Nettie watched him and his works gave her comfort but she didn't express relief. She frowned and folded her arms. "Stop that! It isn't my job. I worry because I care! I worry because I want to check on you and know you're alright. I know you can care for yourself. You're a grown up, but.. I want to worry. I want to check up on you and see you're alright. It is just me being selfish. So.. don't act like I'm around you as some sort of punishment or something." She sighed and looked at him. "Is this cause of how grandpa and dad have always treated you? They never deserved to be a part of a family with you in it anyway. You're too good for them. "

That was why she hadn't spoken face to face with her parents in months and barely wrote to let them know she was still alive.

"I swear.. it's like you think I'll think badly of you and that will never happen. I mean.. " she scratched her head in thought. "I guess if I found out you liked kicking puppies or drowning babies we'd have to sit and have a talk about it." She offered him a weak smile at her dark joke.

She rose a brow at his curiosity over the boy and looked away casually shrugging. It was as if it were only his imagination she'd even mentioned it, but she did finally speak. "He was just a boy I met in town when I was getting supplies and trying to figure out my way. He was very nice and very handsome. His name was Maxim. We just met. It isn't like we agreed to start dating." Her eyes squinted looking rather gleeful that such a thing worried him. "You raised me better than that. I wouldn't get serious without you meeting him first, right?"