Oh, yeah. Holly realized she hadn’t done a great job of tidying up. I was sort of in a hurry to get to the Pool Palace, which is why as soon as I found the manuals, I just gave them all to Andrew and left.
I don’t know what manuals you gave him, but it certainly wasn’t these ones. Vince pulled a familiar-looking yellow envelop from somewhere in the depths of the mess and held it up in the air.
Holly felt the horror mounting within her. That doesn’t make sense, she croaked. “I definitely gave him the envelope.
Vince started to tidy up the pile of papers on his bench. It could’ve been anything, I often keep things in envelopes. Especially since Fluffy started making house calls.
Holly gulped. That wasn’t exactly the most comforting news. So can you tell what’s missing?
Vince had a quick scan and shrugged. I wouldn’t have a clue. Look, don’t worry about it.
But this is terrible. Vince what if they fire you? I mean not only were we late in delivering the laptops and forgetting to give them the manuals, but we punched one of Baker Colwell’s most successful account manager in the face. I think we need to go and apologize before—
Holly- he started to say but before he could get any further, Bob Mackay poked his head around the corner.
“Vince, David Harris wants to see you in his office. Now.”
Holly was quite sure she was going to be sick.
* * * Okay, so you’re just going to have to tell him everything, Holly instructed as they made their way up to fourth floor.
You mean about the dead girl in here?
Holly rolled her eyes. No, Vince, not about me being in here, I mean about Todd springing the laptops on you at the last minute and not even asking if it was okay for you to deliver them. You could even tell them about that hospital quote as well.
There’s no point. The reason guys like Todd and Simon do so well here is not just because they sell products, they sell themselves as well. It doesn’t take a genius to guess who David Harris will side with. Especially considering the fact we hit Todd last night.
You mean I hit him, Holly wailed as they reached the office. The secretary at the front desk nodded for them to go straight in.
“He’s expecting you,” the girl said. Holly didn’t take this as a good sign and this was further confirmed as they pushed open the door to see Todd sitting down in a chair to the right of the desk looking smug, his swollen eye proudly on display. Vince was right; Todd was going to really milk this.
David Harris stood up, with a serious expression on his face. Holly had never had much to do with the Baker Colwell executives, but she knew that Todd had been out with him on more than one social occasion. What a way to repay Vince for all his kindness.
“Thank you for joining us, Vincent. The reason I’ve called you both here is because I have some serious concerns that need addressing.”
Todd could barely contain his glee and Holly had to grip at her hands to stop herself from punching him a second time. It was only the reminder that Vince didn’t need anymore trouble right now that stopped her. But how could she have not seen what sort of person Todd was?
Just then the door opened David Harris nodded his head. “Thank you for joining us.”
Holly spun around just in time to see a short, angry man walking into the room. W-who’s that?
Stuart Peterson. Owner of Peterson Productions and number one buddy of David Harris. And Todd Harman.
No, Holly wanted to shout out. Lorraine had told her last night that her boss was on the rampage, but honestly this was ridiculous. So what if Vince didn’t deliver a couple of lousy laptops on time. Was there really any need to go to such great lengths to punish him? Didn’t they know there were more important things to life than tormenting a computer technician? Especially such a nice, lovely one like Vince. In fact she had a good mind to—
“Vincent. Todd.” The man nodded as he walked over to the desk and handed David Harris a familiar looking yellow envelope. On the outside was written Manuals in Vince’s scrawling handwriting; hence Holly’s mistake. She still had no idea what was in there and all she could do was pray that Vince wasn’t the downloading-porn sort of guy.
Holly, stop clenching like that, Vince instructed as she realized she’d had her hands balled in two tight fists.
Sorry, she replied. But aren’t you worried about this? I mean if they’re going to all this trouble they must be pretty mad.
I do a good job and I’m honest, if they have a problem with it, well there’s not much I can do.
Yes, but—
But nothing. I have a few more pressing things to worry about than this. You might not be able to resolve things with Todd, but there’s still time to try and find how those pills got into your body. This is just a waste.
Holly tried not to sniff, but it was hard, because that was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her.
“Do you know what’s in here?” David Harris held the envelope up with a flourish.
“I gather it’s not the manuals that Vince Murphy was meant to deliver to our client at four yesterday afternoon.” Todd snickered and Holly could barely contain her fury. Seeing things through Vince’s eyes had certainly changed her perceptions.
How, how, how had she ever liked him? Yes, he had all the trimmings to make him look like the perfect catch, but inside he was fatally flawed. Where as, someone like Vince, was… perfect.
And lovely.
And sweet, and—
Oh, no.
Holly almost groaned out loud as a startling realization struck her. She loved Vince and hated Todd. How had this happened? She had been with Todd a year and only been in Vince’s body for under two days, yet somehow… somehow…
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
