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“My period actually started. It was just late.”

A painful relief hit me, making my head fall back. As I looked at the ceiling, all I could do was thank my lucky stars.

Then the guilt hit. It was like cold water down my back. I straightened and looked at her.

Her glower had only intensified.

“I’d support you no matter what,” I rushed to say. “You know that.”

“But you’d complain,” she muttered. “You’d be miserable.”

I opened my mouth to deny it, but I refused to lie to her. “I’d live with it.”

“Would it really be so bad here?”

My answer was immediate. “Yes.”

“I don’t understand why you hate it here so much.”

“And I don’t get why you like it.”

Jade huffed. “Guess we got lucky.”

“I just want to make sure we have a good future.”

“We? Or is it just you you’re thinking of?”

I shook my head. “Of course it’s not just me. I want us both⁠—”

“I don’t want to leave Strawberry Springs.”

I blinked. “You should.”

“You just think I should.”

“There’s nothing for you here.”

“That’s not for you to decide,” she said, slamming her hand on the table. “Do you know what it’s like for Dad to be gone all the time? It’s miserable. It’s lonely.”

“You have me.”

“And you’re not always around. You know who helped me with my hair? Jackie. You know who took me to get my first pads? Tammy. The people here care. What if we leave and it’s not like that somewhere else?”

“We’d have each other.”

“I want more than just you. I want a community.”

I hated that I’d thought of this when she was worried she was pregnant. She was right—there was a community here.

And her being right made me dig my heels in even more.

“There are better people out there.”

“Yeah, right.”

“We can make new friends.”

“Maybe you can. But not me.”