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for your first day on the job. Wasn’t too boring for ya?”
    She shook her head. “Nah, it was fun.”
    “Will I see you tomorrow, or are you going to school?”
    She raised an eyebrow at me, like I had no right to ask.
    I added, “You know, just so I know if Kira has to make two lunches instead of one.”
    She tried not to smile. “Maybe.” And with that, she waved her hand, said, “See ya,” and she and her brother walked out the door.
    I followed them out about ten seconds later, but when I looked up both sides of the street, they had already gone. I climbed into the waiting car and said hello to Kira.
    “Good day?” he asked, probably curious about my smile as he pulled out into traffic.
    “It was,” I said “Productive and kinda fun. I had a helper today.”
    “A helper?”
    “Claude. She was just hanging around so I told her she was my assistant for the day.” Then I added, “She loved your salad, by the way.”
    “She ate your lunch?”
    “Well, she didn’t have any,” I said. “Actually, by the way she scarfed down a vegetable salad, I don’t want to think about the last time she ate.”
    “Matt…”
    “What?” I asked. “She’s just a kid. I wasn’t just gonna eat in front of her.”
    “I know, but you can’t start feeding the kids. If you do it for one, you should do it for all of them, and, Matt, that’s—”
    “I know,” I said, cutting him off. “It’s not my responsibility. But it kind of is, Kira. Claude comes in and fills up on hot chocolates like it’s the only thing she’ll have all day and that’s hard to watch, ya know?”
    Kira slid his hand over the console and took mine, giving my fingers a squeeze. “I know.”
    “Anyway, I told her I’ll bring another salad for her lunch tomorrow if she turns up for work.” I could feel Kira’s eyes on me as he drove, and although I deliberately didn’t look at him, I squeezed his hand. “I know what you’re going to say, babe, and I get it, I do. But she’s just a kid.”
    “They’re all just kids.”
    I nodded. “I know. It harder than what I thought it would be,” I told him honestly. “For years when we encountered kids on the street, they were just nameless faces. Each of them was different and, sure, they each had a story to tell, and I guess we were kind of jaded as cops…”
    “But they’re not nameless anymore?”
    I looked at him then, and when his eyes left the traffic and found mine, I nodded. My voice was quiet. “No, they’re not.”
    “Matt, you’re doing a good job,” he said reassuringly. “You knew there’d be issues you’d have to deal with.”
    I exhaled loudly. “I know, I know.” I tried to shake it off. “How was your day? Tell anyone you’re a spoken-for man?”
    “I’ve been a spoken-for man for a year and a half, thank you very much,” he said with a smirk. “Did I tell anyone we got engaged? Yes.”
    I smiled automatically. “Who?”
    “Chris,” he said. “Being my boss, I figured I should tell him first. Then Abby and Jeff, the other trainers that were on today.”
    “Any clients?” I asked, wondering if any of my old workmates knew.
    “Thought I’d leave those honours to you. Mitch isn’t back yet.”
    “No, he has another week on his honeymoon.”
    “And Anna will kill you if you call him,” Kira said with a half-grin. “For anything.”
    I laughed. “She might have told me that.”
    “She did tell me that.”
    I snorted out a laugh. “I have to tell him first, out of all the guys. Oh, but I told Arizona, but he one-bettered me.”
    Kira looked at me and smiled. “What’d he do?”
    “He and Lashona are having another baby.” I shook my head. “You should have seen him. He was still grinning when I left.”
    We pulled up at the house, grabbed our gym bags from the back seat and went inside. “What did you want to do for dinner?”
    “You haven’t eaten all day, have you?”
    “Not since breakfast.”
    “Oh, Matt.”
    I pulled a pint of