Page 16 of Earl

Ignoring the frown on her friend’s brow, she rushed on. “He did. He was the one who paid for it as well.”

“I have been trying to get you to go out with Clive…”

“Clive is dull and pedestrian. You said so yourself.”

“He is a lawyer.”

Cathy’s tapered eyebrows lifted. “So?”

“Okay, fine. You are not impressed by social status or anything like that. But this Earl person. What if he is…?” She lifted thin shoulders. “What if he turns to be fat and dumpy with heavy brows and receding hair?” She stared at her friend’s thick dark brown hair with the blonde highlights. “You have a thing about hair. Remember Jason?”

“It was not just his hair, it was his entire demeanor, and he has this high squeaking voice that grated on my nerves.”

“Okay, so this Earl has a deep voice. What about the other bits? He could be potbellied.”

“He works out every day.”

“How do you know that?”

“He told me!” She held up a hand. “And before you mention that he could just be fibbing to impress me, let me save you the trouble by telling you that I believe him.’ She glowered. “Now I don’t want to hear any more negative words about him. You were the one who was constantly harping on me to get back out there.”

“Well, you are not exactly out there, are you?” She grumbled. “Okay, fine. I am stopping.”

“This works for me.” Cathy told her quietly, sipping her tea. “We talk and that’s it. That’s about all I can handle right now. I am in a time crunch because of the show that’s coming up in the fall and have my hands full. I barely can find the time to do anything else, much less go out on dates. This works.”

“Whatever makes you happy.”

“And I am. I get to set the pace, and he has agreed to hold off on meeting each other.”

“For how long?”

“For as long as I say.”

“And he agreed to it?”

She nodded. “Now tell me about the lawyer.”

*****

“I would think you would be more enthusiastic.” Lionel Anderson murmured, cutting into his rare steak. “We are talking about the future here, Earl, cutting edge industry. A computer is so thin, it’s almost non-existent. The software needs a little more work…”

“Try a lot of work. I had my IT team doing research and it came up wanting.” Earl signaled to the waiter who came hurrying over with the bottle of wine. He did not think the meeting was going to be running over so much and was impatient to wrap things up.

Lionel Anderson was a software giant, and they had several businesses overlapping, one of the reasons he had agreed to the long and tedious lunch. The man had been going on and on about the revolutionary device that was not as impressive as he expressed.

“I know there are some glitches…”

“Some glitches?” Earl poured the rich ruby red in the glasses and handed him one. “What is really going on here, Lionel? You are one of the sharpest brains I know and it’s not like you to fall for anything that is not a hundred percent do-able.

I told you that my team did a thorough examination of the item and found it lacking. Microsoft and Apple came out with the thin version years ago. There is nothing remarkable about this product.”

The older man’s shoulders sagged, and his craggy face took on a defeated look.

“You are right as usual.” Pushing away his half-finished meal, he folded meaty hands on the pristine white tablecloth. “I am in hack for several million dollars.”

Picking up his wine glass, Earl studied him curiously. “You made an investment that’s not paying off.” He intuited. “That’s also not like you.”

“No!” Lionel shrugged. “A friend of mine introduced me to the entire thing and I fell for it.” A harsh sigh soughed through his lips. “It has potential, I can tell you that. But there are some things that need to be ironed out before it can ever hit the market.” He gazed at Earl squarely. “In the meantime, the creditors are snapping at my heels.”

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