This might be the only chance I ever have to try to talk him out of it, thought Olivia. “I’ve already been through quite a lot of change lately,” she tried. “I just found a twin sister I never knew I had. Besides, I’ve got great friends here, I’m on the school paper and... and...I just started dating this really cool guy...”
“I know, sweetheart,” Mr. Vega said.
“Anyway, I bet there are lots of great new job opportunities for you right here in Franklin Grove,” Olivia went on.
Her father nodded distractedly, but to Olivia’s disappointment, he didn’t respond. After a moment, he lifted his chin toward her and cleared his throat. “Tell me about Olivia. How is she doing in school?”
Olivia was caught completely off guard. She’d never thought her father was at all interested in her. “Um,” she began. “I think she does well. I think she might get straight As on her report card—as long as everything went okay with her algebra exam.”
Her father smiled. “Good,” he said. “That’s good. And does she have many friends?”
“Well, you know,” Olivia said, picking up steam, “she only just moved to Franklin Grove in September, so she’s still getting to know people.” She thought of Camilla. “She’s really close to Camilla Edmunson, this girl who’s really smart and into sci-fi books.”
Her father nodded approvingly.
“And she hangs out a lot with Sophia and Brendan,” she added. “But I’m, like, totally her best friend.” Olivia stopped herself. She was getting confused talking about herself this way. Plus I just sounded like a cheerleader instead of a Goth, she thought, scanning her father’s face to see if he’d noticed.
“And Olivia’s a really good cheerleader,” she couldn’t resist adding.
“She is a remarkable young person,” Mr. Vega said tenderly. “I am sincerely glad we got to meet and know her.”
Olivia felt like her father’s compliment had raised her into the air, so that she stood for a moment, perfectly balanced and triumphant in his palm. He accepts me, she thought. He cares about me and who I am. If he leaves, at least I know that.
“I know how painful”—his voice became hoarse, like he was going to cry—“it will be for you to leave her,” he said. He touched his eyes briefly.When he spoke again, his voice was steady. “But moving to Europe is something that I have to do. I hope that one day you can forgive me.” He reached into his pocket and held out what looked like a candy cane. “A peace offering,” he said hopefully.
With a small, grateful smile, Olivia accepted his offering. Funnily enough, candy canes were her favorite. He reached his arm around her and gave her a hug. She closed her eyes and buried her face in his shoulder for a moment, trying to savor the feeling.
Then she began peeling the wrapper off the candy cane.
“Bloody canes have always been your favorite,” her father said.
Olivia’s fingers froze. “On second thought, I’ll save it for later,” she gulped, slipping the candy into the pocket of Ivy’s black jeans. “Because it’s such a special treat.”
After they’d hung the Christmas Bites, Olivia and her father squeezed in next to each other on the top rung of the ladder. In his hands, he held a dark gray box. He opened it, and took out a sleek black velvet bat the size of an eagle.
“Our Holiday Bat,” he announced.
The bat’s wings unfurled. Olivia took one wing in her hand, while her father held the other. And, together, they reached out and placed it at the top of the tree.
Chapter 7
“That was delicious, Mom,” Ivy said, as she helped Mrs. Abbott clear the table after dinner. Ivy didn’t usually eat tofu steaks, but Olivia’s mom had made them with a red wine reduction sauce that tasted surprisingly like blood.
“Thanks, honey,” Mrs. Abbott said appreciatively. Just then, the doorbell rang. Mrs. Abbott slipped off her apron and went to answer it.
Maybe that’s Olivia, thought Ivy nervously. What if Dad caught her trying to pass herself off as me?
She heard Mrs. Abbott open the front door, followed by a chorus of high-pitched noises—it sounded like a flock of giant birds from an old horror movie.
Ivy crept down the hall and poked her head around the corner. Two little human girls wearing tutus and tiaras were chasing each other around Mrs. Abbott’s legs, screaming their heads off. In the open door stood a woman who must have been their mother.
Ivy whipped her head back before anyone saw her. She swallowed hard. Baby bunnies! she thought.
“We really appreciate you and Olivia watching the girls,” the woman at the door was saying.
“Of course. Go have a great time with Jeff,” Ivy overheard Mrs. Abbott reply.
The kids are staying!? Ivy realized. She would rather have been buried alive. Nothing could be more dangerous and strange than a tiny human, let alone two of them!
“Olivia!” Audrey called. “Casey and Stacey are here!”
Ivy took a deep breath and forced herself to put one bobby sock-clad foot in front of the other. She made her way down the hall and stood frozen in the living room doorway. In front of the fireplace, Olivia’s father was wound up in a jump rope, one little girl pulling on each end.
“Not so tight,” he said, “or I’ll have to use my li ching on you.” He tried to laugh, but he was clearly helpless.
“Here’s Olivia,” Audrey said when she saw Ivy.
The girls dropped the jump rope handles and started leaping up and down. Their shrieking took on a new intensity. “OLIIIIIVIAAAAAA! OLIIIIIVIAAAAAA!”