Heaven Can Wait Read online

  The door opened slowly.

  ‘Archie!’ Nigel said, then his eyes flicked towards me. ‘Bloody hell.’

  I smirked. There was something very wrong about a geek checking me out so blatantly. What was even worse was how good it made me feel. I did a nervous shimmy. ‘Glad you like it.’

  ‘It’s not that … it’s just,’ Nigel laughed, ‘aren’t you a bit overdressed?’

  I glanced at Archie, but he was gazing at his trainers.

  ‘Never mind,’ Nigel said, ushering us through the door. ‘Come in, the fun’s through there.’

  I wandered down the hall, through the door he’d pointed to and found myself in a very dark, slightly musty-smelling room. The curtains were closed and most of the furniture had been pushed up against the French windows. Four desks had been grouped together in a square in the centre of the room. At one of them, sitting behind a laptop, was Geoff.

  ‘Hi, Geoff,’ I said, peering through the gloom, still totally confused. The room didn’t look like it was set up for an orgy or a party. What on earth was going on?

  ‘Y’all right?’ Geoff muttered, his eyes fixed to the screen.

  Nigel sidled past me and typed something into the other laptop.

  ‘I’ve got Coke, Red Bull, Lucozade and bags of Kettle Chips in the kitchen if you fancy a snack,’ he said, glancing back at me. ‘I thought we could get pizza later when the munchies kick in, ordered online of course.’

  ‘Excellent idea,’ said Archie, sitting down on one of the spare seats. ‘Do take a seat, Lucy.’

  I perched on the edge of one of the chairs and watched as Archie plugged his laptop into a socket in the wall and started messing around with leads and some kind of black box that was flashing in the middle of the desks.

  ‘Archie,’ I said, staring suspiciously at the black box. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’

  ‘Oh,’ he said, looking uncomfortable. ‘Sorry, have you got a spare laptop, Nige? Lucy forgot hers.’

  ‘No probs,’ said Nigel, standing up. ‘It’s an ancient beast I’m afraid, Lucy, and the graphics card is a bit crap, but it’ll do.’

  He sloped out of the room and I heard the sound of heavy footsteps clomping up the stairs.

  ‘Archie,’ I whispered as he suddenly disappeared under his desk. ‘When does the party start?’

  ‘As soon as we’re set up, I should say,’ his muffled voice replied.

  ‘But where’s everyone else? Where’s the DJ? How can we dance with these desks taking up all the room? It’s really dark in here too – don’t you have any disco lights?’

  A deep rumbling laugh drifted up from beneath the desks and there was a loud thump. Archie’s grinning face popped out.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, pushing his straggly hair off his face. ‘I laughed and banged my head.’

  ‘Why?’ I asked, feeling more confused by the second.

  ‘Lucy, do you even know what a LAN party is?’ Geoff snorted.

  ‘Well yes, of course,’ I stuttered. ‘It’s a rave in a field. LAN is short for land. Isn’t it?’

  Archie and Geoff looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  ‘What?’ I said as they continued to roar. ‘What did I say?’

  ‘LAN,’ Geoff said between bursts of hiccupping laughter, ‘stands for Local Area Network.’

  ‘What?’

  Archie’s mouth fell open and he stopped laughing. ‘A LAN party,’ he said slowly, ‘is when people connect their computers so they can play multiplayer games together.’

  ‘I knew that,’ I squeaked. ‘I was just messing with you.’

  Archie and Geoff were still smirking when Nigel strolled back into the room and placed a laptop in front of me. I stared at it, unsure what to say next.

  ‘I could take you back home if you like,’ Archie said gently. ‘You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.’

  I looked from the laptop to my horribly short skirt and totally unsuitable shoes. No wonder the boys had all stared at me as though I’d just beamed down from another planet (which, in a way, I had). So much for being the Queen of Blag.

  ‘Um,’ I said. ‘Um.’

  If I stayed I’d have to spend the next forty-eight hours of my non-life playing computer games and the only one I’d know was one of Dan’s football games. Even then I’d just peered over his shoulder, nagging him to turn it off so we weren’t late for the cinema.

  I looked back at Archie. He looked genuinely worried, as though he was the one responsible for my stupidity. Sod it. There wasn’t really a choice to make, was there?

