Palatial Intimacy

II - The Family

"Hey, you." Will rustled his stepson's hair as he walked past the couch, where the boy was sitting watching baseball. Wally slapped his hand away, grunting, but Will caught a smile on his face as he walked away.

"And hey, you." He held his arms to wrap around Molly's waist, kissing her cheek. She placed her hand on his, the other one busy with the skillet. "What are you up to?"

"Working on my next novel," Molly quipped. "I'm obviously browning ground beef."

"For who? The most well behaved member of this family, by chance?" He bent down to scratch the head of their chocolate Lab. "Roscoe clearly wants some."

"He can't have any. It has garlic and onion in it."

"Well, that explains why it smells so good." Will rested his chin on Molly's shoulder. Her blonde hair was soft against his cheek. "How was your day?"

"Mundane. You?"

"Anything but." He stared down at the skillet. Yellow bubbles of beef fat crackled and popped, and he was suddenly reminded of the human meat that had been found in two men's homes. He suppressed a shudder. "We're in a predicament."

"I'm pretty good at puzzles."

Will relayed the situation to her, forgoing any extremely graphic details. He didn't want to erase everyone's appetite. She listened quietly, and when he was done she contemplated all of it without a word.

"First things first, you're not using the LOOM." She switched off the gas stove. "Get me a spoon."

Will did. She began to drain the fat, scooping the golden liquid into a can from the recycling. "I haven't heard anything good about the LOOM. I don't want you using something like that. God forbid you have some terrible reaction, and then you're never the same again."

"I know. I don't want that, either. And I don't want that for Doctor Lecter. I don't want to agree to something that could turn into a catastrophe."

"Then don't use it. End of story. Jack can't force you into it, and if he does, we're about to get a lot of money from a lawsuit."

"Well...we're about to get a lot of money anyway," Will said. This was the part that left him on the fence, that stopped him from refusing entirely. "He offered me money to do it with Doctor Lecter. He was only going to give it to me at first if I was successful, but I talked him into giving it to me after the first session no matter the outcome. That's how much he wants me on this."

"Okay. So how much? Like, a few hundred?"

Will glanced towards the living room, making sure Wally was still engaged with the TV. He lowered his voice. "He offered me seventy-five grand."

Molly nearly lost her grip on the pan, and Will reached out to help her. They both exhaled in relief when none of the hot fat spilled over the sides. "You're kidding."

"I'm not."

"That's a whole year of income for most people, Will."

"I made sure I heard him right. He wrote it down. I saw the zeroes."

Molly fell back into silence. She set the spoon down on the spoon rest, put the pan down, and closed her eyes. "Shit. We could do a whole lot with that money, Will."

"I know. College, for one thing."

"It would help a whole lot. But I don't know if it's worth the risk."

"Well, if it doesn't work properly, then you'll get the money from my life insurance. It's kind of s win-win."

"God, that's not funny, Will." Molly turned to him with an icy glare that made him wither. "Don't say that."