Margie glances at Laney, smiling softly at the woman who’s beaming at her husband on stage.
I want that.
I want a life with someone who’ll watch me do what I’m best at and beam with pride over it.
Someone who’s as much my partner as I want to be hers.
That was lacking with Felice.
I was behind her one hundred percent. But I don’t think she was behind me.
Ever.
“Success is half luck,” Theo says. “I wasn’t the first dude to try naked knitting for subscribers. Wasn’t the first dude to give life advice and tell my people they were all good enough exactly as they are. But I was the first dude who got popular for doing it. Still don’t know why it was me, but it was. And so that’s why I’m here. To talk about how I’m better than all of you.”
The crowd roars with laughter as Theo cracks a grin.
“So Theo,” Laney murmurs with a smile.
“Kidding, kidding,” he says. “Only way I’m better is that I found the best wife in the world and she gave me two babies who are just like her. Sorry to disappoint if any of you were hoping to get someone better.”
“Dammit, Theo.” Now Laney’s swiping her eyes.
Margie leans back into me.
I press a kiss into her hair.
Laney’s great.
But she’s no Margie-Margs-Skillet-Margot.
“I can’t tell you how to make your channels more popular,” Theo says. He shrugs at someone I recognize as an executive from the GrippaPeen website. “It’s the truth, dude. I can’t tell you what content style will take off next. But I can tell you it doesn’t mean shit if the rest of your life isn’t full. Laney makes my life full. And not just because she accepts me for who I am, but because she supports me when I say crazy shit likeI want to buy that ski resort with our friends and give creative people a place to get away and focus on art.”
He grins back at Laney over the crowd. “Yeah, I know, princess. It’s not crazy to give back to the world. Not crazy to support a community. Not crazy to do good things with the gifts we’ve been given.”
He sweeps his gaze over the room. “Andthatis what I want you to take away from my five minutes here. No one—noneof us—succeeds all on our own. We’re part of something bigger than ourselves, no matter how we express our art. And we owe it to the world to give back what it’s given us. Without that, it doesn’t mean shit. I’m outta here, motherfuckers.”
He steps back, sneezes so loud several people jump, takes a bow, and then ducks out a side door.
The room bursts into a standing ovation.
“What just happened?” I murmur to Margie.
“Apparently Theo Monroe?” she replies.
Laney’s laughing, still wiping her eyes. “That is absolutely what happens when Theo’s around. Are you off soon? We’re having an after-party to celebrate him being brave enough to talk to a room full of people. The triplets are coming. Some other family too.”
“Oh, we wouldn’t want—” Margie starts, but Laney makes a face, cutting her off.
“You’re not intruding. You’re invited and welcome.” She winks at me. “Unless you have something better to do?”
I shouldn’t be getting hot in the cheeks.
But I am.
Margie looks up at me.
I look down at her.
