Page 10 of Margins

“Yeah, it was done before dinner.”

“Okay, go ahead and get it set up at the table,” he tells her. “I’ll be in there in a minute or two.”

When she scampers off, Alex taps out another text.

Not a bother at all I promise. Want to talk just can’t meet up this week.

Sure you’re ok with calling me later?

Yeah of course

Nothing else happens after that, so Alex joins Elena at the dining room table for a few rounds of a game that had been only vaguely familiar to him when he’d bought it from Elijah, the two of them fiercely competitive, even as he teaches her how to be a good sport whether she wins or loses. There’s a bit of an argument when he tells her it’s time for bed, but he thinks she’s too tired to fight it for long, and she trudges upstairs with nothing else to say, and he gets the game put away with the others.

About a half hour later, after his daughter is on her way to sweet dreams, Alex is in sweatpants and a t-shirt, sitting on his bed with several books around him, some of which he still hasn’t opened. Then he takes a deep breath and taps on the name in his most recent messages.

“Hey,” Elijah says. “Sorry if I—sometimes I forget what normal schedules are like.”

“No, it’s fine. I think mine’s only half normal anyway. I don’t keep bartender hours, but I only have Elena here every other week, so—I don’t know.”

“So maybe—never mind, I—”

“No, it’s okay, you can—” Alex promises.

“No,” Elijah interrupts back. “It’s just—I’m not so great over the phone. That whole charm thing you gave me shit about kinda works better in person.”

Alex chuckles, relatively sure that Elijah can out-charm him anywhere, but grateful he’s not the only one convinced he’s bad at this. “I’ll keep that in mind then. And how about you just tell me what you found in your books?”

“Yeah, okay. So, I remembered I kept a few books for myself, ones that my grandpa used to read to me when I was younger. They were from the same group as the ones you bought. Or from the same shelves of his, I guess, so I decided to look through them.”

“And you found messages written by E?”

“I mean, I’m assuming yes. They’re not signed or anything, but it’s different handwriting from what you showed me, and they’re addressed to P, which would fit with your theory.”

“Because P was your great grandfather?” Alex asks.

“Yeah, Peter. And I know he was made partner at some big law firm, and a couple of the notes talk about walking past the firm or something like that, so maybe that lines up. Plus, my great grandparents writing notes back and forth would track with the books being kept in the family. She died not long after my grandpa was born, so I don’t know much about her, but my grandpa was always close to his father, and I have some vague memories of my great grandfather. I think he died when I was around 10 or so. Anyway, it would make sense that my grandpa would hold on to his father’s books and read to me from them.”

Alex nods to absolutely nobody, the walls of his bedroom uninterested in the conversation, though his cheeks are flushed. “Okay, but you said something is confusing?”

“Yeah, I—I just don’t get what’s up with the implication that their love was forbidden,” Elijah explains. “They were both from wealthy families, back when that was important to everyone, and then they married young and started their family, and I never heard any stories about that being a bad thing.”

“What did you mean when you said the mention of the law firm maybe lines up? It sounds good to me.”

“Well, I’d have to ask my mom more about it probably, but my great grandfather wouldn’t have been very old when he first got together with my great grandmother—like, at all—so while it’s possible he worked at the law firm back then, I’m not sure he would’ve been as important there as these notes from E make it sound.”

“Weird,” Alex huffs. “Maybe we have to go back another generation?”

“Maybe. I really don’t know. Maybe it has nothing to do with me.”

“So, we keep reading until we figure it out?”

Elijah hums. “And even if we don’t figure it out, at least we get a nice love story out of it.”

They’re quiet for a few seconds, and somehow it’s not as awkward as Alex still thinks it should be, this conversation with someone he only barely knows, but wants to talk to more. He has friends at work, of course, or maybe they’re only serendipitous acquaintances of circumstance. He distantly keeps in touch with a group of people from college, except that he was already well into his relationship with Cassidy in those days, so most of those people are her friends too, which isn’t bad, but won’t do much for him right now. He knows most of his neighbors by sight, and a few by name, but they don’t hang out socially, and really, Alex wouldn’t know where to begin with that anyway.

But he met Elijah and talking to him has been easy and now they have a reason to talk more, if either of them wants that. If Elijah doesn’t already have plenty of friends of his own. If Alex isn’t setting himself up for a quick failure chaser after a drink he’s nursed too long. But back when they were texting earlier in the night, Elijah had invited him to meet up, so maybe—maybe it’s not that much of a stretch to think that Alex has met someone who could be a friend, right when he needs one most.

“We should read more of the notes,” Alex starts. “But it would probably be good to put them together to see if we can figure out the back and forth. Or not, if you—I wouldn’t want that to be uncomfortable for you.”

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