  ‘I’d love to stay,’ I said, smiling warmly at him. ‘But you’re going to have to teach me how to play the game.’

  ‘Excellent,’ he said, visibly relaxing. ‘While I install the software and connect you to the hub’ – he reached for my laptop – ‘you need to decide what kind of character you want to be in the game we’re going to play. Do you want to be a human, orc, elf or one of the Undead Scourge?’

  ‘Hmmm,’ I said, trying to keep a straight face, ‘I get the feeling I’d be quite good at being undead.’

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sunday 5th May

  Day Nine

  We finally stopped for pizza just after midnight.

  Well, I stopped, Nigel and Geoff kept playing and munched on pepperoni slices between fights. I’m pretty sure Archie wanted to carry on playing too but he took one look at me, surrounded by furniture and scrunched up on the sofa at the other end of the room, and wandered over with a slice of pizza in one hand and the box in the other. He hovered beside me, suddenly self-conscious after a night of open smiles and eye contact.

  ‘Archie, Archibald,’ I said, quickly correcting myself. ‘Sit down, for God’s sake. You’re making the room look messy.’

  I shuffled down the sofa to make space for him, but he still squashed himself up at the opposite end and pulled his knees to his chest. He nibbled at his pizza and stared longingly at Nigel and Geoff who were giving each other high-fives.

  ‘Are you enjoying yourself ?’ he asked. ‘I’d feel terrible if you were having a horrible time.’

  I punched him lightly on the arm. ‘I’m having a wonderful time, Archie. I’d tell you if I wasn’t.’

  He gave me a sly look. ‘You called me Archie.’

  ‘Yes … and?’

  ‘I’ve decided I quite like it when you call me that.’

  I grinned and shifted position, tucking my feet under my bum. My heels were history and I’d swapped my outfit for a faded-blue sweatshirt and a pair of Nigel’s black tracky bums earlier in the evening. I felt much, much more comfortable, if not a bit of a failure in the fashion stakes.

  ‘Does everyone call you Archibald?’ I asked.

  ‘Well yes, everyone at work … and my grandmother.’

  ‘And your girlfriend?’

  Archie choked on his pizza. ‘I don’t have a girlfriend,’ he mumbled, staring at the floor. ‘Unfortunately.’

  Result! So he actually wanted a girlfriend. That was a very good start. You couldn’t find a soulmate for someone who didn’t actually want one.

  ‘Do you know many girls?’ I asked, reaching for another slice of pizza.

  Archie shook his head. ‘I don’t really get chance to meet any. When I’m not at work I’m … er … busy doing things.’

  ‘What kind of things?’

  ‘Just things.’

  ‘Oh for God’s sake, Archie, just tell me. I can’t help you find a girlfriend if you won’t talk to me.’

  Archie raised his eyebrows. ‘You want to help me find a girlfriend?’

  ‘Yeah, why not? I used to be a bit of a matchmaker when I was …’ I caught myself in time. ‘… younger,’ I finished. ‘I used to matchmake a lot of my friends when I was at uni.’

  ‘Were you good at it?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ I lied. ‘Two of the couples got married. They have kids now and everything. Anyway, what are these things that take up so much of your t
ime?’

  Archie licked his lips and his sharp Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. I felt horrible for pushing him when he was so obviously uncomfortable but I had to know what I was up against. If he had some kind of action-packed schedule I’d have to work around it.

  ‘I do jobs for my grandmother,’ he said quietly. ‘It pretty much takes up most of my free time.’

  ‘Is your gran very old?’ I asked sympathetically. The poor woman was obviously infirm.

  ‘She’s just turned seventy-two,’ Archie said.

  That didn’t sound too old. There were plenty of famous people around who were even older than that and still working. Good old Brucie Forsyth was eighty and still pulling dance moves on TV and Honor Blackman was still a total glamour puss. But maybe there was something wrong with Archie’s grandmother?

  ‘Is she ill?’ I asked.

  Archie hugged his knees so tightly to his chest I thought he might snap. There was a sadness in his eyes that made me want to hug him. So he lived with his grandmother. It wasn’t a huge deal, not really. If she was anything like her grandson she’d be short, shy and really quite sweet.

