Joe leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded, watching Hayla pace like she was trying to outrun something invisible.
“I’m serious,” he said, calmer than she expected. “I’ve been studying holistic medicine. Not just pills and prescriptions—real root causes.”
Hayla stopped, half-laughing, half-exhausted. “So what am I, your case study now?”
Joe shook his head. “No. You’re… a mystery. That’s the truth. But mysteries don’t scare me.”
She looked at him, searching his face for sarcasm. There wasn’t any.
“If it’s physical,” Joe continued, “watch Food Matters. It’ll open your eyes—what we eat, what we’re missing, what they don’t tell you.”
“And if it’s not physical?” she asked quietly.
“Then it’s something deeper,” he said. “Watch Feed Your Head. That’s about the mind—how we get trapped in it, how we can get out.”
Hayla crossed her arms. “So you’re saying I’m either poisoned or crazy?”
Joe smirked slightly. “I’m saying you’re neither. I’m saying something’s out of balance. And balance can be restored.”
There was a long pause. The room felt still, like even the air was listening.
“And right now?” she asked.
Joe met her eyes.
“Right now… we don’t pretend we know what it is,” he said. “We respect the mystery. And we start paying attention.”
Hayla exhaled, tension loosening just a bit.
“For what it’s worth,” Joe added, softer now, “you’re not alone in it.”
She nodded, not fully convinced—but not dismissing him either.
And for the first time all day, she stopped pacing.
