You Had Me at Halo

“It was that sort of day. Anyway…sorry the place is such a mess.” Her stepmother sniffed as she led the way through into the main living room. “I collected Holly’s things from her old apartment the other day but haven’t had the heart to take them up to her room yet. It all seems so pointless.”

Holly glanced around and then turned back to her stepmother. What was she talking about? Holly couldn’t remember when she had ever seen the house looking less than spotless. At times it had felt like living in a showroom with nothing out of place. Come to think of it, it wasn’t just the boxes of clothing and shoes piled up by the window that seemed strange, but the whole place looked a little…dusty.

“That’s okay.” Holly stepped over her old gym bag and followed her stepmother through to the kitchen.

“So tell me Vincent, what can I do for you?”

“Oh…well.” Holly put the box down on the bench. “I have Holly’s personal items from work. I thought you might like them.”

Gosh, the things a girl had to do to break into her own house…and why was her stepmother dabbing her eyes with a tissue?

“I’m sorry, I thought I’d be better after the funeral but the smallest thing still sets me off, but thank you for bringing these around. Baker Colwell has been very thoughtful. Did you see the flowers they sent?”

“Holly was well liked,” Vince butted in and before Holly could respond, her stepmother started to nod her head in agreement.

“I can imagine. She was a lovely girl.”

What? Holly almost squeaked out loud, because really this was getting stupid.

“Where are my manners?” Her stepmother seemed to come out of her daze. “Would you like a drink? A cup of coffee or iced tea or something.”

“No thanks,” Holly said before Vince started to cough.

What? she snapped at him.

I could use a coffee.

We’re in the middle of a covert operation and you want a drink?

It’s been a busy morning.

Fine.

“Actually, Mrs. Evans.” Holly forced herself to give a light-hearted smile. “A coffee would be great.”

“Black no sugar,” Vince added.

“That’s how Holly had hers,” her stepmother reminisced in a sad voice, oblivious to the fact Vince had taken over. In fact for some reason Vince was being chattier than normal. Still, she supposed it saved her from having to do so much talking.

And could Holly just say it was lucky she loved Todd so much because this whole idea of coming back to her old house was just weird. With a capital W. Why was her stepmother pretending to do the grieving thing in front of Vince Murphy? It just didn’t make any sense, but before she could ponder it further, the phone rang.

“Excuse me,” her stepmother said as she picked up the handset. After a minute or so, she put her hand over the receiver and gave them an apologetic frown. “I’m so sorry, I might be a few minutes. It’s the local paper. They came around the other day to do a small story on Holly and they just want a few extra details. I think she would’ve liked to be in the paper.”

Well yes, to be honest it had always been her secret ambition to be in the best-dressed section, or perhaps the most-loved couple with a photo of her and Todd looking absolutely adorable in matching jeans and white T- shirts (with a kitten or a puppy in their laps). In fact just about anything would have done—except the obituary column.

“I’m sure she would’ve,” Vince once again took over. “While you’re on the phone, would you like me to carry those boxes upstairs for you? I don’t mind.”

Holly groaned. As if her stepmother would ever fall for such an over-zealous Boy Scout routine, but a moment later she was proved wrong when her stepmother gave a grateful nod.

“Vince, that would be lovely, but I hate to take up your time. I know how busy you must be. Holly certainly worked hard enough.”

“It’s nothing,” he assured her and after she told him it was the second bedroom at the top of the stairs, she returned her attention back to the phone and Holly was left blinking.

I can’t believe that worked.

Vince shrugged as he walked back to the front room and picked up two boxes. It seems like she’s had a tough couple of weeks.

Haven’t we all, Holly retorted before immediately feeling lousy. Vince was right. Even though Holly didn’t like her stepmother, it was obvious she had been left behind to tie up all the lose ends. Sorry, she mumbled in a contrite voice. It just feels weird being back here.

Don’t apologize, Vince said as he took the stairs two at a time and pushed her old bedroom door open with his foot. You’re doing okay.

Thanks. Holly felt a bit taken aback by the unexpected vote of confidence. Vince really seemed to understand how she was feeling and for a moment she wondered if it was more than just being polite, however before she could ask, Vince used the base of his shoe to gently push the door open and Holly found herself face to face with her old life.

She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been in there, but was surprised to see it was exactly the same. For some reason she had assumed her stepmother would’ve turned it into a home gym just out of spite. Apparently not. Though to be honest she probably could’ve taken down the Spice Girls poster. After all, it might be appropriate for a twelve-year-old girl to want to be Posh Spice, but right now with Vince standing next to her, it didn’t seem quite fitting.

He really was finding out all her dark dirty secrets after all. Still, while she would’ve been mortified if Todd ever saw her old room for some reason it didn’t matter that it was Vince. Perhaps it was because she would never see him again after tomorrow?

They quickly dumped the box down and headed back down for the next one. It took five trips in all and Holly realized that if she weren’t dead, she would’ve been forced to have a serious clean out of her shoe closet. Two boxes just to hold sandals? It suddenly seemed a bit excessive.

Once they were back in her old room, she knelt down and carefully pulled the tape away from the first box. Although they were labeled, she wasn’t sure where her pearls and the mixed CD would be.

Holly pulled the cardboard back and felt a jolt go through her as right at the top was the outfit she had been planning to wear the night she died.

She bit her lip as her fingers touched the delicate silk of the shimmering red dress. How different everything would’ve been if she had managed to come back from the bathroom and slipped it on as planned.

The stupid thing was that she hadn’t even felt tired or woozy when she first hopped into the steamy water. She had been a little bit jumpy, but that was only natural considering she was going to be become engaged to the man of her dreams later that night. What girl wouldn’t be jumpy? Especially since she hadn’t managed to apologize to Todd at that stage.

She’d had one other argument with him when they first started dating. It was over something silly but Todd had ended up being quite mulish about it and Holly had quickly realized that if you wanted to date a Scorpio, you had to learn to say sorry from time to time. Really it wasn’t such a concession.

She thought back to her bath. It was probably the combination of the warm water and the small gin and tonic she’d been drinking to calm her nerves. But one minute she’d been covered in bubbles, reading her bridal magazine and next thing she knew she was waking up in heaven.

Dead.

Hey, Vince said in a soft voice. Are you okay?

I…I don’t really know, Holly gulped as she chewed on her bottom lip. I guess I was just having a flashback. But don’t worry. I won’t ruin your manly image by crying.

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