‘Sure thing,’ Olivia agreed, before turning to hurry up the sloping sidewalk, towards the top of the hill and the cul-de-sac where Ivy’s house was located. When she looked back over her shoulder, Holly was still standing in the same spot, watching her. Olivia waved uncertainly. New girl in town. She’s probably just bored and lonely, she thought, watching the girl finally scurry off.
She rang Mr Vega’s doorbell. A snippet from Mozart’s Requiem boomed from a pipe organ inside. Vampires and their classical music, thought Olivia. So old school!
The heavy gothic door swung open and Charles popped his head out. ‘Hello, Olivia.’ His usually coiffed hair poked in all directions and his midnight-blue shirt was uncharacteristically rumpled. Did his iron break or something? Olivia’s bio-dad looked like he hadn’t slept in his coffin for days.
‘Dad!’ Olivia made a show of scanning him from head to toe. ‘What on earth are you researching? You look . . . well . . . you don’t look your usual suave self!’ Normally Charles was one of the most stylish men she knew. He could walk straight on to the cover of a men’s fashion magazine, but now? Not so much.
He motioned her in and Olivia saw that the dining-room table was completely covered in loose sheets of paper. ‘Never mind that,’ he said quickly. ‘Can you find out about Australian wildlife and the threats they pose to trav–’
Olivia slapped her hands to her cheeks. ‘Oh . . . my . . . goodness . . .’ A thought had dawned in her head. She pointed at him, grinning from ear to ear.
‘No, no, no.’ He pulled his fingers through his hair. ‘It’s not what you –’
Too late! ‘You were going to say “travellers”, weren’t you?’ Olivia’s eyes narrowed. ‘And why would you be thinking of going to Australia and New Zealand unless . . . unless . . . Could it be that you’re planning . . . a honeymoon?!’ Olivia jumped up and down squealing.
‘Shhh, shhhhh,’ Charles gestured with his hands as if to tell Olivia to take it down a notch, but she couldn’t help it and, besides, it wasn’t like anyone was listening.
Olivia wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. ‘I’m so happy! You’re marrying Lillian!’
Lillian was a sophisticated vampire whom Charles had met when Olivia first walked the red carpet with Jackson. Not only was Lillian gracious and kind, she also had the most to-die-for accessories on the planet. Romance plus a killer wardrobe – swoon! Olivia pressed her lips together and flattened a palm over her heart.
If Charles had been capable of blushing, Olivia thought he would have been pinker than her cotton-candy lipgloss. ‘I haven’t asked her yet,’ he told Olivia. ‘So it’s not guaranteed.’
Olivia tilted her head to the side and folded her arms across her chest. ‘I can’t imagine why she would ever say no. You guys are totally in love. Have you told Ivy yet?’
‘No.’ Charles slid his hands in pockets.’ I was sort of waiting for the right time to tell you two. But someone –’ his eyebrows shot up – ‘decided to become an amateur sleuth all of a sudden.’ Olivia grinned sheepishly. ‘I want to make sure I have the perfect wedding and honeymoon lined up before popping the question.’
Judging by the amount of running around we’ve done the past few days, I’m sure it’ll be just that, Olivia thought, but . . . ‘There’s one thing that makes me . . . well . . .’ Her brow furrowed as she tried to decide on the right way to phrase what she had to say. ‘No, no, it’s nothing.’ She shook her head. She shouldn’t have said anything.
Charles’s face fell. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’
‘Um, well, perhaps,’ she began to point out, trying to be extra gentle, ‘perhaps Lillian might like to have some involvement in planning her own wedding?’ She didn’t want to hurt her bio-dad’s feelings, but sometimes men didn’t quite grasp the importance of white veils, hundreds of lilies and the right bride-and-groom cake-toppers. ‘It is every girl’s dream, after all,’ she finished.
Charles breathed a sigh of relief. ‘For a moment there, I thought it was going to be something really bad.’ He rested his hand on her shoulder. ‘Don’t worry. Nothing is going to be booked until I’ve checked it with Lillian and I’m leaving the finer details all down to her judgment. For now, I just want to look into venues. Take the initiative. Carpe diem!’
Olivia mentally cringed. Sometimes Charles and her adoptive dad weren’t so different – they were both equally embarrassing with their love of Latin phrases and self-improvement. ‘So what do you think?’ he continued. ‘Are you still in? Can you look up how long it would take to sail on a barge down the Nile?’
‘A barge down the Nile!’ Olivia’s jaw dropped open. ‘Lillian is going to die! But in a good way,’ she corrected herself before she could freak out her bio-dad even more.
‘Not for many, many more centuries. She is a vampire, remember.’ Charles returned to the study while Olivia cleared a spot at the table, swooshing her finger across the computer’s keypad to bring it to life.
Olivia typed ‘barge trip down Nile’ into the search engine and clicked ‘Enter’. This is going to be the wedding of the decade, she thought. But then she remembered that she had just returned from the vampire royal wedding in Transylvania, and that too had been fabulous. I guess there’s no reason why they can’t both be utterly awe-inspiring affairs. It did seem to be the vampire way.
Olivia scrolled through the list of websites. Uh-oh. Something popped into her head. Who will I go to the wedding with? Ivy had Brendan and, until recently, she would have had Jackson. Do not think about Jackson, Olivia commanded herself. Under no circumstances should she be dwelling on the J-word. Our split was friendly. Neither of us got hurt. It’s for the best and that is that. Olivia set her mouth in a line and jotted down a list of phone numbers for Charles to try in the morning.
By the time Olivia had left Ivy’s house, the sun had dropped in the sky and was washing the clouds in soft pinks, yellows and oranges. Not a bad colour palette for a wedding, thought Olivia, wishing she had her camera.
She fished a pair of sunglasses from her tote bag. Her eyes were a little sore after so many hours staring at a computer screen. Not that she minded. Knowing exactly what Charles was up to actually made the research fun! She yawned, covering her mouth with her the back of her hand. She was wiped! It was only 6 o’clock and already she couldn’t wait to collapse into bed.
‘Olivia!’ She heard someone calling her name. She span around and there was Brendan, Ivy’s boyfriend. Olivia remembered when Ivy had been too nervous even to say ‘hello’ to the dreamy vampire boy with the long hair and chiselled chin, but now Brendan was totally in love with her sister.
‘Hey, Brendan!’ She waved. He crossed the street at super-speed, checking to make sure no one was around. Vampires! Always using their super powers even for the simplest things, thought Olivia, smiling to herself.
‘Talk to Ivy today?’ Brendan asked, chewing on a snack bar that looked a lot like chocolate.
‘Yeah.’ Olivia walked alongside him, past the intersection of Undertaker Hill and Cemetery Lane. ‘But only for a minute. She had to run to dinner. Those time differences are killing us! What is that?’ She poked at the bar.
Brendan held up the wrapper for her to see. ‘It’s a Taurus Bar. For energy.’ He took another bite. ‘There was a stand giving them away in the mall. Want some?’