They’re talking like I don’t know math. Like I haven’t read the comments, seen the headlines. She’s younger than Hailie. Yeah. I know. You think I’m stupid? You think I didn’t run that number in my head a hundred times before I picked up the phone to call her?

Everybody’s got a damn calculator out now, punching in the years between our birthdays like that’s gonna prove something. Like love’s a crime if the digits don’t line up neat.

They say it’s creepy. They say it’s embarrassing. Somebody wrote midlife crisis in bold like it was the cleverest thing they’d ever typed. Funny, ‘cause I’ve been in crisis my whole life. This one’s just quieter. No pills. No booze. No headlines for punching walls. Just… someone who makes me forget how heavy my name feels.

Yeah, she’s younger than Hailie. And? She’s also smarter than half the people I’ve met in this industry. More grounded than I was at 30. She looks me dead in the eye when I’m spinning out and says, “Marshall, breathe.” Do you know how rare that is?

You wanna call it wrong? Fine. Call it what you want. But when the lights are off, when the studio’s empty, when the world shuts up for five minutes. She’s the only thing that feels right.