Finding Izzy

by Nanette Fox

  “It’s okay we have about an hour until the trucks come.”

  “So, you have the forklifts, and the storeroom is ready.”

  Isabella nodded, “Dave I really appreciate your help once again with this huge pre-Christmas delivery.”

  “Julia and I have checked and double-checked all the invoices so that we can clearly divide her import stock with my gallery stock.”

  “Are we talking same values as last year?”

  “More actually because I have a couple of quite special consignments coming from Murano.”

  “Do you have a guard again?”

  “Yes, just while we get everything off the trucks, sorted and either dispatched by couriers or into the storeroom.”

  “Izzy,” David asked, “why didn’t you ask Tim to help you?”

  “To be honest, David I didn’t even think of it. He is just new at all this gallery stuff and I’d prefer he helped Monique look after the gallery customers if he hasn’t got work to do. He is young and inexperienced too.”

  “You, me, Rebecca and Julia are a team on this.”

  David looked at her, “Izzy you do realize he can handle a forklift. He is probably a lot fitter and stronger than me, and he is probably the most obsessive person about details that I know.”

  “Izzy where is your head at on this?”

  Julia who had been in the doorway and had overheard David, stepped forward and said, “Izzy I do have to ask you the same question.”

  “You ask David to help us out and yet Tim could do the job too.”

  “I just don’t have the trust in him yet,” said Isabella.

  David looked into her eyes, “Is that personally or professionally?”

  She stood in her steel capped boots, comfortable jeans and flannelette shirt over her favourite Cambridge T-shirt and stretched herself up to her full height. She said, “I have worked as a gallery curator, so I know how much one small slip-up on taking receipt of deliveries can cost a gallery.”

  “I know what I am doing. I know to assemble the best team around me for the day. If you are both going to challenge me, I cannot work with you. Julia about two thirds of the first truck is your import stock so I thought you would have been more conscientious.”

  David said, “Izzy calm down, I wasn’t arguing with you I was just querying.” David looked at her, she looked flustered and unhappy, she hadn’t looked that way prior to him starting the conversation about Tim, she had seemed just determined to get the deliveries off the trucks, smoothly and efficiently. He knew her well, something was up. She’d been quite snappy towards Julia too.

  Tim walked into the gallery, his laptop, and a cylinder of plans under his arms. He had a busy day with clients coming to the gallery, a site visit for a project management job, and a separate site meeting with regard to a development. He was sorting his day in his mind and didn’t answer the minute Isabella bellowed from her office. “Tim.” He hadn’t really seen or spoken to her for about a week since the swim evening. He had thought of her often and messaged once or twice with no replies. She had been away for a few days interstate so it wasn’t unexpected that their paths hadn’t crossed. He had left a message via Monique that he was busy with clients but was thinking about her.

  “Tim,” screeched Isabella, Julia and David looked at each other with alarm.

  “What is it?” He looked annoyed.

  “David what are you doing here?”

  “Why are you all dressed in workmen’s clothes?”

  “Tim, we are having a ‘delivery day’ with several trucks arriving from the freight forwarders. David, Julia and Rebecca and I have a busy day ahead unloading the trucks, checking all the consignments and storing or dispatching the stock. The deliveries are worth a lot of money, so we have a Security Guard here today as well. It is going to be a busy day. I need you around the gallery. Can I rely on you?”

  “No Izzy, you can’t, I have a full schedule. You should have let me know in advance, sorry,” said Tim.

  “Well that’s just not good enough,” spat Isabella. “These two were asking why I didn’t have you on the team today, they’ve been told why, and you can’t be relied on.”

  “Izzy that’s not fair, you didn’t ask with enough notice,” said Tim. “You would have had my support if you’d asked properly and in a timely way.”

  “I am busy; I hope your day goes well.” He turned and walked away to his area of the office.

