Marie had grown up in a fairly well off family and had never lived anywhere like the neighborhood Steve took her to. It was like being in a different world, really, and rather than think poorly of the life Steve had led or pitying him for it, she simply found herself wanting to know more about this person she'd suddenly found herself intimately connected to. How had living here shaped him? And it made her think about just how her own experiences had shaped her life.

She smiled at his joke and gave his arm another little squeeze. "Did you grow up here?" she asked him with genuine curiosity. "There are a lot of immigrants living in this area, aren't there? That must make things interesting, with all those different cultures and accents mixing together."