I don't believe in life-changing moments. But if you put a gun to my head and demanded one moment, just one, where I felt my life irrevocably shift, it would be when I fell down the back stairs at Zara's, the middle-eastern restaurant where I waited tables. . But this story isn't about work, it's about the back stairs and the newly mopped tiles that look dry even when they're wet and how as I fell I couldn't stop thinking how ridiculous I must look. When I finally landed on the back right section of my head I heard a little pop, the world went bright, then dark.

I heard Angel before I saw him and mused on the origins of his heavenly name as his face gradually came into focus. He's cute, I thought to myself and reached up to touch his face. He started back at first at the intimate gesture and then grabbed my hand and held it to his face. I could see relief flooding his features and spilling over, he closed his eyes for a second as if in prayer.