Waiting for Cary Grant Read Free Page A

showed up in the campaign contributions. Executives were subpoenaed to testify before Congress. The Chairman of the Board had a substantial memory deficit. He didn’t recall any government investigation pertaining to Safety Tire. At the time of the campaign contribution, with which he unintentionally, of course, violated Federal Election Laws, he was unaware of any material problems Safety Tire faced with any branch of the Federal Government.”
    “So how did they explain the campaign contributions?”
    “Altruistic concern for the welfare of the country.”
    “Are you kidding?”
    “I wish. I’ll be deposing one of these expatriates in Provence next week. He’s had a home there for years.”
    “So how soon after they manufactured the multipiece wheel did they discover how dangerous it was?”
    “What makes you think they found out after?”
    “They knew before?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “Can you prove that?”
    He nodded. “I can’t go into it with you now.”
    “Harlan, if what you’re saying is true—“
    “—Of course it’s true.” Harlan snapped. No one ever questioned him.
    “It’s not just about her stutter, Harlan. It’s grief counseling. I’m trying to get her through it. She’s eleven and on the brink of adolescence and all that means. By stuttering, she may even be asking for attention. But then she’s not sure what to do with it when she gets it.”
    “Sounds like a lot of girls I know.” Harlan winked.
    Lana decided that comment was better left unexplored. “I’m working on building her trust. With you here, it could break down. Or worse.”
    “What do you mean or worse?” No one had the nerve to speak to him like this.
    “Transference. She’ll see us as parent figures. You’re already going after the wheel company that destroyed her family. You’re already looking like the good guy. To her.” Lana emphasized.
    “I’m not going to play Mommy and Daddy with you, Lana.”
    “I’m talking about perception—”
    “—I’m a trial lawyer. Don’t tell me about perception.”
    “You can’t hook her and then just write her off. She’s a child. Not a disposable blonde.”
    Harlan wondered if she’d seen him with one of his girlfriends. Where did women learn this stuff? He felt a tinge of paranoia. Then he looked down at Lana’s golden highlights.
    “Oh, I get it. You’re a blonde. But not disposable?”
    “That’s right. And neither is Kathy. Goodbye.”

Chapter Five
    O n the way home, Lana kept thinking about Harlan. She didn’t want to run into a nosy neighbor. She moved furtively towards her little house.
    She made it through the door undetected and sighed with relief. Then she answered the threatening meows of two oversized male cats.
    Open that can now, her tabby commanded. She checked her Blackberry. An email confirmed her latest Cary Grant order from Netflix. She was just two Fancy Feast can openings away from relaxing with Cary Grant and a glass of wine.
    “Moxie, you’re not starving.” She affectionately reminded all twenty pounds of him. But you don’t joke with a cat who wants to be fed. Unless you want an unpleasant surprise or two or three later.
    When they stopped howling and started eating, she crawled under her comforter, reached for the remote and her worship began. The credits rolled out his name and his visage filled the screen. She’d picked out her favorite tonight. Every Girl Should Be Married. It was the perfect movie. Cary Grant starring with one of his real life wives, Betsy Drake.
    Drake’s character exuded the immensely positive and unwavering belief that if she only marries Cary Grant, the whole world will come into balance and everything will be right. Cary Grant plays a baby pediatrician-which she enthusiastically proclaims is the most wonderful thing a man can be! Her assurance that marrying him will bring the whole universe into balance is unhindered by the cynics—including him—she encounters along the way.
    More than anything,