“No. Everyone comes to see them off, like it’s a great adventure. Goodbye party and everything. But . . .” My voice caught. This part touched me deeper than it should.

“But what?” Daniel prodded.

“What about his family? He can’t, like, just fly home. He’ll be gone for years.”

“So he really needed the money. Probably to support his family.”

I chewed my lip. “I guess.”

“Didn’t you take off? From home, I mean, to end up in a den.”

“Not on purpose!” But okay, why had I been out during Abel in the first place?

“Except you don’t remember, right?” He managed to look mischievous and serious at the same time. “Maybe you were on the run.”

“From what? You mean, like a criminal?” Not even Rubio had offered this explanation so far.

“Not necessarily.” The mischief faded and his eyes went suddenly bleak. “A lot of things to run from in this world.”

Wherever his mind had shot off to, it unsettled me. Hoping to haul it back, I ruffled my poncho noisily. “I don’t think I was on the run. More like I was abandoned.”

As quick as he’d drifted, he was back again. “Ah. By your parents?”

This was getting personal. “Maybe. If I had any.”

“We all had parents. Mine did exactly that.”

“Left you behind?”

I expected he’d turn grim again. Instead, he gave an off-hand shrug. “They took off to Europe while we—my sibs and I—were in school. Never came back.”

“That’s terrible! What happened to them?”

“A better life, apparently. Kid-free. Checking off some end-of-the-world bucket list. We’d catch the occasional exotic internet post.”

His too-casual tone made me frown. “You didn’t hate being abandoned?”

He shook his head. “More like being liberated. Or it felt that way at the time. We had each other, the house, and were mostly old enough to fend for ourselves.”

Happy to shed his parents. I couldn’t imagine such a thing. “So . . . they were like, really strict or something?”

Daniel’s smile took on a cooler distance. “Let’s just say they weren’t much good at being parents. Or much interested.”

House? Europe? Had to mean uptown. I got wary again. “So you live in a house?”

“Not me. My sibs still do. Eventually we . . . um . . . parted ways.” He pushed off from the wall and peered around the corner of the alcove. The gale tore at his cheeks. He ducked back in, blinking away rain. “Definitely getting nasty out there. Listen, why not just come up to my squat, ride out the storm. It’d be way safer.”

I didn’t think so. “Uh. No. That’s okay.”

“I could take a real look at the book. We could read some. I’ll make us dinner.”

So eager. Pushing too hard. “Thanks. I gotta get home.”