Elijah came to his end.
“Jesus, I just miss her, Arch,” he spat.
“I do too, Eli,” she said gently.“So does Dad.You can’tthink just because he has Haley that he doesn’t.He loved Mom.He’s just notone of those guys who can be alone.He likes company.He likes taking care ofpeople.He’s loving and social.He’d be miserable if he spent his life all byhimself, honoring their marriage when half of that marriage is no longer ofthis world.”
Elijah was quiet.
Archie kept going.
“You’ve hurt Haley.Also Hellen and Liane.”
“I—”
“You can’t deny it and you can’t excuse it.I’ve seen it,”she cut in quickly.“She’s great.Those girls are great.We can never have Momback, but they aren’t chump change, Eli.”
“Like I said, I need to take stock,” Elijah reiterated.
“Right,” Archie said.
“And I can’t lose you while I’m doing it.”
There it was.
Archie locked eyes with him.
“Right,” she repeated, but this time it was softer.
“I don’t…all I can say is I’ll be working on it.All of it.Just…give me some patience,” Elijah not-quite asked.
“I’m going to point out you’ve already had a lot of that,Eli, but I’ll give you more because I love you, because you’re family andbecause that’s what Mom would want me to do.”
Utter quiet from Elijah after that.
Archie moved on.
“I’m not managing this building without your help, Eli.Soyou either pay me to manage it or you help.”
“You were right about all of that.I was just being a dick.No clue why.”
Jagger had a clue.
Like Mal, or anyone who felt lost to their pain, Elijahneeded to be seen.
The thing was, in Elijah’s case, he’d been seen so much,Archie, and probably Andy too, had put up with his shit so long, he wasaddicted to it and he didn’t know how to operate any other way.
“Deduct what you need to deduct for me to pay you back andfor you to do what you have to do to keep things good,” Elijah went on.“Ican’t help right now, with school and work, I can’t add on.We’re preparing abrief at work and I’m working eighty-hour weeks and still have to hit class andstudy.I’m barely sleeping, and shit is intense.”
“You could have told me that, Eli.”
He sounded impatient when he replied, “I guess I’m not agreat communicator, Archie.”
“Trust me, take stock on that too, brother,” she advised.“Not just for me, Dad, our family, but anyone in your life.You acting like anasshole to get your way is going to get old real fast with people who are notbound to you.You with me?”
“I’ll take stock.”
That sounded like it was gritted through his teeth.
Archie grinned at Jag.
