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“What about the girls at school or the girls on the newspaper staff?”

“Mom, really? You’re the one who’s always harping on me to have friends, and now that I have one, it isn’t therightkind of friend?”

“I never said that.”

“It’s what you’re insinuating.”

After taking a bite, she says, “I just want to make sure that you’re surrounding yourself with good people.”

“He is good.”

“Well, I’d like it if you could find a girlfriend to spend time with.”

“Jamie, please. Lay off.”

I shoot a discreet smile to my dad for sticking up for me.

“I want you home by curfew,” she says, giving up.

“I’m eighteen,” I defend.

“Why does every kid think that once they turn eighteen the rules disappear,” she mutters, and I roll my eyes.

“Dad, say something.”

With a subtle nod, he tells her, “She has a point.”

“She isnotan adult.”

“I understand, but maybe we should give her an extension since she is older.”

Irritated, she begins stabbing her fork into her salad repeatedly. “He makes me nervous.”

“Oh, my god, are you kidding me right now?”

She stares at me from across the table. “Don’t think I’m not aware of what goes on in that house. This town is only so big, and people talk.”

“That’s enough,” my father says, and I’m about to blow a gasket.

“You have no idea what his family has been through,” I try to defend, not that it’s any of her business.

“Both of you, stop!”

Leaning back in my chair, I huff, refusing to look in her direction.

The room goes quiet, and after my dad takes a sip of water, he sets down his glass and tells me, “I agree with your mom that you aren’t an adult yet. Yes, you’re eighteen, but while you’re still in school, you’ll have a curfew. Now,” he adds, “the two of us will talk and come to an agreement on extending that curfew, but for tonight ...” His words drift, and when he faces my mom, he says, “Let her have tonight.”

Her mouth drops, and I smile.

“She isnotstaying out all night with that boy. Are you crazy?”

“They’re just friends.”

“This is the problem, Jonathan,” she snaps when my phone buzzes in my pocket. “I’m the only one trying to protect her. You’re her father, and yet, you set no boundaries.”

Sebastian: On my way.

“Maybe the problem is that you set too many boundaries. You barely let her breathe.”