Noah had nearly reached us when he was stopped by an older man who had his arm around a much younger, beautiful woman. At the man’s request, Noah agreed to take a picture with the woman, who looked like she was in danger of spilling out of the top of her very tight, strapless, champagne-colored dress. And there was a lot that would have spilled out.

Now she was talking to Noah, and he had this weird smile pasted on his face and a pained look in his eyes. Like a hostage trying to communicate without his captors knowing.

I decided to be nice and rescue him.

“I won Miss Malibu last year,” the abundantly bosom-blessed woman was telling Noah. “That’s how I met Harold here. He was one of the judges. And, if you think about it, winning kind of makes me a queen. I’ve got the crown and everything.”

Noah didn’t seem to know what to say. “Oh. I hadn’t heard that Malibu had incorporated as a monarchy.”

That made me smile, but his words seemed to confuse both Miss Malibu and her sugar daddy.

“There you are!” I said. “Chase and Zoe are waiting to talk to you. If you’ll excuse us?” I tugged at Noah’s arm, and he quickly followed me.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. But I hope you enjoy it. You only get one save per night, and you just used yours up. And what was that?”

“People just . . . tell me things. And try to impress me.”

That seemed so strange. “Why?”

“I don’t know.”

I probably shouldn’t fault them too much. At least they hadn’t met him and immediately called his shoes ugly. “That’s stupid,” I concluded. “I would never do that.”

“I know.”

There was something behind his words, something I didn’t want to examine, so I said, “Well, at least she was pretty.”

“She wasn’t really my type.”

“Uh, she was gorgeous. Just like that girl Hannah was gorgeous. And you’re trying to tell me you don’t have a type that’s physically perfect? Because yes, I’m sure you only date girls with personalities and brains that you can bounce a quarter off.”

He laughed, and it was loud and joyful and glorious. I’d heard him laugh in movies and on TV dozens of times, but this was different. It was real, and I was the one who had caused it. It felt like something I should cross off a bucket list or something. Made Noah Douglas laugh. Check!

When his laughter faded, that electric we’re-having-a-moment feeling returned, so I asked, “Don’t you find it aggravating? When people try to impress you?”

He shrugged. “It annoys me, but it doesn’t take much to annoy me.”