  She tossed her head, flicked her hair, crossed her arms and poked her tongue out at his retreating back. It was a very ‘teenage’ personal thing to do. David and Julia looked at Izzy, then back to where Tim had retreated. He hadn’t given one little hint of buckling to her pressure. David deduced correctly that Izzy and Tim hadn’t really had any personal time of late, and Izzy was just anxious but maybe a bit peeved and worried Tim was ignoring her.

  David tried to smooth the drama over, “See he is busy anyway.”

  Izzy was quick to retort, “When I am in the office and he is too, he still manages to phone Vicky at least once a day, yet he claims he is always busy.”

  There it was, thought Julia, ‘she is as jealous as can be about Vicky.’ She also thought to herself that it was good Izzy was going to be occupied for the rest of today and probably tomorrow. David was just looking at Izzy in disbelief.

  As Tim said farewell to Russell and Margaret the clients from his first appointment, he saw Izzy and David manoeuvring around the carpark on the small forklifts as they moved pallets of stock around. He saw them get off and high-five each other. He then saw him giving her a boost up to look at some labelling on one of the boxes. She laughed as he lifted her down. His next appointment was just arriving, and he greeted them and moved inside seeing out of the corner of his eye David standing with his hands resting on Izzy’s shoulders while they stood talking with Julia and Rebecca. Later, as he attempted to back the SUV out, he had to wait while a smaller truck arrived to collect a pallet. He saw Izzy with David and he had his arm around Izzy as they studied a clipboard. He had to get on with his day, but he was getting increasingly nervous at David’s closeness to Izzy.

  Tim came back into the office at about six and found the others sitting around in Izzy’s office. They seemed to be celebrating what appeared to be a successful day’s work. They were all sitting around with wine and beer and pizza. Julia was exclaiming about the quality of some of the stock and Rebecca was talking about looking forward to seeing some of the gallery stock unpacked the next day. Izzy, who was obviously relieved all had gone well, was sitting with her legs across David’s lap, and they were looking at some photos on an iPad. Julia glanced up and saw Tim’s anxious expression at the apparent closeness of Izzy and David. His body language slumped, and he almost looked ill, he turned and went to his office area. Julia looked across at Izzy who was so absorbed in what she was showing David she hadn’t even noticed Tim. Julia said, “Rebecca I’ll be back in a minute,” which Rebecca acknowledged with a nod of her head and moved over to where Julia had been sitting, so she could see the iPad too.

  Julia found Tim leaning against the window frame behind his desk clutching his stomach. He looked up blankly at Julia. “Tim, are you okay?”

  “No,” he stated plainly.

  “Tim, what is it?”

  “Why is she being like that with David?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Izzy and David are really close friends, it is nothing.”

  Tim said, “All day I have seen her being really close with David, he lifted her down from the top of a pallet and her smile was…I can’t even describe it. I also saw him with his arm around her as they studied a clipboard and then standing like he was her boyfriend with his hands on her shoulders…I don’t know Julia, I feel sick.”

  Julia touched his arm, “It is okay Tim, it’s just how they are around each other.”

  “I know why she didn’t ask me to help today, she thinks I am, let me get it right, ‘young and inexperienced’.”She
’s in her office practically sitting in his lap now." He shrugged his shoulders; I think I just made a big, no, huge mistake." He turned and grabbed his phone up and his work satchel and moved briskly out of the office. Julia looked after him, frightened for him, he was obviously very upset.

  Julia went back to Izzy’s office. Izzy looked up and asked where she’d been. Julia said quickly she’d been in the tea-room to get a drink of water. Rebecca knew Julia was covering up for something, she was biting her lip. Julia sat down and pretended all was okay. David announced he’d better get moving as he had a dinner date with Veronica. Izzy looked up at him and smiling joyously thanked him for all his help. Izzy was full of the success of the day, how smoothly everything had gone and excited to unpack the stock and ready the gallery for the Christmas trade period. Julia sat watching her thinking she has absolutely no idea about how much Tim is hurting. She reflected that David and Izzy in their closeness and warm regard for each other could give others the wrong impression of their relationship. She wondered if Veronica had realized how close David and Izzy had been and were still even now.

