You Had Me at Halo(30)

“Gross.” Gemma sounded like she was shuddering. “Now what about Todd? Have you managed to...well...you know...”

“Tell him that I’m back from the dead and living in Vince’s body?” Holly finished off before shaking her head. “No, it’s harder than I imagined. He’s still really cut up. You should’ve seen how strangely he was acting.”

Vince made a snorting noise and Holly rolled her eyes before saying, “That wasn’t me by the way.” Then she filled Gemma in on the less than satisfactory meeting they’d just had. When she thought about it, it seemed they’d had a very busy morning not achieving much at all.

“You know,” Gemma said after Holly had finished. “I think the only way to convince him is if you have a lot of proof with you. So that there’s no way he can dispute it.”

“Like what? A note from Dr. Hill explaining about my two-day pass from heaven?”

“No,” Gemma retorted. “I mean things that only you would know about. What if you showed him the pearls he gave you for your birthday, and maybe even a copy of that mixed CD he burned for you? I know you hated it, but he thinks you loved it. He’d know it was really you because no one else would have a mixed CD with such crap music on it.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Holly nodded her head in agreement. “It wouldn’t take us long to swing via my old apartment and grab what we needed. Then at least I’ll know something’s gone right in this day from hell.”

“I hate to remind you, but while your roommates might be okay with Holly Evans, recently deceased, going back to her old apartment to pick up these things, I’m not so sure they would be as welcoming if I turned up on the doorstep,” Vince suddenly said out loud.

“You’re right.” She groaned. How could she keep forgetting? Then she brightened up. “But they wouldn’t think it was weird if my best friend turned up.”

Gemma coughed and sounded fidgety. “The thing is I’ve got this project my boss wants me to work on. It’s a bit difficult to get out off.”

Holly tried to hide her disappointment. “Well, I guess we can try and figure some reason for Vince needing to visit.”

“There’s something else.” Gemma’s voice sounded faint from down the other end of the phone.

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Holly. I hate to break this to you but your stepmother went around to your apartment on Thursday to collect your stuff. Which means the only way for you to get what you need is to go back to your old house and ask her for it.”

Holly clutched at the cell phone. Could today possibly get any worse? Surely Dr. Hill was having some sort of laugh here. Perhaps this was the heavenly version of Candid Camera? Because if forced to list her absolute worst scenario then this would be it. Okay, so that was a lie, since the idea of being stuck in a guy’s body back on earth, was probably worse. But this was definitely a close second.

“Are you sure you can’t do it?” Holly double-checked, but her friend let out a miserable sigh.

“You know I would if I possibly could.”

“Perhaps we don’t need to go at all?” Vince suggested but Holly shook her head and tried not to sound glum.

“Gemma’s right. You saw what Todd was like. It’s going to be hard enough to convince him even when I do have proof. Without them I won’t stand a chance. Not that I blame him of course, since this whole situation is quite ridiculous. We just have to figure something out.”

“Oh,” Gemma squeaked. “Why don’t you clear your desk and take everything around with you?”

“Hey, that’s a good idea. Though incidentally why is all my stuff still there? When I snuck in last night my password had been changed, but my desk hadn’t been touched.”

“That’s my fault. I thought Todd was going to do it last week, but then he got caught up in some big quote he’s doing for the hospital...and of course your funeral and everything, so I told personnel I’d do it today.”

“Well, we can go and do it now,” Holly clutched at the phone. “And then take it around at lunchtime...if that’s okay with Vince...”

“I guess that would work,” Vince said grudgingly. “But we’d better get moving and clear your desk because Bob will be back from his management meeting in about fifteen minutes and if I’m not here making those phone calls, he’ll probably have my balls.”

Not something Holly was eager to experience so she said goodbye to Gemma and jumped to her feet. There was no time to lose.

xxx

So won’t people think it’s a bit strange that a technician is clearing up your desk? Vince asked several minutes later as they started to pack away the small picture frames that had been sitting next to her computer.

Holly glanced around and realized he was right. No one seemed at all interested in what was happening. Perhaps it was because he was on the technical side? But even still, it wasn’t like he was invisible, and he looked quite cute in the blue shirt she had convinced him to wear. The more obvious answer was that it wasn’t exactly the friendliest department she had worked in.

I guess I’ve only been in this new job for a month. They probably only know me as the girl who killed herself. Holly sighed as she picked up a flyer that was sitting on top of her keyboard. It was the same as the posters that were everywhere, but in a bite-sized version. She screwed it up and put it in the wastepaper basket. She wouldn’t be needing that where she was going.