The Wild Zone by Joy Fielding Page B

living room and into the kitchen. He poured some coffee into a flamingo-shaped mug, added a bit of milk, then sipped at it gingerly. “When did she leave?”
    “About twenty minutes ago. Said she’d be back in an hour.”
    “She makes a good pot of coffee.”
    “She does everything well.”
    “That she does,” Jeff said, thinking of last night.
    “You’re really lucky.”
    “Yes, I am.” Jeff caught a look of hesitation on his brother’s face. “What?” he asked warily.
    “What?” Will repeated.
    “You look like you have something you want to say.”
    “No. Not really.”
    “Yes, really,” Jeff insisted.
    Will looked away, cleared his throat, looked back again. “It’s just that . . .”
    “Spit it out, little brother.”
    “Well . . . it’s just that . . . last night . . .”
    “Last night?”
    “She doesn’t mind?”
    “Doesn’t mind what?”
    “You know,” Will said. “About Suzy.” Her name felt like a prayer on his lips. It made him feel good just saying it.
    “Nothing happened with me and Suzy.”
    “She doesn’t mind that you wanted something to happen, that something might have happened if . . .” What the hell was he doing? Will wondered. Was he just curious, or was he purposely trying to antagonize his brother?
    “ . . . if she’d chosen me?” Jeff said, finishing Will’s sentence for him. “Trust me, something definitely would have happened. But she didn’t choose me, did she? She chose you.” The Chosen One, Jeff thought, taking another sip of coffee, tasting it suddenly bitter on the tip of his tongue.
    “That’s kind of beside the point.”
    “Exactly what is the point?” Jeff asked impatiently. God, was it any wonder his brother had struck out last night? Was he always this damn tentative? “What are you trying to say, Will?”
    “I just have a hard time accepting Kristin’s really okay with this.”
    “She’s an amazing woman.”
    “Then why cheat on her?” The question popped from Will’s mouth before he could stop it.
    “It’s hardly cheating when the other person says it’s okay, now, is it?” Jeff said.
    “I guess not. Just that . . .”
    “What?”
    “I don’t understand why you’d want to.”
    “Hey, man. You know what they say. ‘Nothing smells like fresh pussy.’” Jeff laughed. “And speaking of which, what exactly happened last night?” He pulled up a kitchen chair and straddled it, enjoying his brother’s obvious discomfort.
    Will remained standing. “You know what happened.”
    “I know what didn’t happen. You didn’t—”
    “Can we not have this conversation again?” Will asked.
    “Did you at least cop a feel? Please tell me you got something out of last night besides a hangover.”
    “We kissed,” Will admitted after a lengthy pause. He didn’t want to cheapen the memory by talking about it.
    “You kissed? That’s it?”
    Will said nothing.
    “Did you at least get a little tongue action going?”
    “It was a good kiss,” Will said, turning away and heading back into the living room.
    Jeff was right behind him. “Aw, come on, little brother. You gotta give me more than that.”
    “’Fraid that’s all there is.” Will sank down on the sofa. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
    “Who says I’m disappointed? I saved a hundred bucks.”
    Will shrugged. “Contest isn’t over yet,” he said quietly.
    Jeff’s laugh filled the room. “Now that’s more like it. Looks like you might have a little of Daddy’s blood in you after all.”
    There was a moment’s silence before Will spoke. “You speak to him lately?”
    “Who?”
    “You know who. Our father.”
    “Our father who art in Buffalo? Why would I?” Jeff asked, wandering back into the kitchen to top up his coffee.
    “Just to check in, I guess. Say hello. See how he’s doing.”
    “He’s alive, isn’t he?”
    “Yeah. Of course he is.”
    “So, what’s left to say? I assume someone will notify me when he croaks.” Jeff