  ‘My grandmother’s actually very healthy,’ Archie said, ‘but she’s only got me. My father was sent to Dubai by his firm four years ago and mother went with him. I was planning on joining them after a couple of weeks, but Grandfather died suddenly and everyone decided I should stay behind and move in with Grandmother.’

  ‘Didn’t you mind?’

  Archie frowned. The look in his eyes had been replaced with an altogether more stoical expression. ‘It was the right thing to do.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘It must have been awful. If it’s any consolation, I know how you feel.’

  ‘Do you?’ he said, looking at me with surprise.

  ‘Not about looking after your grandmother, no, but I lost both of my parents when I was in my early twenties. I know what it feels like to be alone.’

  Now it was Archie’s turn to look distressed. ‘Oh God, Lucy,’ he said. ‘I had no idea.’

  ‘It’s OK,’ I shrugged. ‘Why would you?’

  For a few seconds we said nothing. We just sat there on the sofa and looked at each other, a kind of unspoken mutual understanding filling the silence.

  ‘Oi,’ Nigel shouted, ‘you two! Your characters are getting whipped. You might want to get over here some time today.’

  And the moment popped like an over-inflated balloon.

  *

  The next thing I knew, something light yet scratchy was bouncing off my forehead. I opened an eye and peered across the room. Nigel was throwing Kettle Chips at me.

  ‘Hello, sleepy,’ he laughed.

  ‘What?’ I said, rubbing my eyes and yawning. ‘I was just resting my eyes. I’m re-charged and ready to fight!’

  I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. After Nigel interrupted the chat I’d been having with Archie we returned to our laptops and launched ourselves back into the game. I kept going until 5 a.m. before I decided to return to the sofa and have a Red Bull to recharge my batteries. It obviously hadn’t worked.

  ‘You can go back to sleep if you want to,’ Nigel said between mouthfuls of crisps. ‘We’ve decided to end the marathon early because these two are a couple of lightweights.’

  A heavy-lidded Archie and a yawning Geoff nodded in my direction.

  ‘What time is it?’ I asked.

  ‘Four o’clock in the afternoon.’

  ‘No way!’ I rolled myself upright and stretched. ‘Did my character die?’

  ‘Nah,’ said Nigel, ‘we logged you out when we realised you’d passed out. You came last but you’ve still got then credits. You can use them the next time you play.’

  I picked up a Kettle Chip and lobbed it back at him. ‘Who says I want to play with you lot again?’

  Nigel stuck out his bottom lip and fake-sulked. ‘You don’t?’

  ‘Well, maybe, if you’re nice to me at work.’

  ‘Never going to happen!’ he laughed. ‘In fact, now I’ve got to know you, I’m going to make your working life hell—’

  ‘Lucy,’ Archie interrupted, pushing back his chair and standing up. ‘I’d like to go now, if you don’t mind. I’ve got, um …’

  ‘Things to do?’ I smiled. ‘Give me a sec while I go and get changed.’

  It didn’t take me long to get changed into my own clothes, fold up Nigel’s offerings and place them neatly on top of his bed. After a quick hug goodbye with my surprised-looking hosts (it felt like the right thing to do – our characters had been through so much together, after all), I got into Archie’s car.

  The drive back to the house was quiet, but it was a tired, companionable silence and our little chat the night before had left me feeling I’d definitely made some progress with him. I didn’t want to push for more.

  ‘OK, Lucy,’ Archie said as he pulled up outside my house. ‘You’re home.’

  I stifled a yawn and flashed him a grateful smile. ‘Thanks, Archie. I had a wonderful night.’

  He nodded. ‘Me too.’

  I opened the car door and was just about to step out when I had an idea.

  ‘Archie,’ I said, ducking back into the car, ‘how do you fancy coming speed-dating with me one night next week?’

  ‘What!’ he said, his eyes wide. ‘Oh God, no. That sounds utterly terrifying.’

  ‘It won’t be.’ I patted his arm. ‘I promise.’

  ‘You can’t be serious,’ he said, leaning away and looking at me as though I’d just suggested he join me for a spot of naked bungee jumping off the top of Big Ben. ‘Me … do speed-dating? Lucy, I really don’t think—’

  ‘It’ll be fun,’ I said desperately. ‘You’ll enjoy it. Honestly.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Archie said dubiously, twiddling with his beard and studiously avoiding my pleading gaze.

