Mr Vega shook his head, as if trying to bring himself back to reality. ‘Right, of course. Girls, your grandparents are in the dining room. We’re about ready to eat.’
‘Aren’t you coming?’ Olivia asked, but her bio-dad had stopped paying attention because, at that instant, the doorbell rang. ‘I’ll get it.’ Olivia scurried over to the door. She didn’t know they were expecting guests.
On the other side of the threshold stood Lillian, looking a little more prim than usual. She wore a black pencil skirt and matching cardigan, with a deep purple silk scarf tied around her neck. ‘Wow,’ said Olivia, breathless. ‘You look fabulous!’ She welcomed Lillian inside. ‘What’s the occasion?’ Then she understood. The Lazars were here – her bio-dad’s parents – and Lillian had never met them. Olivia let out an excited squeal. Lillian was meeting the parents!
The Lazars appeared from the dining room to stand beside Charles. Olivia took Lillian’s purse, thinking that perhaps Lillian looked a bit shakier than usual as she entered the Vega household.
‘Hello, Countess Lazar.’ Lillian curtseyed. ‘Nice to meet you, Count Lazar.’ She gave a second curtsy. She was doing all the right things. Even Ivy looked pleased. But Lillian wasn’t done.
‘I have something for you.’ For the finishing touch, Lillian pulled out a beautiful gold frame from her purse. The Countess gasped and Olivia and Ivy hurried to see what Lillian had given their grandparents. Inside the frame was a picture of Ivy, Olivia, and their father, Charles, dressed up in their red-carpet best for the Bright Stars awards show.
‘It’s perfect!’ their grandmother exclaimed, reaching to give Lillian a hug.
Mr Vega kissed Lillian on the cheek and took her hand.
The Countess cupped her hand around her mouth as if telling Lillian a secret, but she didn’t lower her volume. ‘My son has always had excellent taste in companions.’
Olivia and Ivy shared a glance. That was great news for Lillian. But did it also mean their grandmother was beginning to accept that their dad had been right to marry their mother?
Olivia stretched out on top of the purple comforter in Ivy’s bedroom, resting her hand on her full belly. ‘Don’t get me wrong,’ she said. ‘I love having our grandparents here, but if Horatio keeps making his three-course feasts for every meal, I’m going to float away like a blimp!’
‘No kidding.’
The twins had left the grown-ups downstairs, flipping through an old photo album. They loved their father, but they didn’t need to see any more of his baby pictures. That was something only a girlfriend could enjoy.
Ivy took a seat on her closed coffin and fired up her laptop.
Olivia turned on her side, bending a pillow in half to prop up her head. ‘Ivy? I’m worried about Jackson.’
Ivy hardly glanced up.
‘It’s just that I keep trying to catch up with him, but he’s always busy or sleepy – stupid time differences. The last time I had a real conversation with him . . . well . . .’ Olivia felt the familiar knot form in her stomach. ‘I heard a knock at the door and someone came in saying, “A dozen red roses for Mr Jackson Caulfield.”’
‘What?’ Ivy was typing furiously on her keyboard.
‘Come on!’ Olivia tossed her pillow at Ivy. ‘You’re not even listening.’
‘Huh?’ Ivy looked up briefly from the screen.
Olivia eyed her sister. Ivy had tilted the screen so that Olivia couldn’t see what was on it. Come to think of it, that was exactly what Olivia did when she was online-shopping.
‘Hey! Are you on the VVV?’ The Vorld Vide Veb was the vampire version of the Internet. Olivia jumped up to sit next to her sister. ‘I want to look!’ If there was shopping to be done, Olivia wanted to join in.
But as soon as she sat down, Ivy hit the sleep button on the computer and the screen went blank. She flipped the laptop closed and pushed it underneath her pillow. ‘I’m all ears!’ Ivy told Olivia. She pulled the sides of her ears out from her head. ‘Plus, they’re super vampy ears, so I can listen extra well!’
Olivia gave a one note laugh. What can Ivy have been looking at online? She never puts her laptop underneath her pillow.
‘Fine.’ Olivia didn’t feel like obsessing about Jackson any more, anyway. ‘There’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you and I don’t think you’re going to like it.’
Ivy stopped chipping at her black nail polish. ‘What’s that?’
‘So, I was checking out Charlotte’s yearbook footage and, well, you sort of make a cameo.’ Olivia crossed her legs on top of Ivy’s coffin.
‘A goth in the yearbook film? Wow.’ Ivy frowned, seemingly impressed.
‘It’s not really like that. See, she sort of caught you in the background in Mister Smoothie when you broke that glass. It’s a little vampalicious, if you know what I mean.’
‘What?’ Ivy jumped up. ‘She saw me?’