On Denise's recommendation, they began by sharing a huge piatto di antipasti, and they worked away at it as they talked. The conversation soon swung back to restaurant reviews when Denise asked Lorne, "So, am I right? You don't review on free meals, you dine a minimum of three times, paying each time before you write a review. The money? Who pays for this?"

"Me." He smiled at her. "I love praising fine cuisine. I love to encourage its continuance."

"But compensation for your expenses?"

"Satisfaction." He speared a piece of grilled red pepper with his fork and moved it toward his mouth. "This is a marvellous platter."

"So your writing fees must be large, then."

"I should examine that again. It's two years, more than that, since I last checked. Likely much higher now with its growth in popularity." He popped the piece into his mouth.

Denise shook her head. "You seem to be blasé about income, expenses, money."

"My accountant keeps track of the details for me, and I simply monitor the big picture, asking random questions to keep him on his toes. He's served me well for fifteen, no sixteen years now."

"Sixteen? Before the trials? You were still a kid."

"Dad's lawyers appointed him when I turned eighteen, and they converted the estate and the inheritances from trust." He speared a small wedge of tomato on a slice of bufala.

"This is getting personal now. I should stop here."

Catherine put her hand on Denise's and laughed. "This is also new information to me. You have a smooth interrogation style."

Lorne finished his bite. "Yeah, guess we've not talked about this, have we?" He smiled, slowly looked into each of the women's eyes, then shrugged. "I was the only child of only children." He laughed. "That seems to be one of the few Catholic traditions the family didn't follow. From the sizes of inheritances, it appears they poured all their energy into making fortunes rather than families. Most of it tumbled down to me after the crash."

Helma smiled, then turned to Catherine. "So he doesn't need the writing fees. What about you? You also dine anonymously."

"I get more than enough from my other writing." She speared a long, thick roll of prosciutto e melone and brought it to her plate.

"Other writing?"

"I've written some novels." She sliced the roll in two and moved one piece toward her mouth.

"Catherine Isselstein?" Helma shrugged. "I'm not familiar with anything of yours, but I read mainly romance, my major relief from the heavy stuff with the force. What genre do you write?"

"I do romance. The type that's most often called women's fiction." She popped the piece into her mouth, smiled at Lorne, then shrugged. "You may have heard of Katy Rachelson."

"One of my favourites. Love her style. She always has such hot hunks and steamy scenes. My diddle books." She glanced at Lorne and blushed. "Sorry, girl talk. So you write like her?"

"Yeah, word for word." Catherine winked at her, then speared the other roll of prosciutto e melone.

Both Helma and Denise were staring open-mouthed at her, shaking their heads. "You're not?"

Catherine smiled and nodded as she slowly licked her lips and seductively mouthed the piece on her fork. "She licked it as she looked longingly up into his eyes, then slowly slipped the thick piece between her lips and back out as her eyes ran down his broad chest and lower." She laughed. "Yeah, something like that."

"Oh... My... God! Those drop-dead gorgeous hunks, the scenes. You must be constantly wet writing these." Helma looked again at Lorne and blushed deeper. "Sorry."

He laughed and patted her hand. "Don't worry about it. The first one got a strong rise out of me a dozen years ago. Her freshly evolving ones still do."

"So where do you get your ideas? Your inspiration for your men. God, what wonderful men you create. Where do they all come from?"

Catherine smiled, stared up into Lorne's eyes, and squeezed his arm. "From this magnificent creature. Every one of them. He's been inspiring my imagination since I was four."

"You've known each other that long? God, that's thirty..." Denise was interrupted by the waiters.

"We have fusilli alla carbonara, trofie al pesto, tagliatelle al funghi and gnocchi al quattro formaggi. Who ordered which?"

Lorne looked up. "It doesn't matter, we're going to pass them around so we can each taste all of them."

The two waiters set a plate of pasta in front of each of them. "Another bottle of Pellegrino? Some wine?"

Helma smiled at Lorne. "Unlike these two, neither of us is pregnant. Denise is my designated driver tonight and for the next long while." She winked at Denise then turned back to Lorne. "Share a carafe?"

He saw Catherine's smile and nod. His eyes shifted up to the waiter. "Another Pellegrino. And we could do glasses. What have you open?"

"I'll send the sommelier."

They continued through dinner in an increasingly relaxed manner, accentuated with attentive service and wonderful food. The conversation remained in its shift to writing, and both Denise and Helma admitted to having started novels.

They discussed their attempts and their frustrations, comparing experiences, and each asking for advice on methods and techniques and overcoming writer's block. After a roundabout discussion, Catherine said, "One of my favourite quotes is from Somerset Maugham: If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn't matter a damn how you write."

She smiled at them and threw her hands up in a big shrug. "Just write. Write from your souls, from your hearts from your hot centres, whatever. Don't pause to look back and condemn what you've written. Just write and keep writing. Let your characters tell the story to you, let them drag you along. The first draft looks a mess. It is, and it isn't. It's waiting for those strokes, those touches, the ones which take it over the crest into release."

"Fuck! Like diddling. Nothing happening, nothing, then..." Helma smiled at Lorne. "You understand this, don't you?"

"Oh yeah. It's the same for all of us. Male, female and the full range between. We've the same basic systems and fundamental drives."