  The girls were left to chat after David’s departure. Izzy started to clean up the pizza boxes and Rebecca piped up, “Just put them in the storage cupboard, we can pop them in the garbage tomorrow.”

  “No, I’ll get rid of them now; Tim will have a fit if he finds them in the cupboard.”

  Julia saw it as her opportunity, “Izzy what is happening between you and Tim?”

  “Why are you asking Julia?”

  “I just wondered.”

  “Nothing is happening.” Izzy sat back down with the pizza boxes in her lap. “He talks to Vicky; I think they must be still an item. He and I seem to miss each other here in the office, I mean not ‘miss’ but just not see each other, I am out or away. He has clients or has to go on site visits.”

  “It’s just not working, and I don’t know what to do.”

  Julia said, “I had a talk with him earlier, he came into the office at the end of his day, and you were sitting draped over David. He wasn’t happy.” Izzy looked at the floor.

  Looking up she said, “Well that’s great then, I am jealous about Vicky, and he is not happy about my friendship with David.”

  Julia said, "Somehow he found out you didn’t ask him to help today because he is ‘young and inexperienced’.

  Izzy held her hand up to her mouth and said, “Oh no, what do I do,” pleading with the others.

  Rebecca said, “Maybe you could go and find him and talk to him, really talk to him.”

  Julia said, “It won’t be easy he was feeling really down and out when he left here.” Izzy looked up at her absolutely panic stricken. Rebecca got up and took the pizza boxes off Izzy.

  “Go now sweetie,” she said squeezing Izzy’s hand. “Don’t worry about the tidying up Julia and I will do it.”

  Izzy said, “I am really scared I won’t know what to say…”

  Ruth was surprised to answer the door and find a somewhat dishevelled Isabella. She looked so young in her jeans and t-shirt with a checked flannelette shirt tied around her waist. Her hair was ruffled, and she had a worried, nervous expression on her face. “Is Tim home?”

  “Yes, I think I heard him come in earlier. I am not sure whether he is swimming laps or just up in his room.”

  “Ruth do you mind if I look, I really need to talk to him, apologize I think.”

  “What is it Izzy?”

  “I just need to talk to him Ruth and not about work.” Ruth reached out to Izzy and gave her a hug.

  Looking into her eyes, because Izzy was visibly upset, she said, “I am sure it will sort itself out.”

  Izzy whispered, “I hope so.”

  Izzy ran up and knocked on Tim’s room, there was no answer, so she headed down the backstairs to the pool. He was swimming laps, so she perched on one of the loungers waiting for him to notice her. She was looking down and fiddling with her watch and bracelet before she realized he was at the edge of the pool looking at her.

  “What do you want?” he asked.

  “I want to talk to you.”

  “Well I am not really interested in what you have to say Izzy.” He started swimming again. She sat pulling faces and wondering what she should do. She decided and taking off her boots and socks first slipped out of her jeans, pulled off the T-shirt dropping the flannelette as she did it and dived into the pool clad in just her black lacy underwear. She quickly caught up with his laps and matched him almost stroke for stroke until he stopped at one end.

  He came up for air shaking his head and wiping his nose. “What are you doing?” he spluttered.

  “I want to talk to you.”

  “Well I guess you have my attention then,” he grumbled.

  Out of the pool he flicked some of the water off his body and wrapped himself in his towel. He wondered what she was going to do as she didn’t have a towel. She grabbed up her flannelette shirt and pulled it on over her wet body. He sat on one of the loungers and she sat on the opposite one facing him. She had lost her nerve. She started picking at her watch and bracelet again, not sure how to start the conversation. He was looking at her challenging her to start talking. “Tim, I think you misunderstood about something today.”

  Tim said, “No, I don’t think so, every time I had a spare minute today, you had David draped over you or you were draped over David.”

