“All right! Enough about me!” Ivy put her hands in the air. “I have some questions, too.”
“Ask us anything,” Olivia’s mom challenged.
“What about Olivia’s adoption?” Ivy asked eagerly.
Maybe Ivy will find out something I haven’t been able to! Olivia thought.
“It was the happiest day of our lives,” Olivia’s dad said proudly.
“Did the agency tell you anything about our biological parents?” Ivy probed.
“No.” Olivia’s mom shrugged. “All they knew was what was written on the note that accompanied the baby: Olivia’s name and her date of birth.” A strange expression flickered briefly across Ivy’s eyes.
“Must be just like the note in your own file,” Olivia’s mom guessed.
Ivy shook her head. “I don’t have a note. I don’t even have a file!”
Mrs. Abbott’s face flushed with sympathy, and before Olivia knew it, her mom was rushing around the table to give Ivy a hug. To Olivia’s surprise, Ivy didn’t stiffen. In fact, she actually seemed comforted by it. Of course, Olivia’s mom was a master of the art of hugging.
“I feel like I have a whole new daughter,” Olivia’s mom declared proudly as she began clearing the table a little while later. She beamed at Ivy. “I can’t wait to see more of Olivia’s other half.”
Olivia watched for Ivy’s reaction, half expecting her sister to look like a deer caught in headlights. Olivia loved her parents, but they could be super overbearing sometimes.
Ivy looked genuinely touched though. “That sounds killer.” She grinned.
The next thing Olivia knew, her father had a mountain of photo albums in his arms.
“Please, no,” Olivia whined. “Ivy doesn’t want to see pictures. Do you, Ivy?”
“Wait until you see Olivia dressed as a green kangaroo in her kindergarten play. She was so cute!” her mom squealed.
“As a matter of fact,” said Ivy, shooting Olivia a devilish grin as she followed Mr. Abbott into the living room, “I would like to see that.”
Three photo albums and hundreds of embarrassing photos later, Olivia was pretty much at the end of her rope. To her relief, a car horn sounded outside.
Olivia leaped to her feet and looked out the living room window. “Ivy’s dad’s here,” she said. “Time to go!”
“Aw,” Ivy teased from where she was sandwiched between Olivia’s parents on the couch. “But we’re just getting started.”
“Here’s Olivia with spaghetti in her hair,” her mom said.
“Sorry,” Olivia said firmly, pulling her sister to her feet. “Show’s over.”
Ivy grinned. “Thank you so much for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Abbott,” she said.
“Call me Steve,” Olivia’s father said.
“And I’m Audrey,” said Olivia’s mother. “Why don’t you invite your father in for a cup of coffee, Ivy?”
“I can’t tonight,” Ivy said apologetically. “I still have some homework to finish.”
“Well,” Olivia’s mom said, “tell him we can’t wait to meet him.”
Olivia walked Ivy to the door.
“That wasn’t bad at all,” Ivy said in a low voice as she slipped into her jacket.
“You don’t think so?” Olivia demanded. “Okay, next time we’ll look at pictures of you drooling and wearing embarrassing clothes!”