Page 75 of Night and Day
Mia sang louder than she’d meant to, overwhelmed by the emotion. There was value in things like this, birthing something new, offering everything you had, not just skills cultivated for the CV. The song reached its chorus, and she switched to humming, trying the melody a couple of different ways.
“This is where I got stuck.” she glanced at Izzy under her lashes. “Any ideas?”
“May I?” He gestured at the guitar and Mia handed it over.
Izzy played the same chords, singing a lower tune. She joined him with the main melody and shivered at the beautiful harmonies, two voices that rose and fell, creating a sound that was far more than either could be on their own. She’d written this song for him, but it wasn’t her creation. It didn’t work without him.
She didn’t notice the tear until it fell onto her hand, the moonlight reflecting off the perfect, salty pearl. “Look.” She lifted it to Izzy.
He’s face split into the widest smile. “You’re crying.”
Mia sniffed, wiping more tears from her eyes. Real tears. Lots of them. “Ye... ah.”
“Are you sad?”
Mia shook her head. “I think I’m crying because it’s so beautiful. So perfect.”
Izzy set aside the guitar and kissed her wet cheek. “You know the chemical composition of your tears is different based on the reason you cry? I remember a study where they analysed tears of sadness, anger, cutting onions... probably tears of happiness, too. And they could tell the difference.” He kissed her cheek again. “I was wondering if I could taste the difference.”
Mia smiled through the film of salty liquid, marvelling at how different the world looked, all blurry and shimmery. “You did it,” she whispered. “You made me cry. I thought I was broken—”
“You’re not.” He hooked his arms around her. “You were never broken. You got a little lost, and now you found your way back.”
His soft voice cracked her heart wide open and more tears erupted, taking over her body as they poured out. This was so different from that tight feeling in her chest, that lump in her throat. These tears flowed like the river, washing away years of dust and cobwebs from her soul.
Izzy offered her the sleeve of his T-shirt, and she dabbed at her eyes with it, smiling at the gesture, hoping she wouldn’t soak it in snot. He was too good to her. Even if it couldn’t last. Even if it was a chemical reaction. As her sobs subsided, she wiped the last drops from her eyes and blew out a long sigh. Her whole body felt lighter, like she could float away on the wind.
“I never want to get lost again,” she said, jerking from the subsiding tears, little aftershocks following an earthquake.
“I won’t let you,” he whispered into her hair.
Chapter 28
Izzy emerged from theboat’s cabin, blinking at the bright morning sun. The river had burst into life with birdsong and a group of people on kayaks floated past them, disappearing downstream. In daylight, the water looked so harmless, reflecting the sun in shades of olive and emerald. But he knew what it was capable of, and thanked God for that moment of clarity and fast reflexes. He’d saved her from falling in, and from here on in, he’d come through. He wouldn’t fail again. He wouldn’t fail Mia.
Izzy lifted the anchor and untied the boat, letting Mia sleep below. Her flight was leaving at noon, which didn’t give them a lot of time to get back to Hamilton, pack up and drive to Auckland. Especially if he wanted to record that song, and he had to try. The sound of it had haunted him in his sleep, the words he couldn’t quite remember, the chorus that made him shiver. She had a gift, this woman, and she didn’t even know it.
