Jessica and Charlotte appeared in the open doorway, smiling brightly.
‘What are you all doing, hiding back here?’ Jessica said, her eyes flashing when she saw Ivy.
Charlotte piped up from behind. ‘Is this girl bothering you?’
Harker didn’t reply and the suits were tight-lipped. But Jessica was not about to take the hint.
Ivy realised she had the perfect opportunity to annoy Jessica. ‘Actually,’ she said to the group. ‘I’d love to take the role.’
‘Dude,’ said Harker appreciatively. The suits offered a smattering of applause.
Jessica looked like her head was going to spin around in a full circle. ‘What role?’ she asked through gritted teeth.
‘Now, now, Jessica,’ Ivy replied. ‘That would be a secret!’
‘That’s my girl,’ said Harker, popping another dumpling in his mouth.
Jessica opened her mouth, then closed it. ‘Well, I hope you break a leg,’ she said with sickly sweet venom, and then flounced away, Charlotte trailing behind.
‘There is nowhere I’d rather be than with you,’ Jackson said into Olivia’s ear, ‘but I think Amy will kill me if I hide in this corner for the whole party.’
Olivia smiled. She didn’t mind doing a circuit of the room on Jackson’s arm.
As they stepped out from behind the coloured glass, Olivia caught sight of her parents chatting to another couple near the ice sculpture of Jessica and Jackson. She steered Jackson in that direction.
‘Who are my parents talking to?’ Olivia wanted to know.
‘That’s the third wife of the studio’s financial guy,’ Jackson whispered as they approached.
The woman barely looked older than Camilla’s college-age sister and was wearing the largest diamond necklace Olivia had ever seen. ‘And he’s the financial guy,’ Jackson added. A short, balding man was ranting about accountants.
‘And I just can’t tell you the headache that clause 6.83 has caused us . . .’ He mopped his sweaty forehead with a linen handkerchief.
Mrs Abbott was smiling politely, but Olivia’s dad was pondering a silk screen of birds flying over a river.
The moment they joined the group, Mrs Abbott interrupted. ‘Oh, Olivia, sweetheart. Have you met George and Katrina?’
Katrina looked bored out of her mind.
‘Lovely to meet you,’ Olivia said to the bald man and his wife.
‘Olivia is my daughter,’ Mrs Abbott said, pulling Olivia in for a side-hug. ‘She was in the movie!’
‘Uh, well done,’ said George, uncomfortably. Olivia wondered if he’d even watched it. ‘I should go and find Edgar.’
Once the couple had disappeared into the crowd, Mr Abbott said, ‘I’m so glad you came over then. Like a babbling brook, that man.’
‘Behave,’ Mrs Abbott said, swatting his arm. ‘Now, Jackson, is this the first time you’ve been carved into a block of ice?’
Olivia noticed that the ice-Jackson’s nose was dripping, but it did really look like him.
‘It is,’ Jackson replied, ‘but apparently in two weeks, I’m going to be even bigger than that.’
‘Mount Rushmore?’ Mr Abbott asked, joking.
‘Actually, a balloon float just outside the Bright Stars awards show,’ Jackson replied. ‘I’m hosting.’
‘Hosting!’ Olivia couldn’t believe it. The Bright Stars? She had watched the whole two-hour show for the past three years running. It featured all the most glamorous and popular young celebrities – musicians, sports people and actors, as voted for by the public. She had even voted for Jackson once or twice. Or maybe more than that.