She does look ravishing, in her tailored summer dress, and Ted is proud to be married to her.
She smiles at Greg. ‘Thank you. You’re looking rather well yourself.’
‘I’m good,’ Greg agrees, smiling broadly and looking at his brother. ‘Fit as a fiddle.’
It’s almost as if Greg knows what he’s been thinking, and Ted looks down at the table and picks up the menu. Greg orders a whiskey as Ted peruses the choices.
The evening proceeds in a bit of a blur for Ted. He orders more to drink than he normally does. As they eat, he finds himself fading out of the conversation, letting Jill carry it. He’s thinking instead about his own problems. Every once in a while, he looks across at his brother, oozing health and success and telling them how great business is. How great life is. About his latest trip to Europe– a mix of business and pleasure. Greg has always been a blowhard, has always dominated the conversation.
They make it all the way to dessert, and there is no announcement. Ted realizes that he’s been clenching his jaw and makes a conscious effort to relax.
‘So, Ted, you’re awfully quiet tonight. How are things going for you?’ Greg asks. ‘At work?’
It wrenches Ted out of his thoughts. ‘What?’ But he’d heard the question. He understands then that Min has told him. He immediately tenses. It would be just like his asshole brother to say something in front of Jill.
‘How’s work going?’ Greg repeats. And he’s got a look in his eye, as though he knows something. Ted knows that look, he’s seen it often enough. TheI’m going to be a pricklook.
‘Good. Yeah, quite good, actually,’ he lies.
Greg is studying him carefully. Jill is glancing between the two of them, as if sensing something. Ted begins to feel slightly ill. He shouldn’t have had so much to drink.
‘That’s not what I heard,’ Greg says.
Jill turns a questioning gaze on him. ‘Well,’ he says smoothly, ‘nothing we can’t weather.’ He sounds convincing. He has always been smooth; it’s a gift. He can usually convince almost anyone of almost anything. ‘Can’t be too focused on the short term.’ He smiles at his brother.
Jill looks reassured, and as long as Greg stops now, it will be all right. But he hates his brother at this moment, for goading him, for kicking him when he’s down, for doing this in front of his wife.
Greg regards him as if he’s toying with him, swirls the amber liquid in his glass, and says, ‘Min told me, Ted.’
He sees Jill glancing from Greg to him, concern on her face. ‘Told you what?’ she asks.
‘Ted here,’ Greg says, ‘recommended a risky investment to Min, told her it was a “sure thing” and she lost her shirt. Isn’t that right, Ted?’
Ted feels his stomach fall away. He sinks under the shame of failure, of not being good enough, of not being as good as his successful brother. He can feel his face flush. ‘A lot of smart people at the firm lost money on that investment. It wasn’t just her,’ he says.
‘No. I understand you lost heavily as well.’
Jill turns to him in alarm. For a moment Ted is speechless; he doesn’t know what to say. He reminds himself that Greg doesn’t know everything; he doesn’t know about the loan shark and just how bad things are for them. He only knows about this one, spectacularly bad investment. ‘Yes, well, easy come, easy go,’ Ted says, sounding glib, like Jamie Pollard, and a little drunk.
Greg looks back at him in contempt. ‘Are you sure you can afford to lose money hand over fist like that?’
‘You know what, Greg?’ he counters. ‘You worry too much.’
They part soon after, and as he and Jill Uber home there is noticeable tension in the back of the car. Once they arrive home and walk up the steps to the front door of their brownstone, she asks him, her voice cold, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
They make their way inside before Ted answers. ‘It’s all under control, Jill,’ he lies. ‘No big deal. You know what an asshole Greg is.’ Even as he says it, he wonders how much longer he can keep her in the dark.
She lets it go.
But later that night, after they have gone to bed and Jill has finally fallen asleep, Ted lies awake, staring at the ceiling. How he hates his brother. His taunting, his superiority, his blatant success. He could kill him.
Hecouldkill him. The idea of it almost takes his breath away.
Could he? He certainly wouldn’t miss him.
How could he do it without getting caught?
Maybe he is about to find out what kind of man he is.
