You Had Me at Halo (15 page)

The good thing about being a loner is that I don’t have a manly image to worry about. Cry away.

Holly felt a small wobble come into her throat. Again, Vince Murphy was turning out to be quite a guy. Even though she was glad he didn’t die, if he had, she now realized that she would have definitely stayed friends with him in heaven. They could’ve hung out and laughed at the stupid things going on below. It would’ve been okay.

She gave another little sniffle but before she could get too weepy, the sound of her stepmother’s voice on the phone reminded her they were on a deadline. They had to get moving.

I’m fine
. She tried to convince herself.
There’ll be time for getting upset later. Right now we’re got work to do.

Lead the way, Sherlock
. Vince grinned and Holly pushed the outfit to one side. Towards the bottom of the carton she finally retrieved the CD Todd had burnt her and the black velvet box, which held her necklace.

She flicked up the lid and for a moment gazed down at the perfectly round pearls with their intense luster. They were so beautiful and she tried not to think how much better they would’ve looked if accompanied by a gigantic diamond engagement ring.

Vince coughed and Holly snapped the lid shut.
Sorry
, she muttered as she caught sight of the stupid stuffed rabbit Todd had given her a few months ago. He had won it at a local fair, but it had a cost him a fortune in attempts to do so. But that was Todd. Once he wanted something he didn’t stop until he got it. It was the same determination that made him so successful at work. And so attractive. No wonder that stupid tart, Rochelle Jackson, wanted to get her French-manicured nails into him.

Holly picked the rabbit up and hugged it to her chest before quickly shoving it in her bag. Then she moved onto the next box where she found a slinky black skirt and a camisole that had cost her four weeks’ wages.

She had been wearing that outfit the day she and Todd went on their first date. If anything would convince him, this would be it. Well, that and a bit of private bedroom information, though with Vince listening in on every word, Holly had decided that sex secrets would only be used as a final resort (and definitely no mention of their first night together which didn’t actually go as planned, but thankfully there had been a vast improvement since).

You know just because I don’t care about my manly image, doesn’t mean I want to go around wearing a skirt
. Vince took control of his hand and put the offending item back in the box.

I don’t quite think you have the legs for a DKNY pencil skirt
, Holly retorted as she reached for it again.
Anyway, it’s not for wearing. It’s for sentimental purposes only.

I hope you remember that,
Vince said as Holly heard her stepmother coming up the stairs.

Fine.
She quickly shut the box up. “As long as you help me get this stuff in the satchel, I’ll do anything.”

Anything?
Vince sounded interested.

Stop it,
she hissed as she quickly stuffed everything into his satchel. Good grief. Besides, what on earth did he think she could do when they were in the same body? Then a disturbing thought entered her mind, which she immediately blocked, but not before she felt some sort of movement in the trouser department.

Oh my God. Vince
she yelped.

Hey.
He held up his hands in innocent protest.
I think I know how my body works better than you do, and I can promise it has nothing to do with me.

Are you saying it’s me?
She tried to hide her disbelief. Of all the silly things.

That’s exactly what I’m saying. So what were you thinking about?

Holly blushed. There was no way he was right of course, but just say for argument sake he was, well there was even less way she was going to admit to anything.
It’s not important,
she said instead.
Besides, here’s my stepmother. C-can you make it go away?

Vince sighed and while she had no idea what he was thinking about, she was relieved to feel that...things...had settled down. Boy, talk about a loaded gun.

Thank you,
she said.

Don’t mention it.
Well  that wouldn’t be a problem since Holly was quite eager to wipe the whole episode from her memory. Completely.

“Here you go, Vincent.”

Holly plastered a smile onto her face. “Oh thanks, Mrs. Evans.”

Holly blew on the coffee for a minute, pleased of the distraction. Just concentrate on the coffee, she instructed herself. It’s all about the coffee. Then she took a sip and felt the caffeine snake its way through her. Ah, that was better.

She was about to take another sip when she realized her stepmother was studying her anxiously. Oh no. Holly’s first instinct was to look downwards, but thankfully everything was under control. Then she caught sight of Vince’s satchel. Perhaps taking the rabbit wasn’t such a good move after all?

“I-is everything all right?”

Her stepmother sat down on the bed. “Sorry...yes, everything’s fine. It was just that phone call. It’s so hard to talk about Holly as if she’s actually dead.”

Holly let out a sigh of relief as she realized the rabbit was safe. “Well that’s okay then...I mean...uh, did the journalist ask you a difficult question or something?”

“No more than anyone else has asked.”
Her stepmother blew her nose. “I guess I’m just finding it overwhelming. After Joe...that’s Holly’s father...died, he trusted her into my care and it was the only thing that
helped him go in peace. I’ve made such a mess of it.”

Holly stared at her in surprise. Was she for real? Her stepmother had never given a hoot what Holly, or her father had thought. She was just in it for the money.

Wasn’t she?

“Er...well I’m sure that’s not true,” Holly said in a diplomatic voice; not quite sure what else she should do.

“It is. You see I never got on with Holly. Not really. I pretended to try for Joe’s sake, but she was so...I don’t know...difficult. And I guess I saw her as a threat so I wasn’t very nice to her. Then of course by the time I realized how stupid I was acting, it was too late to change. If I hadn’t been so insecure, I might’ve been able to have a better relationship with her. Perhaps stop her taking her own life?”

