consultant who knew fresh produce inside and out.
Miranda Travers was a respected nutritionist, a woman who knew her rhubarb from her rutabaga. She was supplying them with info on every fruit and vegetable on the planet, including the health benefits of each and a plethora of recipes. She was a find and he couldn’t let some sleazeball scare her off.
He thought fast. “I’ll take Blake to the Rotary meeting. That should please his dad and on the way back I can broach the subject of his unacceptable behavior with Miranda.”
Rylan nodded. “Good plan. Wish we didn’t have to deal with him at all, though. He can’t write code worth a damn.”
Tony could easily picture Rylan’s frustration. The Krause brothers had been his close friends since freshman year at Caltech and a natural choice for this startup. Frazer was the more levelheaded of the two while Rylan’s brilliance at software design was sometimes undercut by his low tolerance for frustration. “Give him busy work and convince him he’s a valuable member of the team. I hate this as much as you do, but we have to be realistic. His father’s providing fifty percent of our financing.”
“Forty-seven-point-six percent. I worked it out.”
Tony laughed. “So did I, but he’s still our primary backer.”
“Find us some more multi-millionaires at the luncheon, dude. Preferably ones with no idiot sons who need a job.”
“You’re not the first person to suggest that.”
“Come to think of it, dragging Pearson along to the lunch won’t increase your odds. Maybe you should leave him here. Frazer thinks we should get him alone and give him a wedgie. After all the times it’s happened to us, we know how it’s done.”
“No wedgies. His dad has an entire law firm at his beck and call. I’ll take him with me.”
“I’d rather follow through with the wedgie plan, but okay.” Rylan polished his glasses with the tail of his plaid shirt. “I’ll go tell Frazer we have a couple of hours when we can actually accomplish something. He’ll appreciate that.”
“All the more reason I should get Blake out of here. Is he seriously interfering with your progress?”
Rylan inspected his glasses and put them on before answering. “I hate to admit this, but I’m struggling and Pearson makes a great excuse for my mental block. The app is a killer concept, especially with the healthy eating craze going on, but I won’t lie to you. The execution is turning out to be a bitch.”
“Do we need another beer and brainstorming session at Picasso’s?”
“Maybe. But if you get Pearson out of here for a while, that’s going to lower the stress level for all of us.”
“Consider it done.”
“Thanks. We’re buying the beer next time.”
“Damn straight.” That was another thing Tony cherished about his three friends. Because of his wealthy family and his trust fund he had more financial resources than all three of them put together. He’d had the money to buy this building and the connections to find renters for the bottom two floors. He’d also tapped his dad’s well-heeled cronies to line up investors.
Because of that, his three friends had voted him in as CEO, which made him the boss, but he didn’t consider any of his buddies employees and consequently they didn’t treat him any differently than they had before. They still kidded him about his Maserati. He’d bought it primarily for the sound system but at the last minute had ordered the ragtop for the coolness factor, which effectively cancelled the excellence of the sound system because of road noise. But at least the four of them could cruise the 101 in style.
They hadn’t done that lately, though. As Rylan left, Tony felt a twinge of guilt for suggesting to Charlotte that they go out for pizza by themselves. If Blake was affecting company morale, shouldn’t the CEO take steps to boost everyone’s spirits? The regular pizza nights had become a tradition and by making it exclusive this
Miranda Travers was a respected nutritionist, a woman who knew her rhubarb from her rutabaga. She was supplying them with info on every fruit and vegetable on the planet, including the health benefits of each and a plethora of recipes. She was a find and he couldn’t let some sleazeball scare her off.
He thought fast. “I’ll take Blake to the Rotary meeting. That should please his dad and on the way back I can broach the subject of his unacceptable behavior with Miranda.”
Rylan nodded. “Good plan. Wish we didn’t have to deal with him at all, though. He can’t write code worth a damn.”
Tony could easily picture Rylan’s frustration. The Krause brothers had been his close friends since freshman year at Caltech and a natural choice for this startup. Frazer was the more levelheaded of the two while Rylan’s brilliance at software design was sometimes undercut by his low tolerance for frustration. “Give him busy work and convince him he’s a valuable member of the team. I hate this as much as you do, but we have to be realistic. His father’s providing fifty percent of our financing.”
“Forty-seven-point-six percent. I worked it out.”
Tony laughed. “So did I, but he’s still our primary backer.”
“Find us some more multi-millionaires at the luncheon, dude. Preferably ones with no idiot sons who need a job.”
“You’re not the first person to suggest that.”
“Come to think of it, dragging Pearson along to the lunch won’t increase your odds. Maybe you should leave him here. Frazer thinks we should get him alone and give him a wedgie. After all the times it’s happened to us, we know how it’s done.”
“No wedgies. His dad has an entire law firm at his beck and call. I’ll take him with me.”
“I’d rather follow through with the wedgie plan, but okay.” Rylan polished his glasses with the tail of his plaid shirt. “I’ll go tell Frazer we have a couple of hours when we can actually accomplish something. He’ll appreciate that.”
“All the more reason I should get Blake out of here. Is he seriously interfering with your progress?”
Rylan inspected his glasses and put them on before answering. “I hate to admit this, but I’m struggling and Pearson makes a great excuse for my mental block. The app is a killer concept, especially with the healthy eating craze going on, but I won’t lie to you. The execution is turning out to be a bitch.”
“Do we need another beer and brainstorming session at Picasso’s?”
“Maybe. But if you get Pearson out of here for a while, that’s going to lower the stress level for all of us.”
“Consider it done.”
“Thanks. We’re buying the beer next time.”
“Damn straight.” That was another thing Tony cherished about his three friends. Because of his wealthy family and his trust fund he had more financial resources than all three of them put together. He’d had the money to buy this building and the connections to find renters for the bottom two floors. He’d also tapped his dad’s well-heeled cronies to line up investors.
Because of that, his three friends had voted him in as CEO, which made him the boss, but he didn’t consider any of his buddies employees and consequently they didn’t treat him any differently than they had before. They still kidded him about his Maserati. He’d bought it primarily for the sound system but at the last minute had ordered the ragtop for the coolness factor, which effectively cancelled the excellence of the sound system because of road noise. But at least the four of them could cruise the 101 in style.
They hadn’t done that lately, though. As Rylan left, Tony felt a twinge of guilt for suggesting to Charlotte that they go out for pizza by themselves. If Blake was affecting company morale, shouldn’t the CEO take steps to boost everyone’s spirits? The regular pizza nights had become a tradition and by making it exclusive this
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