You Had Me at Halo

“Always a good place,” he agreed and she could feel a small smile starting to tug at his lips.

“It’s not funny,” she moaned. “I really messed up. Todd was furious and that’s not all. We forgot to drop those laptops and manuals off to Peterson’s and even though Andrew went and did it later on, I think it might be too late. What if I’ve cost you your—”

“Holly.”

“But—”

“But nothing. This isn’t about me, so stop worrying about that and let’s concentrate on you.”

“Your restraint in rubbing it in is a wondrous thing,” Holly agreed before letting out a long sigh. “But as for me, well it doesn’t really matter. If I can punch Todd in the nose, Dr. Hill’s wiz bang machine is going to know I’m not over my issues. In fact I’ve probably collected even more emotional baggage since I’ve been here.”

Not least of which was the fact she kept thinking of how much nicer it felt now that Vince was back. Surely that was a thought that couldn’t do anyone any good.

“So that’s why you were getting all deep and meaningful before, wasn’t it?” he said softly and Holly nodded.

“I didn’t mean to go on,” she apologized.

“I’m glad you did. I feel like I know you.”

“Yes, well I feel like I know you as well,” Holly retorted as she caught sight of all of his medical notes. “And I want to know more about this heart condition of yours. Why haven’t you been taking your medication? And if I’m in your body, then why don’t I feel sick?”

For a moment Holly thought Vince was going to swear but then he just shrugged. “I have been taking the meds. I just made sure you were asleep when I did it and I didn’t mention it in order to avoid a lecture just like this,” Vince said lightly. “Besides, all I did was faint, it’s been happening on and off for ages.”

Holly shook her head. “I don’t believe you. Dr. Hill said he made a mistake when he put me into your body, but I don’t think he did. You see I saw the purple lights around your head when I was in heaven. That means you were meant to die. It says so in the rulebook. Did you know it was happening?”

“To be honest I was more concerned about the dead girl who was in my body when I came around,” Vince quipped. “As for why I was fine, well I couldn’t tell you. So quit worrying. There’s nothing wrong with me apart from the fact my heart beat isn’t quite normal.”

Holly felt stupid for doing it but she found herself putting Vince’s hand on his knee and squeezing it. “You’re heart works better than most people I’ve met. Don’t you forget it.”

For a moment Vince didn’t say anything before suddenly lying down on the bed. “It’s been a long day,” he said gruffly. “Probably better if we get some sleep.”

* * *

It was the sound of the birds outside the window, which caused Holly to wake up with a start. At first she couldn’t quite work out what was going on, but then it all came flooding back to her.

She had punched Todd, which meant she had probably taken three million steps back from sorting out her issues. She doubted even if she did find out what happened and clear her name, that heaven would give her a second chance.

She had really screwed up big time.

“Hey.” She jumped at the sound of Vince’s voice. “I’ve got something for you.”

“You have?” Holly fought back the surprise. Perhaps she should’ve got something for Vince as well? A thank- you-for-letting-me-use-your-body gift. Though she must admit that off the top of her head she couldn’t quite think of anything appropriate.

She felt Vince lean over and reach for a packet of photographs. “What are these?”

“I thought you might want to have a look,” he said as he opened them up for her. The first one was of him sitting under a tree with his guitar under his arm and a smile on his face. Man, he was pretty hot looking when he smiled. No wonder Amy had been making such a play for him, unrequited though it was.

Vince only paused on it for a second before flicking through the rest.

“Ah,” he finally said. “Here we go.” The photo was quite old. Vince only looked about eight or so and he was surrounded by a gaggle of friends.

Holly studied it carefully. Was it a birthday party? The next one was the same, but the one after featured him with a small girl who had huge brown eyes and…Hey…Holly had a dress just like that when she was a kid…and the little white shoes sort of looked familiar as well…

No way.

She dragged the photo up to her face to study it more closely. But it was true. Here was photographic evidence that she and Vince had been friends. Well, for one day anyway.

So why on earth didn’t she remember it? Boy, look how adorable she had been back then: all brown ringlets and slim legs.

She flicked through the rest of the photographs until she discovered one that looked familiar. It was the same party and there was a chubby clown holding up a white bunny rabbit.

She remembered.

There had been tiny little cupcakes with bright red cherries on top and Holly had a nasty feeling she’d gone around the plate and eaten all the cherries before discarding the cakes. There had been more as well: music, laughter and lots of running around.

And Vince. There he was, suddenly coming into focus in her memory. And not just for that day, there had been other days too.

“I remember,” she said finally and for a moment she thought she could feel Vince smile.

“I’m pleased,” he said before standing up. “Now I guess I should take you to work so you can say goodbye to Gemma and then perhaps we could…you know…find out how those pills got into your system.”

“The only thing we’re doing this morning is groveling until we know your job is safe.”

“Holly, I don’t care about my job.”

“Well, I do. You have your mortgage and your tablets to afford.”

Vince folded his arms in a ‘we will talk about this later’ sort of way. However he merely said, “So are you ready?”

No, Holly wanted to yell.

She wasn’t remotely ready.

She hadn’t been ready to die and she certainly wasn’t ready to lose her memory. But apparently what she wanted didn’t really matter too much these days and so she took a deep breath.

“As I’ll ever be.”

* * *

“Nice going, Murphy,” someone called out as they walked into the Baker Colwell foyer.

“Yeah. Well done. That prick had it coming to him.” Holly looked up and saw it was a couple of guys she’d worked with before she’d got her promotion.

“Er, thanks,” she said, not quite sure what they were talking about. As she walked on a couple more guys nodded in her direction but it wasn’t until someone started to cheer and said, “Nice shot,” that Holly realized they must be referring to Todd. And that she had punched him.

Hey, you’ve made me famous, Vince teased.

Yes, but why? Holly frowned. Todd was one of the most popular guys in the company. He was young, dynamic and had corner office written all over him, so why were people so pleased Vince Murphy had decked him?

More importantly, how had they all found out? Holly felt ill. Despite how pleased everyone seemed to be at Todd getting punched, she had the sinking feeling it would be he who had the last laugh. Before she could delve any more into it Gemma came running up, panting.

“Thank God I’ve found you. I’ve been trying to call you all night. Why did you turn off your phone?”

“I didn’t,” Holly said. “I think the battery’s gone dead and I forgot to charge it.”

“So, are you okay?” Gemma demanded. “I’ve been sick with worry. You just ran out of there last night without saying anything.”

“I’m sorry.” Holly winced. “I just had to get some fresh air.”

There was no way she could tell Gemma the truth about what was going to happen to her now she’d failed