“What?”

What?

“Mrs. Evans, no one thinks that. Holly didn’t commit suicide. It was an accident. It wasn’t your fault,” Vince butted in before Holly could even speak.

“Yes it was.” Her stepmother started to sob uncontrollably now and Holly was getting seriously freaked out. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but Holly had a few...troubles...after her father died. Anyway, she seemed better but I never took the time to ask if she was okay. I just assumed it was because she was busy at her job.”

“She was,” this time Holly did manage to answer.

Her stepmother looked up; the tears still heavy on the lashes that fringed her dark blue eyes. “How do you know? I didn’t think you and Holly were still friends.”

They had never been friends. How many times did she have to say it?

“Of course we’re still friends,” Holly assured her without even bothering to cross her fingers. After all she’d already seen heaven and it didn’t seem quite so important to ensure her safe passage there.

Her stepmother pulled another tissue out and wiped her eyes. “You really don’t think she—”

“Absolutely, one hundred percent, positive that she didn’t plan to...you know...”

“It’s just I heard some of the people at the funeral talking and I couldn’t bear it. It was hard enough when Joe died. I tried to put a brave face on for Holly, but this time I couldn’t even do that. It seemed so unfair that someone so young and lovely could die.”

“I know it does,” Vince suddenly said in a soft voice, and before Holly could stop him, he put his arm around her stepmother’s shoulder and gave her gentle hug.

Hey.

What on earth was going on here? Did Vince have some sort of Mrs. Robinson fetish or something? Why did he just take over like that?

She longed to ask him but he seemed too busy being nice to her stepmother and Holly couldn’t quite find the words to say. And did her stepmother call her lovely again?

“I wish I could say something to make you feel better but the truth is that it sucks Holly died,” Vince was now saying and even though it was Vince who was doing the hugging, Holly found herself tightening her grip around her stepmother’s slim shoulders. She hadn’t expected to feel like this.

"Times ǀI can’t bear what people are saying about her,” her stepmother sobbed.

“You need to remember it’s not true,” Holly said before Vince could jump in there. “I’m sure people will stop saying those horrible things any day now. You wait and see.”

“Thank you, Vincent Murphy. It’s sweet of you to try and make me feel better and I hope with all my heart you are right.”

Well that would make two of them.

            Or was that three?

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Had that really just happened? Holly was still a bit dazed and confused as they walked back into the workshop and sat down at Vince’s bench. They didn’t have time to stop for lunch so Vince had just grabbed a sandwich on the way through. Holly had been too distracted to even remember about the sushi.

So what did you make of my stepmother?
she suddenly asked him.
Because you know that wasn’t normal behavior for her. When I was younger she was on my case the whole time and never cut me any slack at all.

“She seemed pretty genuine to me.

Yes, well that’s what I thought. She
did
seem genuine. But that’s the weird bit, don’t you think?

Yes, completely weird that your stepmother might be upset about your death
.

Holly rubbed the bridge of her nose. It was too much to think about right now. Besides, all that really mattered was that she had evidence in Vince’s satchel to convince Todd of who she was. It was such a relief because the way the morning had been shaping up, Holly had seriously started to doubt if she would even come close to resolving any of her issues. If anything, thanks to being in Vince’s body, she had been worried about going back with more than she came with (and she so wasn’t including that embarrassing incident back there in her bedroom because that was completely
forgotten
).

Now things seemed a bit more promising and she had to admit she had Vince to thank for that. Who would’ve thought that under his geek exterior was such a nice guy? Well, not that he looked like a geek exactly. Or acted like one. In fact, Holly couldn’t quite remember why she ha d thought he was a geek in the first place.

So what are your plans now?
Vince wiped the last of the crumbs away from his mouth
I’ve got to reconfigure an operating system and then upgrade a printer for the Dock and Harbor board, but then I should be able to free myself up for the rest of the afternoon
.

Oh, yes. Now Holly remembered where the geek thing came from and for a moment she smiled. It was sort of cute the way he spoke like that. When Todd talked about work it was always to do with how much money he had made from a particular job.

And speaking of her almost fiancé...

I guess we need to talk to Todd
and
I’m sure now we have all this proof it won’t be a problem.

Like selling ice to Eskimos.

Look, I know he was acting a bit strange this morning, but it’s just because he’s so upset about my death.

Vince made a snorting noise but before he could retort another one of the technicians came up to them. This one was wearing a Donald Duck tie.

“Hey, Vince. Did you see the message Todd Harman left you?” Donald said and Holly could feel her eyes widening in excitement. She just knew that her earlier willpower had worked.

A message! Surely that’s a sign?

Or it could just be a message,
Vince deadpanned before turning his attention back to the technician. “So what did he want?”

“He came in about half an hour ago saying it was urgent. He was a bit pissed you weren’t around. ”

Holly grinned. She had known somewhere deep down Todd recognized her spirit.

Definitely a sign,
she said to Vince, but he ignored her as he nodded to Donald Duck to continue.

“Anyway, he’s left you three laptops that he needs you to look at ASAP. He also wants you to get him four more user manuals as well. There’s a note.”