“Why the Opera?”
Paul turned to look at the ornate building behind him.
“My next novel is set here. Have you ever been inside?”
“Have you?”
“Dozens of times, even when it was closed to the public.”
“Show-off!”
“Not at all. I just know the director.”
“So tell me: What exactly happens inside this opera house?”
“Opera, of course, but in my story, the main character is an opera singer who loses her voice, then ends up lingering at the opera house, sort of haunting the place.”
“Oh.”
“What do you mean, ‘oh’?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re not going to leave me with just ‘oh’ and ‘nothing,’ are you?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t have a clue. But you’d better think of something.”
“How about we admire the façade together for a minute?”
“Writing is a fragile thing—unimaginably fragile. Your ‘oh’ is enough to give me three solid days of writer’s block.”
“Really? Is my ‘oh’ truly that powerful? Let me assure you that it was a perfectly harmless ‘oh.’”
“A book’s description is anything but harmless. It can absolutely make or break a book. It can even decide its fate in a lot of ways.”
“Wait. Are you saying that what you just told me is the actual synopsis of the story?”
“Oh, fantastic! Now we’ve bumped it up to at least a week of writer’s block.”
“I should probably simply stop talking.”
“Too late. Damage has already been done.”
“Oh, you’re pulling my leg!”
“No, I’m serious. People think writing is an easy job, and in some ways it is. Flexible hours, no boss, no real structure . . . but working without any structure is a bit like sailing a boat in the middle of the ocean. All it takes is an unexpected wave and you’re dead in the water. Try asking an actor if someone coughing in the middle of a play can make them forget their lines. Maybe that’s tough for you to imagine . . .”
“Right, it probably is,” Mia replied abruptly. “I am truly sorry. I really didn’t intend for my ‘oh’ to upset you so badly.”
“No, it’s not your fault. I’m just in a bit of a funk. I didn’t manage to get a single word down last night, and I was up really late.”
“Because of our dinner?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Mia looked attentively at Paul.
