Page 30 of Lost Room Lawyer
When he winked at me, I had to laugh. The kid had an incredible charm. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he washaving fun with a different guy every weekend. Although this fact left a bitter aftertaste, I couldn’t help but find Nico absolutely lovable. He was, whether he knew it—and played with it intentionally—or not.
“Are you really a writer?” I asked. “Or was that just a gimmick on poker night?”
“It wasn’t a gimmick,” he said, a touch of sadness in his tone. “I wrote a book. Just one. Since then, I’ve had writer’s block.”
“Can I read it?”
“Of course. You can find it almost in every bookstore which is incredible considering it was published nine years ago.”
“Nine years? You were eighteen!”
“Not quite,” he said with a shrug.
I wasn’t familiar with the publishing industry, but if a book had been around for nine years and was still being read, it had to be … I don’t know … important? Or good?
“And is it listed under Nico Simeon? No …” I corrected myself. “I tried to google you. You’re untraceable.”
“I write under … You’re going to laugh. Nicola Rossi.”
I paused. “Your poker name?”
“It’s my mother’s maiden name.”
“And what’s the book called, if I may ask?”
“The Birds’ Song of Laughter.”
“Why does that title sound familiar?”
“I won a few awards with it,” he replied nonchalantly. “Do you read?”
“Occasionally. When I have time. Mostly just during vacations. My wife reads a lot. She always has a book on the nightstand.”
The nostalgia in Nico’s face refused to fade, and sadness soon took over. He didn’t need to explain it to me. I could see how much the writer’s block was affecting him.
“Why did you study law?”
Nico scoffed. “I had almost no choice but to follow in my father’s footsteps.”
“That’s not a good enough reason,” I teased.
Nico sighed and fell back into the pillow next to me. “I had no idea what to do. No, actually, I did. After writing a bestseller, you don’t just stop writing. But then came the block. And eventually, my father. He didn’t demand that I study law. He just wanted me to do something. So, I chose law school.”
“Yes, but why? Wouldn’t German studies have been more obvious?”
“I suddenly had such a huge aversion to literature. I wanted something easy.”
“Easy?” I laughed. “There’s hardly a drier subject than law.”
“I have a good memory. For every little thing. That got me through law school easily.”
I stared at Nico for a while, unable to believe what he was saying. “Is that what Leo means when he brags about his little genius?”
“Probably,” Nico admitted, embarrassed. “And why did you become a lawyer?”
“Because I’m good at it,” I replied without thinking much. “I find it easy to come up with the right arguments to convince people of something. But wait, back up. Do you have a photographic memory?”
“I wouldn’t call it that.”
