You Had Me at Halo(51)

“Wow,” Lorraine finally spoke. “You never told me you were a fan before. How do you know all of that stuff?”

“Er, well I watch the show, I guess.” Or did watch it up until two weeks ago.

“I know I should watch it more often. But I just find the thought so depressing. I mean I have a Ph.D. in 1960s French and Italian cinema.”

Gosh, that sounded impressive. Not that Holly was exactly sure if she’d seen any French or Italian films from the 1960s, but she was sure they would be good. “So if you hate it so much, then why are doing the job?”

“I thought it would look good on my résumé to have done some television work but even though I’m meant to be a production assistant, I seem to spend most of my time organizing websites, sorting out fan mail and making sure that Lewis Webber gets his special vitamin drinks every morning before filming.”

Holly let out a wistful sigh. Imagine watching the gorgeous Lewis having his vitamin drink every day. It was a dizzying thought. Especially if he wore his faded jeans in real life as well. A cowboy with a good understanding of nutrition…what could beat that?

However, Lorraine didn’t seem to be nearly as enamored by such an image. “It’s just such a nightmare. Do you know what it’s like to do a job that seems absolutely pointless? I mean really, what would happen if The Rich and the Restless didn’t exist? It’s not like people would starve or the world would stop.”

Boy, Lorraine really hated her job—that was for sure. Though Holly supposed it would be depressing to work in a job you didn’t really love. At least at Baker Colwell she’d had a sense of achievement with everything she did. Well, okay, so there was a lot of paperwork, and she didn’t always understand what she was doing, but that was completely different.

“The thing is,” Lorraine continued. “I keep trying to give them some ideas of how to reach a crossover market—you know like the French and Italian cinemagoers—but will they listen to me?”

Holly shuddered. She certainly hoped not since the idea sounded ridiculous.

“Anyway, Vince, did anyone ever tell you that you’re a great listener? In fact, perhaps we could hook up for a coffee or something one day?”

“Sorry,” Holly automatically replied. “I’m seeing someone.”

“Oh.” Lorraine sounded a bit disappointed. “Well, she’s a lucky girl. What’s her name?”

Hmmmm, there was a good question for you. To be honest, Holly had been thinking about Todd, but she couldn’t very well tell Lorraine that and damned if she was going to say Amy Jenkins—after all, one had to be careful about what sort of thoughts one put out into the ether. For Vince’s sake of course.

“Er, her name is H—”

She cut herself off. Was she insane? She wasn’t Vince’s girlfriend. She was just the dead person living in his body and if she were still alive she would be Todd Harman’s girlfriend. Just went to show how tired she was.

“Well, ‘Hol’ is a lucky girl,” Lorraine said from down the other end of the phone. “So, anyway, the reason I’m calling...”

“Yes?” Holly wiped her brow, more than a little pleased to change the subject. “What’s up?”

“It’s those laptops you were fixing. Apparently Todd Harman told Stuart Peterson you’d be bringing them all back by four this afternoon, along with some manuals.”

Holly groaned as she clutched the phone. After discovering Todd wasn’t in his office, she and Vince had completely forgotten about them. Well, she had forgotten about them, knowing Vince he hadn’t wanted to panic her anymore by adding another chore to the list.

“I’m so sorry,” Holly said truthfully since she had no desire to cause Vince any problems at work. “I fixed them but then something else came up.”

“So they’re fixed.” Lorraine seemed relieved. “That’s great news. What was wrong with them?”

Good question. Holly closed her eyes and tried to remember what on earth Vince had said, but to be honest she had been too busy staring at his fingers to pay attention. “Just a couple of...er...router…server…operator system...errors,” she improvised as she threw in every word she’d heard the technicians talk about. “Can V...I mean can I bring them over first thing tomorrow?”

“I don’t suppose you could do it now?” Lorraine asked in a hesitant voice. “It’s just Stuart was pretty pissed off they weren’t here. He’s getting a bit sick of the way everything keeps freezing.”

“Oh.” Holly rubbed her pounding temples. “It’s just I sort of have something do.”

“I know it’s late, and honestly I couldn’t give two hoots if I never see my computer again. The stupid thing crashes more often than a test dummy, but like I said, Stuart’s on the rampage. He’s even talking of pulling the account if the computers aren’t here by the time he comes back from a location shoot tonight. You know what he’s like.”

Not really.

Which was a bit of a problem.

Holly glanced at her watch. This was not good news. She had just over an hour before she had to meet Gemma at The Pool Palace, but there was no way she could ignore this. Vince’s job was in jeopardy and it was her fault. What if this Stuart Peterson really did pull the account? She’d never be able to forgive herself.