Выбрать главу

“Hey, Gem.” She raised her arm in her friend’s direction but instead of looking up, Gemma turned and hurried off in the other direction. Holly blinked for a moment as she stared at her friend’s retreating back. Had she missed something? But she could tell by the way Vince had tensed his neck ever so slightly that he had noticed it as well. I can’t believe she ignored us.

She probably didn’t recognize your voice. He shrugged in a way that Holly vaguely remembered from their school days when kids teased him about wearing old clothes. Holly felt a defensive shiver run through her. She certainly hoped Vince was right and Gemma had merely not realized.

Do you mind if I make a call? she asked in a taut voice as she reached for his phone. There was no answer when she rang Gemma’s number but her friend returned the call several minutes later just as Vince pushed open the workshop door. Thankfully the place seemed empty so Holly could talk without fear of being overheard.

“Hey, I’ve just got your message,” Gemma said. “I’ve been in a meeting all morning.”

“Really?” Holly narrowed her eyes “Because I was sure I just saw you on the fourth floor.”

“No, I’ve been in a meeting,” Gemma said firmly. “This is the first chance I’ve had to call you. Why, what’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Holly let out her breath as she realized she must’ve been mistaken. Perhaps Vince needed glasses? He should look into it when she was out of his body and he had a bit more time on his hands. “I just made a mistake.”

“I guess it’s easy enough to do. So,” Gemma continued in a rush. “You’d better fill me in on how you went in Rochelle’s office.”

Holly was immediately distracted. “I did have some luck. Rochelle had a photocopied article on motion sickness pills on her desk, so it looks like we’re heading in the right direction.”

“That’s unbelievable.” Gemma seemed to catch her breath. “Did you find anything else?”

“Well I was just about to search in her bag when Vince’s girlfriend—”

She’s not my girlfriend, he quickly assured.

“Okay, Vince’s not-girlfriend, Amy Jenkins, managed to find us and even tried to kiss me. On the lips.”

“Ewh,” Gemma squealed from down the other end of the phone. “No offence, Vince.”

Please, just pretend I’m not here, he assured her in a mild voice.

“Anyway,” Holly continued. “If her supervisor hadn’t come in then I can’t even bear to think about what would’ve happened.”

“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.

* * *

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.