When they were standing on the front step, she finally let herself lean into his shoulder. ‘Olivia and I have never fallen out over another friend before,’ she whispered.
‘I know,’ Brendan said. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. ‘But it’ll be OK. You love her. She loves you. You’ll get past it.’
‘I hope so,’ Ivy said, closing her eyes. ‘Because this feels miserable.’
Chapter Four
That evening, Olivia sat next to Ivy at the dinner table, across from Charles and Lillian, with a dozen different trays of food between them. The two girls sat only a few centimetres apart. So why does it feel as though there’s a mile between us ? Olivia thought.
The room was shining clean, and now that everything had calmed down around the house, it seemed like the perfect time to talk to the vampire grown-ups about the mysterious blogger . . . if they could get a word in edgeways. And that wouldn’t happen unless Ivy helped her out.
Ivy hadn’t spoken a word to her in hours. By contrast, their bio-dad wouldn’t stop talking.
‘Now, don’t forget to try the roasted red pepper in miniature taco shells,’ Charles urged, pushing one of the trays forwards. In the entire year she’d known him, Olivia had never heard him talk so quickly. The combination of excitement and nerves was making her bio-dad as hyper as a honeybee. Lillian sat at his side, quietly nodding and murmuring encouraging words. She’s a saint ! Olivia thought. A living, breathing saint.
‘Olivia, I know you can’t have this one,’ he continued, ‘but Ivy, you must tell me what you think of the steak tartare! Then there are the blood-orange cocktails and the sugared almonds and . . .’
Olivia bit back a sigh as her dad continued. It was going to be a real challenge to get Charles’s mind off the wedding and on to the blogger. She glanced at Ivy, trying to see if her twin was thinking the same thing, but Ivy’s dark hair fell around her eyes.
It had taken a long time to get the house sparkling again after the party, but in the process of hard physical cleaning, Olivia had finally worked off most of her frustration. Yes, she still wished Ivy had handled the situation at the baking party differently, but . . . It wasn’t all Ivy’s fault. She could see that now. She really wanted to make up with her twin.
‘Is everything all right?’ Their dad’s voice punctured the silence. Even he had finally picked up on the tension in the room. He looked between them, frowning. Lillian watched them both carefully, her eyes darting from Olivia’s face to Ivy’s. Olivia felt herself starting to blush. ‘I know there are a lot of changes coming up for all of us, but I promise I’ll still be your dad after the wedding. You don’t have to worry about that.’
‘It’s OK,’ Olivia said quietly. ‘That’s not it.’
‘No, it isn’t, is it?’ Lillian asked.
Ivy shrugged silently.
Charles looked at his fiancée, then back at the girls. ‘Oh, I get it. Would it help if you two were more involved in the wedding planning? Maybe –’ his face lit up – ‘you girls could write the names on the name plates for the table plans! That would make you feel better, wouldn’t it?’
‘Oh, Charles.’ Lillian put one hand on his arm, shaking her head. ‘Can’t you see that the wedding is the last thing on the girls’ minds?’
‘What do you mean?’ Charles blinked.
‘How about, instead, we think about something more . . . hey! Check that out!’ Leaning forwards, Lillian pointed out the window in an obvious attempt at distraction. ‘Look at the clothes on that couple! How ridiculous!’
Olivia looked in the direction Lillian was pointing – and nearly choked as she saw the outrageously dressed elderly couple walking slowly up the hill towards Ivy’s house. ‘What are they wearing?’ They were the image of an over-the-top elderly couple on vacation – except that Franklin Grove hardly ever had appropriate weather for checked shorts, flowered shirts and sandals. One of them was wearing the most enormous sunglasses Olivia had ever seen. What on earth were they doing in Franklin Grove?
‘Are they for real?’ Ivy spluttered. ‘Or do you think they got lost? Maybe they think they’re still somewhere in Florida.’
Olivia laughed, loving that even Ivy couldn’t keep up an Ice Queen act in the face of such a hilarious vision!
‘It’s almost as if they’re trying to draw attention to themselves,’ Lillian murmured.
Then Olivia stopped laughing as the couple turned up the path to Ivy’s house, followed by another strangely dressed man.
‘Wait a minute,’ Ivy said, stiffening beside her. ‘Isn’t that . . .’
‘Horatio!’ Olivia breathed. She’d recognise the man’s height and formal stance anywhere. It was the Lazar family’s butler, which meant . . .
Charles actually rubbed his eyes once, then twice, as if to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. ‘Are those my parents?’
Olivia couldn’t believe it, but he was right. The ludicrously dressed old couple were her grandparents, the Count and Countess Lazar!
The whole family rushed to let them in.
‘Darlings!’ The Countess opened her arms to her granddaughters as she stepped inside, somehow managing to look regal even in checked shorts. Olivia and Ivy both wrapped their arms round her and, for the first time in hours, their gazes met. It was only a brief, accidental glance, but Olivia felt just as warmed by her sister’s softened expression as by her grandmother’s arms.