The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments

Vlahos describes a lunch with her friends where she brushes off a question about her job. Her friends complain about small things in their retail and real estate jobs, and Vlahos tells them there’s nothing new in hers. Although she loves her work, she knows people are uncomfortable thinking about death in daily life. Instead, she talks about Chris and her hopes for engagement.

Vlahos meets Reggie in the trailer park where he lives with his wife, Lisa, and their dog, Max; he has liver disease from a lifetime of alcohol addiction. Reggie is sardonic about his condition and life generally.

Shortly after Vlahos begins working with Reggie, Chris takes her for a surprise boat ride and proposes. Babette is there and asks Vlahos when they plan to marry. Vlahos responds vaguely; it doesn’t occur to her in the moment that Babette, who has been forgetting things, may sense that she may not live to see the wedding.

On another of Vlahos’s visits, she notices that Reggie is seeing his deceased grandmother. Lisa has resisted making decisions about Reggie’s care that would mean acknowledging that he’s dying, and Vlahos now approaches her about her desire to have Reggie resuscitated if he flatlines.