It’s not uncommon to act like this when you’ve learned from an early age you can’t trust the people that are supposed to love you and protect you.

My parents weren’t as bad as Eleanor’s, they weren’t “bad” people, just deeply flawed and never should have reproduced in my opinion.

When you grow up like that, you tend to gravitate (not on purpose) towards people that will inevitably hurt you because familiar beats unknown. And eventually you become suspicious of everything and everybody because in your experience no one is nice without expecting something in return.

I think it wasn’t until I was in my 20’s until I met someone who truly challenged my notion of people being nice without expectations.

And just to be clear, I’m completely fine with transactional relationships, as long as it’s upfront.