"My dad was a pretty strict guy, so believe me, your level of lecturing is totally acceptable," Claire grins, hands carefully tucking strands of her hair behind her ear, keeping busy to prevent herself from dwelling on her father, a process that she was pretty sure she carried through multiple times each day. From some distance away, Sam continued to babble on, drawing a wider smile from Claire. "I had this whole teen phase where I kind of wanted to go against anything that my dad had to say or suggest, but that's more or less ended by now. Well, then again— I guess he isn't exactly here, but."

She presses her lips thin. "But even before I left, we kind of came to a truce about the fact that he was, in the end, just way overprotective. And I guess when it comes to something like that, it could be a lot worse, right?"