You Had Me at Halo(26)

Well? he said in a mild voice and she could tell by the tug of his lips that he was smiling.

Fine, she muttered as she turned her attention back to where Bob was now holding up some sort of gadget and explaining it was a new router. She narrowed her eyes and studied it intently. She had no idea what a router was of course, but at least it was better than listening to Vince snickering in her head.

xxx

For the next hour Holly, who had planned to spend her time working out how she could get access to Rochelle’s Chloe bag and then approach Todd and apologize for their fight, ended up being drawn into the meeting.

Of course she knew the company provided IT and networking services for some of the largest businesses in town, but she’d always looked at it from a financial point of view. Or, when Todd had talked about his many sales conquests, it had been about the fancy lunches and the perks. For some reason she’d never considered how the systems actually worked.

“Right.” Bob finally stood up. “Are we all clear on today?” Everyone nodded and the older man continued. “Okay, so Andrew you will finish that pricing. Joe, you’re doing the bench jobs and Vince, I need you to get to work on those service contracts.”

Vince nodded and waited until the rest of the technicians disappeared to the various laptops that were dotted around the room. Sorry about that. Probably more than you ever wanted to know about systems and operator codes.

Holly resisted a smile. Actually, it wasn’t so bad. I thought it would be...

All Star Trek jokes and frothing at the mouth over the newest X-box? Vince said in a dry voice and Holly flushed at the cliché, which she was forced to admit was what she had been expecting. Not that she was going to tell Vince that. After all, it was one thing to take over his body and ruin his love life; she really had no right to let him know she’d thought he was a geek as well.

So what are these service contracts you have to do? Will they take long?

Most of them I just need to ring up and schedule in. Why, what are you thinking?

I’m thinking we need to get to that Chloe bag.

Holly. She could feel Vince frowning. I know you found the article, but is this really worth it? After all, you know the truth, and as for everyone else, does it matter what they think?

According to Dr. Hill, it’s a problem, she admitted as she reached into his satchel and dragged a crumpled suicide poster out. She’d managed to yank it off the wall of the elevator on the way back from Rochelle’s office. Vince hadn’t been best pleased. Not only does it make me do stuff like this, but up in heaven I was...well I wasn’t reacting in a positive fashion when it was being discussed. Dr. Hill said if I don’t face my issues I can’t move up through the levels, so I figure if I can at least figure out what happened, I will prove it to my subconscious if nothing else.

I’m still not sure I understand your logic, but if it really means that much to you, I’ll see if I can dodge Bob so we can try her office again.

Thanks. Holly felt surprisingly touched by Vince’s attitude. Yes he could be annoying, but she had to admit that considering the circumstances they were in, he had been pretty good. For a moment she wondered if she would have been as generous if the tables had been turned. Then she frowned. Today seemed to asking more questions than it was solving.

That’s okay. So we’d better get going.

Don’t you want to make these phone calls first? Holly asked, suddenly feeling guilty at not considering just how inconvenient this whole thing was on him. Besides, if she made some concessions now, perhaps he would feel less inclined to kiss Amy Jenkins? But Vince merely shook his head.

They’ll keep until tomorrow. It’s best we get out of here before someone notices that I’m not doing anything.

Except talking to a dead girl, Holly quipped and she could feel Vince’s mouth turn up in a small smile. For some reason she liked the idea that she could make him smile. When she had first received her promotion she had made the mistake of telling a few accountant jokes with the rest of the Finance Operations team. The jokes had gone down like a Big Mac at a vegetarian restaurant and since then Holly had stopped trying to make people laugh during work hours.

Ah, yes, apart from that of course...Oh, shit. Don’t look up or make eye contact, okay?

Holly looked up and made eye contact with one of the technicians walking toward them. It was the tall guy from last night.

I told you not to look up, Vince scolded.

Sorry. Holly gave herself a mental kick. She always had been too nosey for her own good. What do you think he wants?

No idea, but I’ll try and make it short. Don’t worry, Andrew’s a good guy.

“Vince, do you have a moment?” Andrew asked as he fiddled with his Homer Simpson tie. “I’m meant to be giving the sales department an estimate of how long the wiring and installation of a Bacchus 3000 for the new hospital wing will take, but they don’t seem interested in the fact that the system won’t work.”

“Oh yeah.” Vince nodded. “I had the same problem last month when Simon Trimmer was trying to sell one to the Dairy Board. I thought I explained to them all then that the wireless frequency interferes with the machinery.”

“I don’t suppose you’d come with me?” the technician said in a hopeful voice. “I’ve already had so many arguments with them that I think they’ll probably just blank me. Besides, when it comes to wireless, you’re the most experienced.”