  “You don’t understand? She said.”David and I are really close because of the past."

  “Well Izzy maybe the past has to be buried.”

  Izzy retorted, “What about you and Vicky? I hear you ringing her at least once a day.”

  “I care about her; I ring to make sure she is okay.”

  “Well isn’t that the same as me and David?”

  “Is it Izzy?”

  “I think it might be as we both have people that we have been involved with, that we care about.”

  “Yeah but Izzy are you over him?”

  Izzy replied, “Have you finished your relationship with Vicky?”

  Tim realized she was shivering. “Come here.” She didn’t move immediately, hesitant and not sure what was going to happen. “I am pretty dry I just want to wrap you in the towel.” She moved over, and he wrapped her carefully in the towel. He lay down on the lounger and signalled for her to lie down next to him. “Izzy, the night after Bali when we were all here at pool and Paul was on Skype and he was asking if I’d solved my problem, do you remember that?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Well he was referring to me breaking up with Vic because he knows that…he paused, and looked down into her eyes…I love you Izzy.”

  “How can you say that already?” she whispered.

  “Well I can, and it is what I feel.”

  “So, when I saw you and David all over each other today I was really upset, it made me feel sick to my stomach.”

  “I am sorry,” she said. “What made it worse was that I found out you had said I was ‘young and inexperienced’.”

  “Oh god, how did you hear that.”

  “So, Izzy is it what you think?”

  “I did say it and I meant it in relation to the deliveries today.”

  “How so?” replied Tim.

  “It is just the four of us have done the deliveries, the big deliveries like today at least five times now, we have the routine down pat, and I didn’t want to be stopping to explain everything,” she said.

  “Doesn’t give me any credit, does it, Izzy?”

  Izzy, lying next to him, reached her arm out across his chest. “We are making a bit of a mess of this relationship, aren’t we?” she said.

  “No Izzy we aren’t, it is just that we really need to talk to each other a lot and sort out things and find out about each other.”

  “I don’t think I am too young for you but if that is what you are worrying about, maybe we need to talk about it.”

  She looked up at him and said, “I don’t think that is something, a pr
oblem, I don’t think our ages matter.”

  “I worry about your closeness to David,” he said. “Let me explain it Izzy, I have already told you that I love you so obviously I feel sexually attracted to you. So, I know that you and David were involved, yeah,” he looked down, she nodded. “Well Dave is like a big cuddly bear when it comes to women, I have been out and about with him, I know what he’s like, anyways when it comes to you, I don’t like it when he gives you a cuddle or like today when you were sitting with your legs across his lap. It is hard for me to accept.”

  Izzy started to protest, “But…Tim put a finger to her lips. All I said was,”It is hard for me to accept. You have a great friendship with Dave and I don’t want to change that or make you self-conscious every time we are all in the same place."

  The sapphire blue eyes were looking up at him. “Tim, I can’t say I love you just yet. I have to be sure. I made a horrible mistake once before.”

  “I’ll wait.” He looked down at her beautiful face, feeling a lot better about things than when he first hit the pool earlier.

  “Are you cold?” he asked.

  “No, not really I just want to lie here for a while longer. I was so worried you wouldn’t talk to me.”

  “I was worried your mum, Ruth, wouldn’t let me in.”

  “I was just worried because at work we just seem to miss each other.”

  “You have clients in or you’re out at building sites. I am interstate or just busy.”

  He said, “You do worry about a lot of things don’t you.”

  “Yes, I do. And I am always misunderstanding what people are doing or saying.”

  “I’ve been told I am not very good at caring for people.”

  “Oh Izzy, don’t say that!” He stroked her cheek gently. Bending his head down, he pulled her over so he could kiss her. He pulled away and whispered, “It is driving me insane to know that you are lying in my arms wrapped in a towel but in the flimsiest laciest underwear I think I have ever seen.”

  “We might have to do something about that then,” she whispered back.

  “Hmm I think so, let’s go upstairs.”