“It was a fluke thing. I went to law school after graduating with this sort-of-useless degree in economics,” Paul started.
“You’re a lawyer?” I asked, I couldn’t help my somewhat surprised tone of voice. Paul looked like he was one with Seattle grunge fashion, which seemed the opposite of lawyerly attire.
“Was,” Paul corrected with a chuckle. He leaned toward me with interest glinting from expressive eyes. “I discovered I prefer the lifestyle of a screenwriter. I can ditch the suit and tie and choose my hours of work. I never was a morning person.” When I glanced over to see if Reggie was paying attention to us, I saw he’d sat back and was suddenly texting with a frown of bewilderment.
“Sorry. I’ll be with you guys in a minute,” Reggie murmured. “Something’s come up.”
“Take your time,” Paul insisted with a friendly smile. In a warm tone, he added, “I’ll talk with your lovely assistant while I have her undivided attention.”
He was definitely a charmer, used to having success in life and with women. I could sense that he liked being a peacemaker and creative thinker who didn’t look for confrontation and just wanted everyone to get along, which was why it was so weird that he went into law. What did that journey look like?
“How does one go from law to screenwriting?” I arched a bit of a comical eyebrow.
“Courage or stupidity. I’ll let you know which in a few years,” he said as an understatement, though I could definitely see a twinkle in his eye. He was proud. He was happy.
“Clearly, this has been a success, don’t you think?”
“It has. Far more than writing legal briefs. As I read through cases and studied tax codes, I found myself playing with an idea that involved money and espionage, which was way more interesting to me than the job itself. The rest is history.”
“Wow. Then you hit it the first time through, and it’s maybe like the universe is giving you feedback that you made the right move. I imagine you have more ideas cooking?”
“Matter of fact, I have a million ideas. They’re all up here.” Paul tapped his head with two fingers, grinning with genuine eagerness. He really was an attractive guy, and if I hadn’t already met Ryder, he would have appealed to me.
Damn him! I needed to get him out of my head.
And somehow he’d gotten my cell-phone number, which I needed to question him about. There was an exciting man in front of me who was attractive and, it seemed, interested in me, but my psyche was rejecting him for not being Ryder, which had also been my reaction to Rico. Not that I was ever going to date a client, because really, that would be very uncool and the quickest way to lose my job, but still. I’m thinking of the principle of the matter. Here I was thinking about Ryder, getting all distracted and distanced from what was happening right in front of me.
Let’s get back to our current programming. And just as I thought that, Reggie finished his business on his cell phone and rejoined us.
“I read the script you had Frank give me. Excellent.” Reggie nodded, sounding all business.
Frank was the one who gave us the script to look at? Wasn’t he just a do-gooder helping out others? What was his deal? How did this whole incestuous relationship start? Paul was connected to Frank who was connected to Reggie?
I didn’t have time to ponder, because I needed to keep up with the conversation. It had suddenly become more formal. It was why I was here, after all. I pulled out my notepad and began doing shorthand to keep up with points being discussed.