You Had Me at Halo(37)

Donald Duck coughed. “Are you okay, Vince? You seem a bit distracted.”

“Huh?” Vince looked up from the folder and gave an apologetic grimace. “Oh, I was just...thinking something through. What were you saying?”

Donald shook his head. “Nothing, it’s just you wandered off, that’s all.”

Sorry, Holly apologized to Vince. That was my fault.

I know.

“O-kay. Well I’ve got a firewall with my name on it.” Donald shot Vince a quizzing glance before heading toward the door, but before he got very far, he turned back towards them. “Don’t forget drinks tonight. Andrew said you’re coming along. First round on me.”

Holly frowned as something else occurred to her. But what I don’t understand is...oh, hang on. I think Donald’s saying goodbye.

Vince blinked and glanced up. “Oh right, see you later Donald...shit, I mean Graham.”

Whoops. It was the tie. Holly gulped and would’ve shot him an apologetic look if she wasn’t trapped inside his body.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Graham studied them through narrowed eyes.

“Yes, it’s just been a very trying day,” Vince assured him, but Holly couldn’t help but feel he might be referring to her.

Vince, I really am sorry. But why do they wear those things, anyway? Does someone come around selling them cheap or something?

For a moment Vince made a strangling sound from his throat as if he wanted to say something, but then he burst out laughing.

Is that a you-forgive-me laugh or an I’m-going-insane-from-the-pressure laugh?

It’s a, I’ve-never-known-anyone-else-like-you laugh, he explained as sat down and started to listen to his voice mail. (Ewh, two more from Amy-starting-to-turn-into-a-bit-of-a-stalker Jenkins). Well at least he wasn’t mad at her, but as to whether it was a compliment or not, well Holly couldn’t really be too sure.

xxx

Holly was dying to ring Gemma, but Vince was still doing goodness knows what to the three laptops he had laid out on his workbench. One of the many problems with body-sharing was that she couldn’t exactly sneak off for a cup of tea and a flick through her Bride and Beauty magazine. Or pick up a phone.

She couldn’t even glance around since ‘apparently’ Vince couldn’t fix the computers and stare at the posters on the wall at the same time. Which meant she had to settle with looking at Vince’s hands. Still, at least they were quite nice as far as fingers went. Strong and lean, and though it pained her to admit it, they were better than Todd’s, who had very short nails. She had never caught him chewing them, but there had been something not right there. Still life was all about compromise and everything else about him was pretty perfect.

Then she flushed as she realized she had better not think too much about Todd in case the same thing happened that did earlier on in her bedroom. She paused for a moment to make sure everything was in a relaxed state and then let out a sigh of relief. She had obviously checked herself in time. There was no way she wanted to go through that again.

She glanced over to the note he had left for Vince. The tone to it was definitely friendlier than their earlier meeting and he had asked Vince to bring the fixed computers up to his office before three thirty in the afternoon. The thought made her happy, since he could’ve asked any of the technicians to do it, yet he had singled out Vince. Which really meant he had singled out her, and—

Holly. Vince silently coughed. You’re doing it again.

Sorry. She obediently returned her attention back to the computer and stared at the monitor instead. What’s all this stuff, anyway?

Vince shrugged. Looks like it’s content for Peterson’s Productions’ new website. I’m just making sure I’ve retrieved all the files.

Peterson’s Productions? Now why does that sound familiar?

They make TV shows. I think this is Lorraine’s computer. She’s one of the assistants. Anyway, it seems to all be here—

Oh my God! Holly cut him off before lifting her hand off the mouse to stop him from exiting the window. Peterson’s Productions do The Rich and the Restless. That’s why the name sounded so familiar. I see their logo at the end of every episode. Why didn’t you tell me you did their computers?

Er, you didn’t ask. Anyway, they’re Todd’s account, why didn’t he mention it?

I don’t know. Holly paused for a minute, not that it really matter. The main thing was that she knew now. So, come on then, keep scrolling down.

No way. My job is to fix these things, not to look at confidential files. It’s against company policy.

Vince. This is The Rich and the Restless. Holly pressed down on his finger until the cursor moved onto the next page. Don’t be so stuffy. Perhaps they’ll have some new storylines? I haven’t seen the show for over two weeks. Which, by the way, if God really is so high and mighty then why doesn’t he have cable?

One of the great mysteries, Vince agreed with a straight face.

Oh, look. They’re talking about the end-of-season finale, and here’s some stuff on the characters they’ve killed off. Boy, I wish they really were kicking the bucket, and then I’d be able to hang out with them in heaven. We could have a The Rich and the Restless Is Dead Cool club. How wicked would that be...and…Oh. Hang on a minute. That’s not right, Holly said, pointing to the screen.