You Had Me at Halo (28 page)

Somehow she’d made the classic Lizzie Bennet mistake of getting her Darcys and her Wickhams muddled up.

Oh lord.

Holly glanced around the room to see if anyone had noticed a change in her but to her surprise everything was still the same. Todd was still smug, Vince was still standing there like he didn’t have a care in the world and their two accusers were looking very grim.

Holly Evans loved Vince Murphy.

Talk about lousy timing—and what’s worse was that Vince had made it blindingly obvious he was only being so nice to her because of his mother’s death. It was his way of banking up his karma incase his own mom got kicked out of heaven. Not that she would, since if she managed to create such a wonderful son, she was probably pretty nice herself. Unlike Holly who was bad and dreadful and about to have her mind wiped because of it.

Stop wriggling,
Vince whispered in her mind and Holly almost melted at the sound of his voice. It was suddenly so precious. But he was right. She didn’t have time to go all dreamy. Vince’s job was on the line. She needed to pay attention.

“That’s right.” Stuart Peterson was now holding the envelope up in the air. “It’s not the manuals that I was expecting. Do you have an explanation for this, Vince?” the man asked and Holly felt Vince shake his head.

“I have no idea,” Vince replied as Stuart Peterson pulled out a slim folder from the envelope. “But I’m sorry if you received it by mistake.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Stuart shook his head. “It made for interesting reading. It’s an article on software licensing.” As he spoke, Holly noticed that Todd’s pinky finger was twitching the way it did when his team was losing a game.

What’s going on?
Holly wanted to know but before Vince could answer Stuart Peterson continued.

“Yes, it was a very enlightening article. Would you believe that every company is required to document the license for every software program installed on every computer? I certainly had no idea. But of course, just like I trust my accountant to do my taxes, I was sure Baker Colwell would be looking after my computer needs. It’s certainly what I pay them for.”

Vince,
Holly hissed again.
I have no idea what he’s talking about.

Remember I told you that’s why their system kept crashing. Well, it looks like Peterson has just figured it out. I think things could get interesting.

Good interesting or bad interesting?
Holly demanded since her nerves were getting pretty frayed here and she wasn’t quite sure how much more they were up for.

I guess that would depend on whether you intend on trying to sort things out with Todd Harman.

Holly inwardly growled and she could feel a flicker of a grin spread across Vince’s face.

Well, if that’s really the case, then I think you might enjoy this because I have a feeling your almost fiancé is about to find himself in a spot of trouble.

Stuart Peterson folded his short arms. It had to be said he didn’t look happy. “So imagine my surprise when I went through the files to find all of this documentation I supposedly needed. Then when it couldn’t be found I went through our invoices to see if we’d in fact paid for all of our software licenses. But no, we had not.”

“That’s when Stuart called me.” David Harris folded his arms. “I told him that we would never sell a system that ran on unlicensed software. Which is when I started going through some of your other accounts, Todd. Now I’m starting to see why you’ve been winning so many quotes. And it seems that was just the tip of the iceberg...”

Holly widened her eyes as she realized Todd was no longer looking quite so smug. So not only had he cheated on her, but he’d cheated on the company and his clients as well. To think she’d spent the last year dreaming of the day she would be Mrs. Todd Harman, all the while unable to see just what a jerk-off he really was.

xxx

“Nice work,” Martha from reception called out as they walked past fifteen minutes later. Even Fluffy seemed to look a bit less growly. Boy, Holly was still quite amazed at how many people had disliked Todd and by the time they got back to the workshop, she felt like the pied piper, the way a stream of people had tagged on behind them.

Once they were back everyone wanted to talk about how Todd Harman had been sacked because he’d deliberately kept things off a quote just to come in at the right price. Then there were the other things David Harris had started to list off but Holly had hardly been listening as she realized Vince was still firmly in possession of his job.

Not that she would remember it soon, but it mattered that she didn’t leave Vince worse off than when she’d first landed in his body yesterday. Also, a small part of her couldn’t bear for him to think ill of her, and who knew what the unemployment line might’ve done for his memories?

“Well done, buddy.” Andrew grinned. “That guy has screwed too many of us around to not deserve it. So tell us everything.”

Holly would drink to that and despite her upcoming mind-wipe she felt a small sense of satisfaction as she listened to Vince’s colleagues congratulate him. It wasn’t until she felt Vince shake his head that she was rattled from her own pleasant thoughts.

“Sorry, guys,” he said as he grabbed the car keys from his pocket. “You’ll have to get the rest of the story from someone else. I’m going to take a personal day.”

What?
Holly
said in surprise as Vince started walking toward the stairs that led back up to the main entrance.
You’re the most popular guy in the building right now, probably the planet. You should make the most of it.

I’ll let them fawn all over me tomorrow.
He shrugged.
Right now my time is your time. So what else can we do?

Nothing. Vince it’s too late to try anything else. We just need to accept that I screwed up
, Holly insisted as she tried to turn his body back around, but he stubbornly dug his heels in.

There must be something?
He growled and Holly, who was about to shake her head, suddenly paused as a thought occurred to her. She had screwed everything up, but there
was
one thing she might be able to fix.

Actually, you’re right. There is one thing we could do...if you don’t mind.

Just lead the way. I’m all yours.

If only that was true, she sighed. Then for the last time in this life or the next, Holly walked out of Baker Colwell.

xxx

“Vince, this is a surprise,” Holly’s stepmother said as she answered the door half an hour later. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I’ve got a day off.”

