"In some situations, yeah," she admitted, though her heart broke all over again when he said and that's okay. As much as she wanted to help him not hurt ... she couldn't fix everything as easily as a bandage to the finger. She was so busy wool-gathering about it that when he called her a mom, her eyes widened.

"Wait, what?" She laughed softly, her cheeks coloring. "Oh Lord, no, I'm not mom material. I grew up in an orphanage, so when I got older I was always getting asked to help mind the younger kids. They were always short on staff. It's ... believe me. At no point do you ever have to worry that I'm tryin' to be your mom. Just an older, possibly much less cooler friend."