What I learned was, she was expecting some special company. “I’ve invited Cameron to come by,” Angie said while Trevor was out of earshot. She sidled up next to me as I used one of our carving knives to cut a piece of cake for a guest. I knew we had a pastry knife and lifter somewhere, but that was the kind of thing only Sarah would be able to find.

“That’s great,” I said.

“He’s been really worried about me, after all that happened, so I asked him to come over. It’ll give you a chance to meet him. He’s really a nice guy, and I’m ready to introduce you, provided you don’t go wandering around his house late at night when I’m already upstairs asleep.”

“That’d be nice,” I said, trying to suppress a smirk. “I’m sure he’ll be interested to meet me, too.”

Trevor interrupted us. “Can I get you anything, Angie?” he asked.

“No, I’m good.”

“You want to catch some air now? Because there are some things I’d like to talk to you about.”

Angie glanced at me, the back of her head to Trevor, and her eyes rolled. “I can’t just walk out now, Trev, not with all these people here, okay?”

“I’ll be around,” he said, slipping out of the kitchen.

Quietly, Angie said to me, “I know he was there for me, for us, at the right time, but honestly, he’s freaking me out. But there’s like some Chinese or Indian tradition or something going on here, that he feels he’s obligated to watch out for me forever now. You save someone’s life, you have to hound them till the day they die.”

“I know,” I said. “It’s awkward, isn’t it? Considering.”

“Yeah. You know what he told me?” I leaned in. “He said we’re linked cosmically. At first, I thought he said ‘comically,’ and so I laughed, and that was definitely the wrong thing to do. He tells me, if he’s not with me, he won’t ever be with anyone. It was like he wanted to add I wouldn’t ever be with anyone else either.”

“Let me think about a way to handle it,” I said. Angie gave me a look. “I’ll talk to your mom. I won’t do anything crazy. How you doing, otherwise?”

“I don’t know if it’s all hit me yet. It’s hard to believe it all really happened. Like maybe it was just a bad dream.”

“That’s kind of how I feel,” I said, and kissed her on the forehead before Angie went back to talk to our guests.