Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 86

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Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 86

She sighed and took his hands in hers. “I wrapped up my last meetings in LA, went to some
horrible Christmas party with the network people, then, like a good child, caved to the wishes of
my elderly parents. I’m going to drive down to their place in Boca Raton later, but I thought
while I was in the area…”
“Boca is, like, three hours in the other direction,” Eli pointed out.
“Practically down the block.” Margo’s smile morphed into something more of a smirk. She gave
Eli a glance up and down. “Nice pajamas.”
“Thanks. It was a family thing.”
“How’ve you been?”
Eli bit the inside of his cheek and looked to the side with a little laugh. His life and its problems
all seemed so insignificant when Margo was around. “Doesn’t matter. I want to hear about what
you’ve been up to. Tell me about Dorothy.”
“Oh, one hundred percent, you’re not going to get me to shut up about it.” Margo jutted her
chin in the direction of the house’s interior. “Should I come in for tea and cookies with your
folks?”

-- 191 of 228 --

“No, uh, Mom and Dad aren’t here right now. But we can—” Eli licked his suddenly dry lips. “Do
you want to go for a drive? You can tell me all about LA on the way.” He glanced down at his pj’s.
“Give me one second to get dressed.”
“Sure, nothing I love better than driving around suburbia.” Margo flashed him a smile. “You
know I passed two Applebee’s between here and the highway?”
“Yeah, one is the good one. The other one is terrible.”
In no time, they were tooling around the back roads in a rented compact, taking a route Eli
sometimes took to school back in the day. He told Margo when to turn, when to slow down
because there used to be speed traps set up, when to ignore the speed limit. Margo, for her
part, filled him in on her adventures out west.
“So they love the concept; they love the names I’ve been tossing around,” she said as they
drove along the otherwise empty roads. The day after Christmas was quiet. “There’s a lot of
stuff still up for discussion, but, you know, I have a really good feeling. They said I should hear
from them soon, whatever ‘soon’ means.”
“That’s great news,” Eli said, trying his best to drum up the enthusiasm that Margo deserved.
“It’s a good sign they were willing to schedule time with you around the holidays, right?”
“I hope so.” Margo glanced his way a few times. She wasn’t subtle about it. “I want you to be
involved. I’m serious.”
He stared out the passenger window, gnawing on the edge of his thumbnail. “Well, I seriously
hope you’re not tossing around my name in front of the bigwigs when it comes to staffing the
writers’ room. I don’t want to be responsible for getting Dorothy shit-canned.”
“This may be difficult for you to hear”—she placed a hand consolingly on his knee—“but you’re
not so toxic a personality that the mere mention of you would torpedo five months of talks. I’m
pretty sure most industry people out on the West Coast have never even heard of you.”
“Wow. That is so uplifting,” Eli grumbled. He shifted his knee away, curling into himself toward
the passenger door in an exaggerated bid to get away from Margo’s touch.
She laughed like he’d hoped she would. Then, sobering a little, she said with forced lightness,
“And besides, who said anything about the writers’ room?”
Eli watched his reflection in the side mirror as his brow scrunched up. “Where else would you
put me?”
“In front of the camera,” Margo said. She kept her eyes on the road and her voice bright. “I want
you to play Felix.”

-- 192 of 228 --

“Felix.” Eli stared at her. This was a bad joke, he was sure of it. It didn’t even make sense. “But
I’m not an actor,” he said slowly.
“Lies. You performed every time you did stand-up. Plus,” she said, “you basically created Felix all
on your own. No one knows him like you do.” That part was true, at least; Eli had spent many
late nights with Margo, Chinese food containers scattered around, pencils behind their ears, the
whole stereotypical bit while they crafted the character who would be the goofy but well-
meaning foil on Friends of Dorothy.