Waving off the apology, Rae shook her head no. “Don't worry about it,” she told the other girl simply.
“Who actually cares what Maddie thinks?” Aside from Caitie, but she was a whole different story. “No one around here takes her seriously, and I think, in most cases, people would have to think long and hard before helping her out of a jam,” she pointed out. The girl had dug herself into a hole with the way she'd been acting around here. If people didn't like her, she had no one to blame but herself. “That's the thing about feelings, hon. They happen whether they're rational or not. You can't help them. But the key is knowing whether they're based in fact or things you're just making up in your head.” She'd had to tell herself that countless times. “It's not easy, but it's something that you learn to do as you get older.” In most cases, anyway.
Rae gave a stern—but once again, not uncaring—look when Nick tried to make a joke of everything. She was trying to have a serious conversation, give some serious advice, and yeah, jokes were fine, but if there was an issue, it needed to be worked through, avoiding it with jokes wasn't going to help it any. “Maddie mostly implies things like that because she doesn't really know what else to do, I think. She wouldn't ever admit it, but I have a pretty big hunch that she's insecure.” She pushed some of her hair behind her ear. “She doesn't know how to be liked, so she's jealous that people like us do. So, why should you care what she thinks?”
She shrugged. “He only calls the shots like that because you let him, sweetie. Theoretically, I could probably call the shots for Luke and April, but they're never going to learn to be their own people if I don't help them out with that, you know?” she asked with another shrug and a smile. Her smile grew a little when Nick admitted that Sing Sing was home. “You can always have him talk to Evan. Instead of going back to the city alone, Evan could always organize a trip back into the city to look for families. The government people already know we're here, so... I don't see any reason why we can't go back and get some of the folks we left behind. There are some people here who I'm sure would get behind that.” She smiled a little when she cited her son as a reason to stay. “That's entirely up to you, although I'm pretty flattered that EJ's part of why you want to stay,” she mused.
Rae chuckled. “Okay, no. Only ask people around your age who aren't creepy. Please.” She nodded.