her manual purge, but if she’d stayed around last night, that’s exactly what she would have done.
Look at how she’d spilled her guts to Vince. While Holly had been discovering that a lot of things in her life weren’t as she’d thought, Gemma wasn’t one of those things. She was the best friend a girl could have, and there was no way she wanted her to be worrying about Holly’s eternal damnation.
“It’s understandable.” Gemma gave a vigorous nod of her head. “I still can’t believe that Todd and Rochelle were…well you know. I mean I knew Rochelle was chasing him like crazy…but Todd? I never would’ve expected that in a million years.”
“Yeah,” Vince said in a typical Vince-like drawl. “Totally never saw that one coming. Todd’s always been such a great guy.”
“Vince, you’re back.” Gemma’s face broke out into a smile. “I didn’t realize. Did you…er…have a nice time?”
“As far as being knocked out goes, it wasn’t too bad. Though it seems I missed all the action. What with Holly decking Todd like that.”
“It was unbelievable. She was…I mean you were…well you both were amazing.” Gemma gave an expansive wave of her arms.
“He had it coming,” Holly said with a sniff. “Though actually I was more upset about the fact he didn’t believe in me, than that he was with Rochelle.”
“I know. What a bastard. I’m glad you punched him because otherwise I would’ve,” Gemma said.
“I don’t think Simon would’ve appreciated that,” Holly reminded her.
“Actually Simon didn’t appreciate much of what I said after you left. Can you believe him? And to think I wasted four months of my life with a crush on that stupid egghead.”
“Madness,” Vince interrupted before Holly managed to take over. “I’m pleased you don’t like him anymore, because neither do I. It’s much better to be single than to be with such an idiot.”
Gemma blushed and started to fiddle with her clipboard. “The thing is that after you ran out and I argued with Simon and the rest of them, Vince’s friend, Andrew came in. I guess he was looking for you, Vince. But when he heard what happened, he came over to see if I was okay.”
“Really?” For a moment Holly was distracted from her own problems. As far as she was aware, Andrew had been planning to go home after he dropped the laptops off. Sly dog.
“Yes, he seemed to know we’d been best friends and that Todd had been insulting you. He said Todd had it coming anyway and he was pleased Vince was the one to do it,” Gemma said with a watery smile. “So I sat with him for a while which was great because you weren’t answering your phone and I swear I’d been thinking about going around to see if you were okay.”
“Not a good idea,” Vince said. “It’s not exactly safe my end of town. Especially at night, when you’re alone.”
“He’s right,” Holly agreed. “And Vince has man-strength.”
“Yes, he does.” Gemma giggled. “I still can’t believe you punched Todd. Does your hand hurt?”
“A bit,” Holly admitted. “But it was worth it.”
“Yeah,” Gemma chuckled. “I bet you won’t forget the look on his face in a hurry.”
“No, I won’t,” Holly lied as she recalled just how much that punch had cost her. Besides, even if she could only remember it for a few more hours, it was still a comfort.
“So this morning I wrote down the names of a couple more people who might’ve given you the pills. I’m also going to go around and take down all of those posters. I don’t care what my boss says.”
Holly studied her boots and didn’t say anything.
“What?” Gemma demanded. “Oh, you’re worried that I won’t be able to get away like yesterday, but I’ve —”
“She has to go back to heaven at one o’clock, Gemma,” Vince said the words that Holly couldn’t quite get out.
Gemma’s face went pale as she dropped her bag to the ground with a thump. “But surely they won’t take you back until tonight. Midnight or something. That’s what they would do in the movies. One o’clock is a stupid time. And besides, you haven’t resolved your issues yet. You can’t go back until that’s done.”
“I don’t think it works like that.” Holly gulped.
“No, don’t say that.” Gemma started to sob. “W-what’s going to happen if you don’t sort everything out before you go?”
Holly bit down on her lip and forced herself not to cry. “Oh, you know,” she said in a bright voice. “I guess they’ll stick me into a heavenly self-help group or something. Probably incredibly boring and I’ll get told off for talking.”
Gemma tugged a tissue out of her pocket and wiped her eyes. “Yeah, that sounds like you. And you’ll be back into the regular part of heaven in no time. Hey, and then you can see your dad and your real mom. That’ll be good.”
“It certainly will,” Holly’s voice sounded hoarse, even to her own ears. “I can’t wait.”
“S-so what are you going to do now? We could still spend the morning trying to, well…get some things sorted out.”
Holly shook her head. “I think we’re just going to go to see Vince’s boss and apologize. Vince isn’t too wrapped in the idea, but I can’t bear the idea of my actions costing him his job.”
Gemma gave her a watery smile. “So this is it?”
“I guess so,” Holly agreed. “But at least this time we get to say goodbye properly.”
“God, Holly.” Gemma started to sob again. “I’m going to miss you so much. Who knows when we’ll see each other again?”
“Not for a long time, I hope. I don’t want you dying anytime soon.” Holly bit on her tongue to stop from crying.
“Well, in that case you’d better not forget me,” Gemma said firmly. “Because if you find out that my next boyfriend is doing the dirty on me or something, I’m counting on you to somehow show me a sign.”
“Two thumps on the wall will mean yes,” she assured her friend, while trying not to think about the reality— that in a few hours she wouldn’t know who Gemma was. Before she could get too depressed, a surge of workers came through the door as the large clock hanging on the marble wall turned nine.
“So, I guess this is goodbye.” Gemma wiped away more tears.
“Yeah.” Holly stood up as well and almost fell back over as Gemma wrapped her arms around Vince’s torso and squeezed it tightly.
“Hey,” Holly said in alarm. “Remember I’m only Holly on the inside, on the outside I’m—”
“Vince Murphy,” Gemma finished off in a strangled snivel. “I know. This is for him as well. He’s taken good care of you.”
“Thanks,” Vince said softly.
“Bye, Gem,” Holly mumbled before she untangled herself from her friend’s embrace and started to jog away before Vince’s limited social status tanked even further by bawling like a baby.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
