Amanda Ashby - You Had Me at Halo

Just lead the way. I’m all yours.

If only that was true, she sighed. Then for the last time in this life or the next, Holly walked out of Baker Colwell.

“Vince, this is a surprise,” Holly’s stepmother said as she answered the door half an hour later. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I’ve got a day off.”

“Oh, that’s nice. I’m glad you remember to use them up. Poor Holly never seemed to have anytime away from that place. So what is it I can do for you? Did you have some more things from her desk?”

“Sort of.” Holly coughed. Eating humble pie wasn’t something she’d tried to do many times before. It tasted funny. “I was wondering if I could come in for a minute?”

“Of course. You’ll be pleased to see I’ve tidied up. I’m sorry it was such a mess yesterday.”

“That’s okay,” Holly assured her; absurdly pleased to see that the house had indeed been restored to its former pristine neatness. It was something she’d always taken for granted until she’d moved into Vince’s body and seen how lucky she had been.

Actually there were quite a few things that Holly had been taking for granted. Hence this final visit to try and make amends. Though she wasn’t sure how a ten-minute visit could change much. Still, she was determined to try.

“Would you like a coffee?” her stepmother asked; although Holly’s stomach started to rumble, she shook her head. She couldn’t afford to waste any time.

“No thanks.” She sat down in the chair her stepmother was offering. It had been her father’s favorite chair and for a moment Holly felt a twang of nostalgia go through her.

“So tell me, Vince. What can I do for you?”

Holly fiddled with the strap of Vince’s satchel. “I’ve got something for you.”

Her stepmother looked startled. “You do?”

Holly dug into Vince’s pocket and pulled out the birthday card she’d written earlier. When she first came up with the idea of trying to let her stepmother know she was sorry for her past behavior, Holly thought writing a card was the perfect way.

That was until she’d started writing.

Gone was her small neat longhand and in its place was a slanted scrawl, which she found almost impossible to read. After ruining the first card, Holly had then spent the next ten minutes trying to train Vince’s large hand to master her own style. It wasn’t exact but it was as close as Holly was going to get with the time permitted.

Though to give him his dues, Vince had been very good about the whole process and he’d only sworn once. Well twice, but the second time was when Holly had made him seal it with a kiss. But he had done it and for the first time in her life, Holly had been jealous of an envelope.

“I found it in the backseat of my work van and I recognized it from Holly’s box of things. It must’ve fallen out yesterday.” She passed the card over.

Her stepmother didn’t move from her chair as she studied the envelope before deftly slitting it open. Then her eyes widened. “It’s a birthday card, but that’s not for another month and Holly hardly ever remembered it.”

“I guess she did this year.” Holly gave a casual shrug. “Anyway, I just thought I should bring it over.”

“Thank you.” Her stepmother’s voice sounded choked with tears and again Holly felt so odd at this complete turn around. Though she was starting to wonder if it really was a turnaround at all.

It seemed that Holly had spent most of her time grossly misjudging people: Vince, Todd, her stepmother…

Her life was all a bit of a mess really. No wonder heaven wanted to wipe her memories and start again. It was probably for the best. She didn’t even mind so much about not sorting out her issues. Though it would’ve been nice to find out how the pills got there, just so people like Gemma and her stepmother didn’t have to live with the stigma of the rumors. And as for her dad, well…

Holly noticed her stepmother’s hands were shaking as she studied the card. She didn’t read it aloud, but then she didn’t have to since Holly already knew the contents.

Dear Jill,

I bet this is a surprise getting a birthday card from me. I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye since my dad died, but I just wanted you to know that I hope you have a wonderful day.

Love Holly

Actually, the way Holly had been feeling she could’ve gone a bit soppier than that, but then again, she wanted her stepmother to actually believe it was true and as Holly recalled their past relationship, she doubted an overflow of sentiment would be very convincing.

Her stepmother finally glanced up from the card with unshed tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said softly. “I can’t tell you what this means to me.”

“I’m glad I could help.” Holly croaked. She was finding it increasingly hard to remember she was Vince. In a way she would be glad when this whole thing was over.

“And I have to thank you for something else,” her stepmother said.

“You do?” Holly blinked. Especially since it wasn’t like she’d even forked out for a present.

“My neighbor’s son works in the Pool Palace. He told me you had a fight with Todd last night.”

“Oh.” Holly gulped as she automatically covered up her swollen knuckles. Boy, news sure traveled fast. “I’m sorry about that,” she mumbled.

“Well, I’m not,” her stepmother said in a staunch voice before coughing. “Of course I’m not saying I approve of violence, but from what I heard, Todd was saying some fairly dreadful things about Holly. I really appreciate you standing up for her.”

“Yeah.” Holly crossed her fingers. “Well, the dead can’t speak for themselves, can they?”

“That’s right. Which is why it’s up to us to protect the memory of the people we loved,” her stepmother said and for a moment Holly thought Vince was going to say something about love as well, but in the end he just made a grunting noise in the back of his throat.

It was no more than Holly deserved, but still, she couldn’t help but wish things had worked out differently.

It was after twelve by the time Holly waved goodbye to her stepmother. She probably hadn’t said as much as she would’ve liked. But she had said enough.

“That was a really nice thing to do.” Vince thrust his hands into his pockets as they walked back toward his apartment. Holly knew he meant it. In fact that’s probably why he had been so helpful, because he’d lost his mother and might not have had the chance to say everything that needed to be said.

“Thanks. I guess I just wanted to let her know somehow that I didn’t hate her. Well, up until yesterday I did, but things have changed since then.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she croaked as she willed away the tears. She couldn’t even bite down on her lip or else Vince would know she wanted to cry.

They went the rest of the way to his apartment in silence.

He turned the key and they stepped inside. As she looked at the bathroom, she wondered if she had time for a shower before… it happened . Then she vetoed the idea since she had a tendency to die in water.

She pushed open the bedroom door and was just about to take her jacket off when she realized there was a lump in the bed. Holly frowned. She was sure she’d made it before they left this morning. Then she heard a shuffling noise.

“What the—”

“Hi, Vince,” Amy Jenkins drawled, as she poked her head out from under the blanket and revealed a pair of bare shoulders.

Oh. My. God.

Was she naked under there?

Holly felt her knees start to go weak. Was this earth life really so unrelenting? Holly had no recollection of things moving at such a roller coaster pace down here. Where was the peace? Where was the quiet? Suddenly the no-talking-during-a-funeral policy on Level One was starting to make complete and utter sense.