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“Is it?”

“I’ve been living around other people for years, just kind of used to it. You seem like a people person, so it’s weird that you’d wanna live alone.”

Marco shrugged. “Maybe. But being a people person doesn’t mean I like being around peopleallthe time.”

“It does get pretty fucking annoying.”

“That it does. Unless it’s the right people.”

“Guess you don’t have many of those around then.”

“Not yet.”

Carter snorted, fingers scraping restlessly at the seam of the couch cushion. “No family?”

“I’m an only child,” Marco said, finally putting his phone to the side now it looked like Carter had given up fighting conversation. “My parents weren’t exactly, uh, made of money. Weren’t even supposed to have me.”

Carter snorted, picking at a thread. “Your parents sound like mine.”

Marco tapped his phone, thinking of his dad, who he hadn’t spoken to for a few days. “Not really their fault, you know? Shit happens, and they dropped the ball. I guess they could have given me up if they wanted to, but I hear that’s harder than it sounds. They worked their butts off to take care of me, though, and then my dad had to do it twice as hard when my mom died.”

Carter’s brows scrunched together again. “How did that happen?”

“Breast cancer. They caught it late. I was fourteen when it happened. My poor dad, he...well, it broke his heart. But I was too young to help with the bills, and they’d both been working when it happened.”

His father wouldn’t let him get a job until he was seventeen anyway, and then he wouldn’t take a dime from Marco. He insisted it washisjob to bring in the money, and Marco needed to focus on his schoolwork and get ready for college.

Carter wrinkled his nose. “Okay, I changed my mind.”

“About?”

“Your parents and mine aren’t the same at all.”

Marco almost asked, but he saw the same shadow from before flash over Carter’s face as he looked down at his lap again. Along with the bitterness lacing the man’s words, Marco would guess they wouldn’t be dragged on stage for parent of the year awards. It might go a little way toward explaining some of Carter’s attitude.

“Sorry about your mom, though,” Carter mumbled. “She sounds like she was pretty cool.”

“She was,” Marco agreed, not bothering to hide the warmth in his voice. “She was a good woman, and I miss her sometimes.”

“I got a sister,” Carter said, still staring at the couch. “We don’t talk much, though.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Marco said, unsure if that was the right response.

Carter grunted. “It’s alright. She’s a couple of years younger than me. I didn’t see her much after she graduated and moved out.”

“What’d you do?” Marco asked, already having a good idea.

“Wasn’t any point in sticking around. And it wasn’t like I was going to do much else with my life. She got all the brains, so I signed up for the military.”

The detail that stuck out for Marco was what Carter had done before that. “So, not straight out of high school then.”

Carter shook his head. “No. We’re not close, but I wasn’t going to let her live with those assholes by herself. At least when I was there, I made sure they didn’t sell the food stamps for drinks or burn the place down.”

It was an unusually frank admission, but Marco didn’t think Carter completely understood the implications of what he was saying. He kept his peace, feeling Carter would probably close himself off.

He was impressed, though. Suddenly, Carter’s willingness to throw himself into danger for a stranger made a great deal more sense. It was, after all, the same person who had stayed behind for a couple of years to make sure his younger sister wasn’t left in the care of ‘those assholes,’ which Marco guessed meant their parents.

“Talked to her recently?” Marco asked instead.