Moira knows the moment Alodia's face turns from fire to ice: there is no good way to explain this, about choosing to tell her boyfriend over her own family. She bristles automatically at the way Alodia sneers the word 'him,' like it was poison.

"Yeah, I guess I did," she snaps back, jutting her chin out. She knows it was shitty to tell James and not the rest of her family; she's aware of how selfish her entire flight from Siren Cove turned out to be. But she refuses to let Alodia's venom temper her feelings for James; she refused to give into the town bullshit about family rivalries. "And for the record, I do, in fact, care about my family, but thank you for dictating to me about my own feelings."

She's angry herself, now. Perhaps it's the pregnancy, or perhaps she's just goddamn tired of being responsible. "And actually, seeing as we've both grown up here, I've known James pretty much my whole life."

"Look, Alodia, I don't expect you to be anything other than angry, but you really don't understand what I've been going through," she snarls, and God, she wishes she could drink right now, or smoke, even. She's never smoked a cigarette in her damn life. "I never meant to hurt you, or the rest of our family. I just...I needed to get away because I don't want to end up like her!"