  ‘Please, Archie,’ I begged. ‘Please say you’ll come. It would mean the world to me.’

  ‘But why?’ he said, looking back at me.

  ‘I need to find my soulmate,’ I said truthfully, Dan’s smiling face flitting through my mind, ‘and going speed-dating with you might just help.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Archie said again. I could almost hear the synapses firing in his brain as he tried to decide what to do.

  ‘Please.’ I gave him my best plaintive look and crossed my fingers behind my back.

  ‘OK,’ he said finally, his frown dissolving into a smile. ‘Seeing as it’s for you.’

  It wasn’t quite the enthusiastic response I’d been hoping for, but just getting him to agree to come with me was a result.

  ‘Are you sure?’ I said. ‘You’re not going to chicken out at the last minute?’

  Archie chuckled. ‘I can’t promise I won’t be nervous but my word is my word, Lucy, and I said I’d go.’

  I held out my hand. ‘Shake on it?’

  Archie squeezed my hand and pumped it up and down.

  ‘There,’ he said. ‘Happy now?’

  ‘I will be. I intend to be very, very happy, Archibald Humphreys-Smythe.’

  I was still smiling as I traipsed up the stairs, collapsed onto my bed and reached for my photo of Dan.

  ‘Hi,’ I said, stroking his cheek. ‘Did you miss me?’

  Yes, Lucy, I replied in my head. I really, really miss you.

  ‘I miss you too,’ I said. ‘More than you can ever imagine.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘Things are going really well. Archie’s a lovely bloke and he’s going to let me help him find a girlfriend. How good is that?’

  Photo Dan just kept smiling.

  ‘I’ll find him someone in no time, Dan.’ I kissed him softly on the mouth. ‘And then we’ll be together again. Just you wait.’

  Chapter Twenty

  Monday 6th May

  Day Ten

  I counted the days on my fingers. One … two … three … I’d tumbled into the House of Wannabe Ghosts on Saturday 27th April, which meant I’d been back on earth for … I sm
acked straight into a lamp post and apologised profusely … ten days. TEN DAYS?!

  How had that happened? How could I be on day ten already? I only had twenty-one days to complete my task and I was nearly halfway through. OK, so I knew a bit more about Archie and he’d agreed to go to a speed-dating event with me, but still … talk about cutting it fine.

  Monday, I thought, yanking open the door to Computer Bitz; Jess and Anna said they’d meet up for drinks every Monday night. My stomach lurched. If I was going to see them again I’d have to return to the White Horse. What if Keith Krank was there?

  ‘Morning, Lucy.’ Archie positively beamed at me as I stepped into the office.

  ‘Morning,’ I said, returning his grin and weaving through the room to my desk.

  ‘Miss Lucy Brown.’ Nigel greeted me like a long-lost friend as I sat down. ‘How the hell are you?’

  ‘Very well thank you, Nigel.’

  Geoff looked up. ‘Nnngh.’ Even his grunt was more cheerful than normal.

  ‘Morning, Geoff.’

  I grinned at my colleagues and felt my spirits rise. Maybe I could complete my task after all. There were at least three people in the world who didn’t think I was a sad loser.

  The day passed in a flash and by the time five-thirty rolled around I was fidgeting in my seat, desperate to get to the White Horse. My phone rang, just as I was packing up my stuff.

  ‘Hello?’ I said, thinking someone must have the wrong number. No one had rung me on my work phone before.

  ‘Lucy?’ said the voice on the other end of the line.

  ‘Speaking.’

  ‘It’s Brian.’

  ‘Brian!’ I said, flustered. ‘How did you get this number?’

  ‘I rang directory enquiries and they put me through to a guy called Graham Wellington who put me through to you.’

  Oh God, I hoped Brian hadn’t said anything weird to him.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked. ‘Has something happened?’

  He laughed. ‘No, no, I just wondered what you’d like for dinner.’

  Dinner? Since when had we started cooking for each other? Since I’d arrived at the House of Wannabe Ghosts my nightly diet had become a never-ending cycle of pasta and pesto with grated cheese or baked beans on toast.