You Had Me at Halo(34)

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 though she was glad he didn’t die, if he had, she now realized that she would have definitely stayed friends with him in heaven. They could’ve hung out and laughed at the stupid things going on below. It would’ve been okay.

She gave another little sniffle but before she could get too weepy, the sound of her stepmother’s voice on the phone reminded her they were on a deadline. They had to get moving.

I’m fine. She tried to convince herself. There’ll be time for getting upset later. Right now we’re got work to do.

Lead the way, Sherlock. Vince grinned and Holly pushed the outfit to one side. Towards the bottom of the carton she finally retrieved the CD Todd had burnt her and the black velvet box, which held her necklace.

She flicked up the lid and for a moment gazed down at the perfectly round pearls with their intense luster. They were so beautiful and she tried not to think how much better they would’ve looked if accompanied by a gigantic diamond engagement ring.

Vince coughed and Holly snapped the lid shut. Sorry, she muttered as she caught sight of the stupid stuffed rabbit Todd had given her a few months ago. He had won it at a local fair, but it had a cost him a fortune in attempts to do so. But that was Todd. Once he wanted something he didn’t stop until he got it. It was the same determination that made him so successful at work. And so attractive. No wonder that stupid tart, Rochelle Jackson, wanted to get her French-manicured nails into him.

Holly picked the rabbit up and hugged it to her chest before quickly shoving it in her bag. Then she moved onto the next box where she found a slinky black skirt and a camisole that had cost her four weeks’ wages.

She had been wearing that outfit the day she and Todd went on their first date. If anything would convince him, this would be it. Well, that and a bit of private bedroom information, though with Vince listening in on every word, Holly had decided that sex secrets would only be used as a final resort (and definitely no mention of their first night together which didn’t actually go as planned, but thankfully there had been a vast improvement since).

You know just because I don’t care about my manly image, doesn’t mean I want to go around wearing a skirt. Vince took control of his hand and put the offending item back in the box.