Page 53 of Night and Day
Mia noticed his gaze and smiled. “I read it.”
Izzy’s heart lodged in his throat. “What? The whole thing?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t stop.” She yawned for good measure. “It was past three a.m. when I finished.”
Izzy held his breath, waiting for more. Mia chewed her toast and sipped her coffee, the silence between them extending into what felt like hours but was probably thirty seconds.
“Okay, you’re killing me!” Izzy finally blurted. “What did you think?”
Mia’s face spread into a cheeky grin, as if she’d done it on purpose. She looked him straight in the eye, her voice firm. “It’s a fantastic story.”
“What about the ending? I told you I’m not sure about that. I’m going to rewrite it, again. It needs to be satisfying, but also left open for the next episode, because it’s meant to be a TV pilot.”
“Really?” Mia’s eyebrows shot up. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking of it as a series. Do you have to leave it open? You’d essentially keep this poor protagonist stuck in limbo forever. I thought you could end with him getting out? Unless you’re one of those jerks who hates happy endings?” She cast him a mock horrified look.
Izzy laughed. “No. I think happy endings are a bit unrealistic, but I haven’t lost hope completely.”
“Even if real life sucks, it doesn’t mean we need more misery in books and movies, right?”
Izzy tilted his head, studying the fascinating woman across the table. “You’re speaking wisdom, oh wise one.”
Mia’s eyes sparkled. “Well, hear me out” She leaned closer and dropped her voice. “I think... it should be a book.”
“A book?” Izzy blinked. “But, I’m a filmmaker...”
She tapped her fingers on the printout. “I mean, I don’t mind reading a screenplay. I’ve produced plenty of scripts, but I always found that format a bit breathless to read, you know? I would have loved to read it as a book. There’s so much to ignite your imagination. If you published it as a novel, you could actually share it with the world.”
Izzy stared at her, forgetting to breathe. His body seized, his mind resisting, but Mia’s gentle voice had already broken through, planting a seed of doubt. What if he was working in the wrong medium?
His gaze drifted to the stack of pages, stapled in the corner and crumpled from handling. She’d really read it and digested it. “Maybe you’re right. I just haven’t felt ready to share it with anyone.”
“How long have you worked on it?”
Blood rushed to Izzy’s cheeks. “Three... four years, maybe. I’ve had a lot of other work on, so sometimes nothing happened for months. About a year ago, I picked it up again and I’d just been learning about motion capture, so I decided to try and make a few minutes of it... that clip I showed you. Turns out it’s a really slow process.”
“I bet.” Mia raised her brow, a subtle challenge in her eyes. “You’re doing it all by yourself.”
Izzy lifted his coffee cup to his lips, embarrassment tightening his stomach. Why was he doing everything himself? Initially, he’d planned a small production team, but over time, he’d lost his nerve and had found endless excuses not to pitch his project to anyone. When he’d discovered that it was technically possible to make the whole thing with a skeleton crew of himself and Deke, he’d pounced on the idea, relieved he didn’t have to leave his basement.
“Thank you,” he said, reaching for the script.
Mia blocked his hand with her own. “Can I keep this copy?”
She cast him a pleading look and he relented, distracted by the energy that passed between them at the slightest touch. “Yeah, okay. If you want.”
He would have given her anything, and it scared him to his core. They ate in silence.
“So, where’re we going today?” Mia asked, finishing her breakfast.
She stood up and cleared the table, gently pushing him out of the way as he tried to beat her to the sink.
Izzy fought back a little, enjoying the sensation of her hand on his arm. “You’ll see.”
