Who's the Blonde Stranger (on Broadway)?
Copyright© 2025 by MarkStory
Prologue
Monday - Blonde Stranger
Who’s the blonde stranger
Who entered my life?
Makin’ me over
In the moonlight?
Wednesday, 10:11 PM
Courtney’s text comes through just as the check hits the table at a Nashville steakhouse. I’m out with a few colleagues from my university, one last dinner to mark the end of the week-long higher-ed conference. Dessert is gone, conversation fading, and my watch buzzes.
— Hey, are you still out?
The message is simple, harmless on the surface. But it sends me back to the start of the week — to the first night I met her.
I’ve known Courtney three whole days. She’s flying solo at the conference, while my institution sent a small crew — four of us, including me. She’s thirty-nine, twelve years younger than me, and fits right in from the start — same rhythm, same humor. For the rest of the conference, she tags along naturally: sessions and hallway chatter by day, neon bars and music by night.
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