“Oh, that’s nice. I’m glad you remember to use them up. Poor Holly never seemed to have anytime away from that place. So what is it I can do for you? Did you have some more things from her desk?”

“Sort of.” Holly coughed. Eating humble pie wasn’t something she’d tried to do many times before. It tasted funny. “I was wondering if I could come in for a minute?”

“Of course. You’ll be pleased to see I’ve tidied up. I’m sorry it was such a mess yesterday.”

“That’s okay,” Holly assured her; absurdly pleased to see that the house had indeed been restored to its former pristine neatness. It was something she’d always taken for granted until she’d moved into Vince’s body and seen how lucky she had been.

Actually there were quite a few things that Holly had been taking for granted. Hence this final visit to try and make amends. Though she wasn’t sure how a ten-minute visit could change much. Still, she was determined to try.

“Would you like a coffee?” her stepmother asked; although Holly’s stomach started to rumble, she shook her head. She couldn’t afford to waste any time.

“No thanks.” She sat down in the chair her stepmother was offering. It had been her father’s favorite chair and for a moment Holly felt a twang of nostalgia go through her.

“So tell me, Vince. What can I do for you?”

Holly fiddled with the strap of Vince’s satchel. “I’ve got something for you.”

Her stepmother looked startled. “You do?”

Holly dug into Vince’s pocket and pulled out the birthday card she’d written earlier. When she first came up with the idea of trying to let her stepmother know she was sorry for her past behavior, Holly thought writing a card was the perfect way.

That was until she’d started writing.

Gone was her small neat longhand and in its place was a slanted scrawl, which she found almost impossible to read. After ruining the first card, Holly had then spent the next ten minutes trying to train Vince’s large hand to master her own style. It wasn’t exact but it was as close as Holly was going to get with the time permitted.

Though to give him his dues, Vince had been very good about the whole process and he’d only sworn once. Well twice, but the second time was when Holly had made him seal it with a kiss. But he had done it and for the first time in her life, Holly had been jealous of an envelope.

“I found it in the backseat of my work van and I recognized it from Holly’s box of things. It must’ve fallen out yesterday.” She passed the card over.

Her stepmother didn’t move from her chair as she studied the envelope before deftly slitting it open. Then her eyes widened. “It’s a birthday card, but that’s not for another month and Holly hardly ever remembered it.”

“I guess she did this year.” Holly gave a casual shrug. “Anyway, I just thought I should bring it over.”

“Thank you.” Her stepmother’s voice sounded choked with tears and again Holly felt so odd at this complete turn around. Though she was starting to wonder if it really was a turnaround at all.

It seemed that Holly had spent most of her time grossly misjudging people: Vince, Todd, her stepmother...

Her life was all a bit of a mess really. No wonder heaven wanted to wipe her memories and start again. It was probably for the best. She didn’t even mind so much about not sorting out her issues. Though it would’ve been nice to find out how the pills got there, just so people like Gemma and her stepmother didn’t have to live with the stigma of the rumors. And as for her dad, well...

Holly noticed her stepmother’s hands were shaking as she studied the card. She didn’t read it aloud, but then she didn’t have to since Holly already knew the contents.

Dear Jill,

I bet this is a surprise getting a birthday card from me. I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye since my dad died, but I just wanted you to know that I hope you have a wonderful day.

Love Holly

Actually, the way Holly had been feeling she could’ve gone a bit soppier than that, but then again, she wanted her stepmother to actually believe it was true and as Holly recalled their past relationship, she doubted an overflow of sentiment would be very convincing.

Her stepmother finally glanced up from the card with unshed tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said softly. “I can’t tell you what this means to me.”

“I’m glad I could help.” Holly croaked. She was finding it increasingly hard to remember she was Vince. In a way she would be glad when this whole thing was over.

“And I have to thank you for something else,” her stepmother said.

“You do?” Holly blinked. Especially since it wasn’t like she’d even forked out for a present.

“My neighbor’s son works in the Pool Palace. He told me you had a fight with Todd last night.”

“Oh.” Holly gulped as she automatically covered up her swollen knuckles. Boy, news sure traveled fast. “I’m sorry about that,” she mumbled.

“Well, I’m not,” her stepmother said in a staunch voice before coughing. “Of course I’m not saying I approve of violence, but from what I heard, Todd was saying some fairly dreadful things about Holly. I really appreciate you standing up for her.”

“Yeah.” Holly crossed her fingers. “Well, the dead can’t speak for themselves, can they?”

“That’s right. Which is why it’s up to us to protect the memory of the people we loved,” her stepmother said and for a moment Holly thought Vince was going to say something about love as well, but in the end he just made a grunting noise in the back of his throat.

It was no more than Holly deserved, but still, she couldn’t help but wish things had worked out differently.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

It was after twelve by the time Holly waved goodbye to her stepmother. She probably hadn’t said as much as she would’ve liked. But she had said enough.

“That was a really nice thing to do.” Vince thrust his hands into his pockets as they walked back toward his apartment. Holly knew he meant it. In fact that’s probably why he had been so helpful, because he’d lost his mother and might not have had the chance to say everything that needed to be said.

“Thanks. I guess I just wanted to let her know somehow that I didn’t hate her. Well, up until yesterday I did, but things have changed since then.”

“Are you okay?”