Cecelia Ahern - P.S. I Love You

“He knows,” she interrupted.

“What?” Holly was confused. “He knows you can write?”

“Five years ago I applied for a job as a writer, but this was the only job going. Chris said if I hung on then maybe something would come up.” Holly wasn't used to seeing the usually chirpy Alice looking so . . . upset wasn't even the word. She was just angry.

Holly sighed and made her way into Chris's office. She had a sneaking suspicion she would be writing this one all on her own.

Holly smiled as she flicked through the pages of the November magazine she had worked on. It would be out in the shops tomorrow, the first of November, and she felt so excited. Her first magazine would be on the shelves and she could also open Gerry's November letter. Tomorrow would be a good day.

Although she had only sold the ad space, she felt great pride in being a member of a team that managed to produce something so professional-looking. It was a far cry from that pathetic leaflet she had printed up years ago and she giggled at the memory of mentioning it in her interview. As if it would impress Chris at all. But despite all that she felt she had really proven herself. She had taken her job by the reins and guided it through to success.

“It's nice to see you looking so happy,” Alice snapped, strolling tartly into Holly's office and throwing two little scraps of paper onto her desk. “You got two calls while you were out. One from Sharon and one from Denise. Please tell your friends to call you on your lunch break, as it's a waste of time for me.”

“OK, thanks,” Holly said, glancing at the messages. Alice had scrawled something completely illegible, most likely on purpose. “Hey, Alice!” Holly called after her before she slammed the door behind her.

“What?” she snapped.

“Did you read the article on the launch? The photos and everything turned out great! I'm really proud,” Holly grinned broadly.

“No, I have not!” Alice said, looking disgusted, and she slammed the door behind her.

Holly giggled and chased her out of the office with the magazine in her hand.

“But look at it, Alice! It's so good! Daniel will be so happy!”

“Well whoopdeedoo for you and Daniel,” Alice snapped, busying herself with random bits of paper at her desk.

Holly rolled her eyes. “Look, stop being such a baby and read the damn thing!”

“No!” Alice huffed.

“Fine then, you won't see the photo of you with that gorgeous half-naked man then . . .” Holly turned and walked away slowly.

“Give me that!” Alice snapped the magazine from Holly's hand and flicked through the pages.

Her jaw dropped as she reached the page of the Blue Rock launch.

At the top of the page it read “Alice in Wonderland,” with the photograph of her and the muscular model that Holly had taken.

“Read it out loud,” Holly ordered.

Alice's voice shook as she began to read: “A new Alco pop has hit the shelves and our party correspondent Alice Goodyear went to find out if the hot new drink for winter was as it claimed to be . . .” She trailed off and her hands flew to her mouth in shock. “Party correspondent?” she squealed.

Holly called Chris out of his office and he came out to join them, a broad grin on his face.

“Well done, Alice; that was a fantastic article you wrote. It was very amusing,” he told her with a pat on the shoulder. “So I created a new page called Alice in Wonderland where you will go to all the weird and wonderful things you love to go to and write about them every month.”

Alice gasped at them and stuttered, “But Holly . . .”

“Holly can't spell,” Chris laughed. “You, on the other hand, are a great writer. One I should have used before now. I'm very sorry, Alice.”

“Oh my God!” she gasped, ignoring him. “Thank you so much, Holly!” She threw her arms around her and squeezed her so hard Holly couldn't breathe.

Holly tried to pull Alice's arms away from around her neck and gasped for air. “Alice, this was the hardest secret to keep from anyone ever!”

“It must have been! How on earth didn't I notice this?” Alice looked at Holly, startled, then turned to Chris. “Five years, Chris,” she said accusingly.

Chris winced and nodded.

“I waited five years for this,” she continued.

“I know, I know.” Chris looked like a chastised schoolboy and he scratched his eyebrow awkwardly. “Why don't you step into my office now and we can talk about that.”

“I suppose I could do that,” Alice replied sternly, but she couldn't hide the glint of happiness in her eyes. As Chris headed toward his office, Alice turned to Holly and winked before doing a quick skip behind him.

Holly made her way back to her own office. Time to get working on the December edition.

“Oops!” she said, tripping over a pile of handbags lying outside her door. “What's all this?”

Chris made a face as he stepped out of his office to make Alice a cup of tea for a change. “Oh they're John Paul's handbags.”

“John Paul's handbags?” Holly giggled.

“It's for the article he's doing on this season's handbags, or something stupid like that.” Chris pretended not to have an interest.

“Oh, they're gorgeous,” Holly said, bending down to pick one up.

“Nice, aren't they?” John Paul said, leaning against the door frame of his office.

“Yeah, I love this one,” Holly said, sliding it over her shoulder. “Does it suit me?”

Chris made another face. “How can a handbag not suit someone; it's a handbag for Christ's sake!”

“Well then, you'll have to read the article I'm writing next month, won't you?” John Paul wagged a finger at his boss, “Not all handbags suit everyone, you know.” He turned to Holly,

“You can have it if you want.”

“For keeps?” she gasped. “This must cost hundreds.”

“Yeah, but I've got loads of them, you should see the amount of stuff the designer gave me.

Trying to sweeten me up with freebies; the cheek of him!” John Paul pretended to be outraged.

“I bet it works, though,” Holly said.

“Absolutely, the first line of my article will be: Everybody go out and buy one, they're fab!” he laughed.

“What else have you got?” Holly tried to peek behind him into the office.

“I'm doing an article on what to wear for all the Christmas parties coming up. A few dresses arrived today. In fact,” he looked her up and down and Holly sucked in her belly, “there's one that would look fab on you, come in and try it on.”

“Oh goody,” Holly giggled. “I'll just have a look, though, John Paul, because to be honest, I have no need for a party dress this year.”

Overhearing the exchange, Chris shook his head and yelled from his office, “Does anybody in this bloody office ever do any work?”

“Yes!” Tracey yelled back. “Now shut up and don't be distracting us.” Everyone in the office laughed and Holly could swear she saw Chris smile before he slammed his office door shut for dramatic effect.

After searching through John Paul's collection, Holly went back to work and eventually called Denise back.

“Hello? Disgusting, stuffy and ridiculously expensive clothes shop. Pissed off manager speaking, how can I help you?”

“Denise!” Holly gasped. “You can't answer the phone like that!”

Denise giggled, “Oh don't worry, I have caller ID so I knew it was you.”

“Hmmm.” Holly was suspicious; she didn't think Denise had caller ID on her work phone. “I got a message you called earlier.”

“Oh yeah, I was just ringing you to confirm you were going to the ball; Tom is going to buy a table this year.”

“What ball?”

“The Christmas ball we go to every year, you dope.”