"Yeah, but you're a moron," he reminds him with a smile, reaching in to tuck some of Cougar's tousled hair behind his ear. "Your judgement can't be trusted."

All the stories Cougar told him, as A, about his family have left Jake with a kind of idealized, Norman Rockwell-esque vision of them. It's intimidating as hell, because Cougar seems to love them so much, and he's not used to that. How do you deal with parents who pester you to come visit them all the time, who chide you for staying away, when his own mother only contacts him when she needs something?

Jake doesn't hate his mom, but he doesn't love her the way he thinks he's supposed to. It makes him feel guilty as hell.

"You're the only guy I've ever..." he trails off, the blush on his cheeks deepening. "I enlisted at sixteen, Cougs, I never got the chance to do anything about it. Girls were safe."