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Marshall is Allysa’s husband. In high school, he was Ryle’s best friend, and Allysa didn’t realize she had a crush on him until she saw Marshall flirting with another girl at a party, prompting her to confess her feelings and for the two of them to begin dating. When Lily meets him, Marshall is incredibly well-off, having sold a few apps he developed. He is a calm and steady presence throughout the novel, and his relationship with Allysa serves as a foil for Lily and Ryle’s. While Lily and Ryle’s relationship is turbulent and defined by Ryle’s domestic abuse, Marshall and Allysa’s marriage is purely loving; they treat one another with respect, and Marshall’s even-tempered demeanor and propensity for light-hearted jokes contrasts starkly with Ryle’s possessiveness and quickness to anger. When Lily makes the decision to leave Ryle, Marshall, along with Allysa, stands with Lily. He immediately understands when Allysa tells him to keep Lily’s pregnancy a secret, and he oversees Ryle’s meeting with Lily in the interest of her safety, allowing her the reassurance necessary to tell Ryle about the baby in person.
