Page 62 of Night and Day
“Isaiah! How lovely to see you out here! You know Claire and Carol, and this bright young thing here is Bibby, she’s just joined the helpline...”
Izzy offered polite nods to the ladies, blinking a couple of times at the pair of boobs trying to escape Bibby’s cleavage.
“This is Isaiah. You’ve all heard about him, and here he is! He makes those beautiful videos you’ve seen...” Henry’s voice brimmed with pride. “Did you change your mind about pizza night, or...?”
Izzy scratched his neck. Pizza night! Of course. One of these days, he’d have to start paying attention to Henry’s invitations, so that he could avoid these awkward encounters. “Um, not really. I actually forgot. I have a guest and decided to bring her out for dinner before she flies back to Finland.”
“Finland? Wha... how?” Henry’s gaze flicked at their table.
Mia raised her hand and smiled. Izzy’s stomach tightened at the thought, but there was no way around it. “I’ll bring her over to say hi,” he promised and returned to Mia.
“What’s up?” She asked, upbeat and curious.
“Henry wants me to introduce you. Is that okay?”
She shrugged and followed him to the other table. Izzy took a slight step to the side to create a bit of distance, and gestured at Mia. “This is Mia, a client of mine from Finland who’s travelling around the world and decided to stop by.”
Mia’s smile looked a little startled, but she nodded in confirmation. “Yes. Izzy made some videos for the Finnish government. How cool is that?”
“Very cool,” the ladies echoed, openly staring at her.
“This is Henry. I work with him on the suicide prevention videos.” Izzy nodded at the old man, and Mia shook hands with him, then everyone else as they introduced themselves.
“I hope I haven’t kept Izzy from his work.” Mia smiled. “I think he was working on one of your videos yesterday.”
Izzy scratched his beard, wondering if Henry had noticed the new, trimmed look. “Yes, it’s all taken care of. Henry has the new version.”
“I do,” Henry confirmed. “Don’t worry about that. Izzy is very reliable. Never misses a deadline, always finds a way to fix things, no matter how hard we make it for him. One in a million, this man.”
Izzy pushed down a surge of emotion. What would Henry think if he knew what went through his mind when he looked at Mia? Could he see it? Izzy had a feeling these professional introductions didn’t fool anyone.
“Well... our food just arrived.” Izzy glanced at their table, relieved to see a bowl of fries already there.
Henry waved his hand. “Absolutely. I’ll see you Friday morning, then.”
Every Friday, for five years. It hardly needed mentioning anymore, but Izzy nodded and they returned to their table just as the rest of the food arrived. Mia’s eyes lit up. “This looks amazing. Do you want to split everything?” She slid one of the bao buns onto his plate, and took a slice of pizza in exchange.
“That’s not an even trade.”
“You’re like twice my size.” She studied him, the tentative smile hovering on her lips. “Are you going to tell me what that was about?” Her eyes flicked to Henry’s table.
“What do you mean?” He asked, buying time.
“Well, we’ve been fake dating for everyone else you know, but—”
“That’s Erin’s dad,” he cut her off, his voice strained. “Erin was—”
“Your girlfriend,” Mia finished. “Deke told me.” Her eyes widened and she snuck a glance at the other table, her brow furrowed. “You work with your dead girlfriend’s father?”
“Yes.” Izzy took a long sip from his beer, hiding behind the glass.
“Doesn’t that feel... weird?” Mia whispered. “I would find it really hard to move on if...” she seemed swallow the rest of the sentence, her eyes growing larger, voice even softer. “That’s why you haven’t, right? That’s why you stay in your basement?”
Her words hit Izzy like a kick to the guts, but in slow motion, not catching him unprepared but muscles tight, anticipating the impact. He knew it, but nobody else had put it in words for him, not with such clarity. Her voice held no judgment or pity, only a simple, accurate statement.
Izzy gave her a sad smile. “It’s hard since I really like the guy. I think he’s doing amazing work and I want to help. And ever since they got the government contract, he’s been paying well, too. That work pays my bills and I get to work on my film. I always thought it was a good trade-off, but now I don’t know. I’m sorry...” Izzy grimaced. “I shouldn’t have introduced you like that. What if Henry talks to my folks? They all think we’re together.” Izzy rubbed his hand over his face.
He felt Mia’s hand on his arm, her thumb stroking his skin. “We can fix it, if you want.”
