You Had Me at Halo(73)
Her stepmother put down the camera. “It takes a big person to admit that.”
“I sort of had it spelt out to me,” Holly reluctantly admitted.
“Well, all the same. You might not be able to change the past, but you can always try and make tomorrow better,” her stepmother said and for a moment Holly wondered if Dr. Hill had really managed to purge everyone’s memory because if she didn’t know better, she would say her stepmother was talking about more than just Holly’s disastrous relationship with Todd.
“Anyway…” Her stepmother gave her a shy smile. “Now’s hardly the time for this, you’ve got a big night ahead. Who knows, you might even meet the man of your dreams.”
I hope not, Holly wanted to retort since there was only one man she was interested in right now. And he hadn’t been a dream. He’d been only too real.
xxx
“Can you believe what Rochelle Jackson’s wearing?” Gemma demanded as a group of them stood at the back of the glittering ballroom and checked everyone out now that the free champagne had helped lower some of the staff members’ inhibitions.
Holly could very well believe it because she’d seen the exact same dress hanging in Rochelle’s wardrobe the other day. Though somehow it looked even smaller and tighter than before.
“It’s gross,” she agreed.
“Look at how she and Todd are dancing. That’s so disgusting. You guys only broke up this afternoon and yet she’s all over him like a rash.”
Holly glanced over to the dance floor where Todd and Rochelle were both looking smug. “To be honest I don’t think we can blame this one all on Rochelle. It takes two to publicly grope on the dance floor. Despite how drunk Todd is, he doesn’t look like he’s protesting too much.”
“How can you be so calm?” Gemma demanded. “I mean this must be freaking you out. I’m still not sure I even understand where that all came from? One minute you were the Baker Colwell dream couple and now...well, you’re not. Actually you’re looking a bit pale. Have you eaten something funny?”
“I think I might have had a cup of coffee that didn’t agree with me,” Holly admitted.
“As if there’s such thing as a sketchy coffee.” Gemma rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Holly, there must be some explanation for all of this.”
“I guess I got a sudden vision of what life might be in the future and let’s just say that I didn’t like the picture. Besides, somehow I don’t think Todd and Rochelle will last.” Holly wasn’t too sure how karma worked in situations like this, but she was pretty confident that Todd’s dodgy sales practices would come and bite him on the butt at some stage. Would it be wrong of her to hope it was sooner rather than later?
Rochelle Jackson might act (and dress) like a bimbo, but the truth was she was as ambitious as Todd, and Holly would’ve bet her heavenly rulebook that Rochelle would drop Todd faster than a figure-disguising caftan when his dodgy dealings finally caught up with him.
“That’s all very well, but it’s still a lot of change. I’m not sure I can keep up with it,” Gemma complained. “First you break up with Todd and now you decide to get another job.”
“Shhhhh.” Holly glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “Besides, I haven’t got it yet. I won’t know more until I see them next week.”
“Of course you’ll get it. Especially after you recited the family tree of everyone in The Rich and the Restless to them over the phone and they said that you knew it better than the scriptwriters. But you still haven’t told me how you heard about it in the first place?”
A small smile tugged at Holly’s lips. She had a feeling that ringing The Rich and the Restless studio just as Lorraine had been forced to deal with another Monica Edwards diva tantrum, might possibly come under the Insider Trading Act. But, since no lightening had struck her down—or more importantly, no Dr. Hill had mysteriously appeared as Holly had asked the harassed production assistant if it would be okay to send in her CV for a job—she figured that heaven didn’t have a problem with Holly moving into the dazzling world of daytime television. Which was why, when Lorraine had positively begged her to come in for an interview next week, Holly couldn’t help but feel excited about it all.
“It was just in passing really.” Holly shrugged. “I met someone who knew the production assistant and found out she hated her job. So it was just a fluke.”
“Well, I guess you are perfectly suited to it,” Gemma grudgingly admitted. “But it’s going to be so weird without you.”
“I know, but we’ll still be moving in together. The sooner the better considering the way Irene’s going,” Holly reminded her.
“I suppose so, but it’s still not going to be the same at work. Especially since I’ve become less impressed with some of the people at work. Especially Simon Trimmer. Look at how drunk he is. I don’t know what I saw in him?”
Holly peered over to where Simon Trimmer and some others had taken their bow ties off from around their neck and tied them around their heads as they threw a flower bowl around like it was a baseball.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing about Todd. Perhaps we’re growing up? Hey and look at Simon. He’s going to hurt someone if he keeps doing—”