Page 9 of Night and Day
Izzy tried to straighten his face, running his huge hand through the mop of overgrown dark hair that fell onto his shoulders. Together with the untamed facial hair, it covered most of his skin from the neck up. Mia wondered what he looked like under that stranded-on-a-desert-island look. A flash of white teeth peeked through his full lips as he laughed. “Who says you’re intimidating?”
“Um... my boyfriend.”
Izzy’s smile vanished.
“We’re kind of on a break right now,” Mia added, uneasy. “Since I’m travelling around the world by myself and all.” She twined her fingers so tight they hurt. He must have injected her with some kind of truth serum. “He asked me to get involved in this start-up business he’s working on... it’s a huge deal, big investors, lots of money and so much pressure... and I said I needed time to think, so I booked this trip.”
“Wow. And how’s it going?”
She lifted a brow. “Do you have to ask?”
“I mean before getting robbed. Was it going okay?”
Mia’s chest ached. She could feel the wave of emotion welling under the surface again. She hadn’t felt this close to crying in a long time. Maybe the tears would eventually break through. Either that or her chest would explode. “Not really,” she whispered. “I wasn’t any closer to a decision. And this is my last stop.”
“Is this your first time in New Zealand?”
“Yes.”
“I’m so sorry.” Izzy’s voice filled with regret. “Honestly. I swear we’re better than this!”
His needless apology soothed her nerves. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t rob me.”
“So, what do you need to do? Get a new passport, find your flight tickets?”
“Yes. The Dutch embassy handles the emergency passports for Finnish citizens in New Zealand.” Mia swallowed. “But it’s in Wellington.”
“Don’t worry. We can drive there.” Izzy cast her an encouraging look that tightened her stomach even further.
“No! You don’t have to drive me around! If I can borrow some money, I’ll go there and get it sorted, maybe get on an earlier flight. I can sort out everything else when I get back home.”
“Or... you could look at this as an opportunity?” Izzy’s voice sharpened, making the air between them bristle. “You’re on this trip to figure things out. Maybe this is God’s way of telling you to take a break?”
Mia’s laugh took on a sad tinge. “No, I think God, if He exists, doesn’t like me very much.”
“What do you mean?”
Mia bit her lip. After the mortifying encounter at the police station, she didn’t feel like discussing the details of her stupidity, but her mouth opened anyway. “I... I was kind of praying, with my eyes closed, when I lost my bags.” Heat engulfed her face as she thought back to the moment. “I never saw the thief. I only saw a car driving away.”
Izzy kept his gaze on the road, but his eyes widened into saucers. “Where were you?”
“Outside a church—”
“Hang on. You stood on the footpath, closed your eyes to pray and all your stuff disappeared?”
“Yes.” Mia wanted to kick herself, regret filling every cell in her body. If she could only go back in time, undo—
“Don’t you think that’s just a little... unbelievable? I mean, the timing of it. Unless you prayed for hours?”
Mia frowned. “No. Maybe thirty seconds.”
“Wow. I have chills. Literally. Goosebumps. Look.”
He peeled his T-shirt sleeve up to reveal a huge, solid bicep. Mia couldn’t detect any goosebumps, but her stomach flipped at the sight of his muscles. This guy was like a marble statue. Reluctantly, she tore her eyes away. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you didn’t say what you prayed about, but that sounds like an answer.”
Mia huffed in disbelief. “Are you suggesting I prayed for God to beam up all my stuff? Like some sort of reverse rapture?”
