Page 89 of Night and Day
Deciding to take her work to a nearby cafe, Mia pulled on her winter coat, wrapped a scarf around her neck and searched the staff lockers for her mittens. Her leather satchel felt heavy with the 15-inch laptop and she went through it to identify anything she could leave behind. Water bottle, definitely. An apple. Izzy’s phone? With her new work gear, she didn’t need it, but still carried it around.
Mia turned the phone in her hand. She couldn’t resist brushing her thumb on the button to wake it up. Her body quivered as she noticed an email from Izzy. The blank message contained only one audio file titledNight and Day. It couldn’t be. Fingers shaking, Mia plugged in her headphones, pressing them into her ears to block out the background noise. From the first chord, she recognised the song she’d recorded, now beautifully mixed with Izzy’s voice singing the harmonies, like they’d done on the river. Mia ripped off her earphones, eyes flooding with tears. She couldn’t do this. Not here. She’d dissolve into a puddle on this hideous laminate floor.
Mia wiped her eyes on her scarf, taking deep breaths. Office life had definitely been easier without the tears. With a heavy heart, she hid the phone in her canvas bag and left it in the cubbyhole. If she brought it with her, she’d get nothing done. Hoisting her laptop bag on her shoulder, she snuck down the stairs to the lobby. Being Sunday, the receptionist wasn’t around but a young guy from their team, Vesa, manned the desk, glued to his laptop.
“What are you doing down here?” Mia asked, leaning in so her voice would carry above the music.
He looked up, taking a moment to focus. “Mia, hi. Another focus group is coming in this afternoon so I thought I’d sit here.” He glanced up the stairs. “It’s a bit loud.”
Mia smiled. “Yeah. I’m heading to Carousel for a long lunch to send some emails. I can’t hear myself think.”
The cold wind hit her face as she stepped through the sliding doors. Mia hiked her scarf a little higher, fumbling with her thick mittens as she pushed against the wind towards the shore. No longer under the watchful eye of her colleagues, her mind immediately wandered to the encapsulating heat of New Zealand summer. She could almost smell the jasmine and hear the native birds calling for each other, each with a different sound. Her fingers on guitar strings, her fingers on Izzy’s skin... Had it really happened to her, or some distant holiday version of herself?
She’d replied to Izzy’s email with a longer one, talking about the culture shock she’d experienced on returning and how much she missed him. He’d replied within minutes with one line:I need to talk to you.She asked what was on his mind and waited for more, but nothing arrived, except a new playlist on Spotify with her name on it. And now, the song.
It had been two days, and she promised herself she could overthink whatever had happened between them once she got through work and everything was set up for Slush. She couldn’t raise a salary like this without delivering something.
Following the coastal pathway to the waterfront cafe, Mia studied the frozen landscape of greys and whites, punctuated by dark, leafless trees, pale pinks of the art deco buildings perfectly softening the stark landscape. She’d always regarded wintry Finland as dreary and uninteresting, something to escape. But now the familiar scene stirred something inside her. An idea. A song was hiding in there, almost too short a glimpse, a flash behind her eyes, itching like a sprout about to break the surface. Yet she knew if she didn’t capture that idea, it would float away and dissolve into the universe, never to be caught again.
A piece of a melody formed in her mind, followed by a few words. She sang softly into her scarf, her heart glowing. There was such beauty in the moment of creation, following the first steps of an idea still fragile and shapeless. It didn’t have to work. She could just follow it like a floating feather, to see where it might land.
Mia skipped ahead, her toes aching from the cold. How many of these moments had she missed before? Had there been beauty and wonder in Stockholm, New York, L.A., Honolulu and Melbourne? Maybe she’d missed it all, asking herself pre-determined questions about her future, her mind spiralling around the problem like water circling the drain.
Izzy’s words from the airport whiplashed her.
They already did.
Stars aligned when they met. That’s what he’d meant. She’d been waiting for a divine intervention to stop her from leaving and in its absence, she’d boarded the plane. But divine intervention had already arrived in the shape of the thief who’d taken her things and led her to Izzy. Starshadaligned, and she’d failed to see that. Izzy had more faith – she’d seen an inkling of it, despite his discomfort. It must have taken all his strength to utter those words, to cut through her monologue on finding someone local. Convenience. She’d tried to sell him convenience, and he’d tried to make her see the miracle.
Oh, Izzy. She missed him so much it was hard to breathe.
Chapter 35
Izzy’s mind reeledfrom the cacophony of sounds and sights as he gazed over the crowd of pale blondes. To his relief, Helsinki-Vantaa airport was much smaller and quieter than the one in Singapore he’d navigated on the way. He’d spent most of his 10-hour layover either drunk or working on his screenplay-turned-book, headphones on. He knew he needed therapy, but right now, he had to make do.
Mia had been right. Writing the screenplay as a book had renewed his interest in the project. He was only two chapters in, but already felt he understood the main characters and their motivations better.
