any ice cream, unless it’s a weird flavor, is good.”
“Weird, like what?”
Remi chuckled. “The worst I’ve had was black sesame ice cream.”
Ellis’s lips pulled back in a grimace. “That’s weird.”
“So what will you have?” the guy behind the counter asked.
“Our friend has never had ice cream. She’s going to need to sample a few flavors.”
The guy’s eyes went wide. “Never had ice cream?”
“No, sir, I’ve never had ice cream. I ate chocolate for the first time a few days ago.”
