It gave a small, pitiful meow as it locked gazes with her, and Sara forgot her fear. “Oh, look how sweet.” She squatted down beside Gabriel to get a better look. The kitten was emaciated, its fur dirty and matted. “Oh, my gosh, this poor thing.”

When the cat refused to sniff his fingers, Gabriel pulled his hand back. “It’s obviously a stray. No collar. Probably just a few months old, and from the looks of her ribs, she’s been on the street awhile.”

Sara reached out and stroked the top of the kitten’s head. The cat didn’t balk at the touch, and actually tilted her head and rubbed against Sara’s wrist. “I’m going to take her. I can’t leave her here like this.” The doorway was filthy, covered with cigarette butts and blobs of old chewing gum. Reaching forward, she scooped up the kitten, who didn’t squirm or try to slip away at all.

Sara expected Gabriel to protest, to make a comment about the cat’s lack of cleanliness, possible state of disease, or question where she was going to keep a cat, but Gabriel didn’t say anything. He just put his hand on the small of her back, urging her to continue walking down the street.

“She weighs nothing at all,” Sara commented as she snuggled the kitten closer in her arms, not wanting the cat to make a leap for freedom. Not that the kitten seemed inclined to go anywhere. She was collapsed against Sara’s chest and purring loud enough to be heard.

“We can feed her at my place.” Gabriel moved his hand from Sara’s back to her elbow, pausing her so he could glance past the parked cars and make sure no cars were driving down Royal Street before they crossed it.

It was a nice protective gesture, one Sara liked. One that surprised her, frankly. Gabriel seemed so internal, so focused on his own thoughts, that she wasn’t expecting that level of solicitude. But then again, he had been that way all night. Maybe when he turned off work, when he focused on the world around him, she saw his true character. It was strange that she thought of him as an introvert, even though he talked to her, sometimes quite a bit, like he had at dinner. Yet it always seemed like there was a barrier between him and everything around him, a distance. A reserve.

She didn’t feel that as he pushed open his courtyard gate. She just felt safe and protected in the dark and gloom of the poorly lit street, and she was grateful when he shut the gate behind her and clicked the lock shut. The dark, the looming buildings, the corners and shadows, had terrified her. Gabriel didn’t, even though she knew she had no concrete reason to trust him.