‘Wanderer? I’ve heard about that movie!’ Olivia grabbed the coffin edge in her excitement – then let go. Too weird! Backing away from the coffin, she continued: ‘Mr Harker asked Jackson if he wanted to act in it.’
‘Really?’ Lillian seemed to ponder that for a moment. ‘Well, Jackson would be excellent as the main character’s son. Is he going to do it?’
‘I don’t know,’ Olivia said, ‘but that’s not important. What matters right now is, why are you not doing it?’
Lillian sighed, shifting her head against her crimson cushion. ‘It turns out that it wouldn’t be easy at all to fly back and forth from the shoot to Franklin Grove. It’s a post-apocalyptic movie, set largely in the desert. That means location work, mostly in Africa.’
‘Oh.’ Frowning, Olivia nibbled on her lower lip. ‘OK, so you wouldn’t be coming back every weekend. But it’s one shoot – four or five months at the most, right? So . . . if the director wants to help you make your own movie afterwards, it might be worth it.’
Lillian sighed again and closed her eyes. This time, Olivia had to look away. Lying inside the coffin with her eyes shut, Olivia’s stepmom looked achingly beautiful and ethereal, but also quite . . . dead. Olivia swallowed hard. This is the hardest part of vampire culture to deal with!
When Lillian spoke again, though, her words startled Olivia out of her discomfort. ‘It is just one movie shoot,’ Lillian said, ‘but Harker wants to film all three movies back-to-back . . . over a period of eighteen months.’
Olivia gasped. Eighteen months? Taking that job really would mean Lillian effectively moving away!
‘Of course I can’t do it,’ Lillian said. ‘I couldn’t bear to spend that long away from my new family – and I would never want Charles to have to relocate Ivy and separate you two girls again.’
‘Nooo . . .’ Olivia trailed the word out unhappily.
‘Olivia?’ Ivy’s voice called up from downstairs. ‘I’ve destroyed my sweet potato, like, five times while waiting. Do you need help looking for my phone?’
‘No, I’m fine,’ Olivia called back. ‘I’ll be right down.’
She bit her lip, turning back to her stepmom. The thought of losing Ivy for a year and a half was unbearable, but it was so unfair that Lillian’s ambitions couldn’t match up with her new life in Franklin Grove!
Lillian suddenly sat up in the coffin, reaching out for Olivia. Olivia had to look away sharply. This is way too much of a horror movie moment!
Her stepmom’s touch was gentle, though, as she took Olivia’s hand. ‘I promise,’ Lillian said, ‘that it’s not Franklin Grove making me unhappy.
I can’t tell you how happy I am being married to Charles – and how thrilled I am that I get to be stepmother to the two coolest teenagers I’ve ever known.’ Olivia squeezed her stepmom’s hand, feeling the gentle sting of tears in her eyes. ‘We’re really thrilled about that, too,’ she said.
Lillian’s expression turned wistful. ‘I just wish I could be creative here, that’s all. That’s the only reason I even considered taking the Wanderer job – because there’s not much creative outlet in Franklin Grove.’
Olivia gave a hiccupy laugh. ‘I’ve heard that before,’ she said, ‘from Camilla.’
Her friend had always said that Franklin Grove wasn’t cinematic. In fact, Camilla would probably tell Lillian that herself, if she ever worked up the nerve to speak to her. Maybe at the exhibit on Saturday . . .
That’s it!
Too excited to be creeped out, Olivia reached right into the coffin to give her stepmom a big hug.
‘Whoa! What was that for?’ Lillian asked, laughing.
Olivia grinned with delight as she bounced back up and headed for the door. ‘I can’t explain right now, but I’m getting an idea!’
‘What kind of idea?’ Lillian called after her.
But Olivia was already hurrying out of the room. ‘If it’s a good one,’ she called back over her shoulder, ‘you’ll find out all about it . . . on Saturday!’
Chapter Nine
Ivy felt Brendan’s hand tighten around hers as the Lincoln Vale mall rose before them, glass-walled and impressive.
Ivy pointed at Maya, standing just by the entrance. ‘There she is.’
‘Come on,’ said Maya, hurrying towards them. ‘Let’s not go inside. There’s someone I want you to meet.’
Ivy and Brendan followed her down the street to a small, family-style diner half a block away. The décor was quiet, cosy and completely unsuited to the glamorous woman who sat at a table near the back. Her long black hair rippled down the back of her stylish black trouser suit, an elegant gold choker surrounded her slim neck . . . and even with contact lenses disguising her real eye colour, her resemblance to Maya was unmistakable.
She might look just the right age to have a daughter in high school, but she had to be at least one hundred years old . . . and she was Brendan’s aunt.
‘Oh!’ She gasped, raising one hand to her throat as she rose to greet them. Her gaze went straight to Brendan. ‘Are you really my nephew?’
‘This is Brendan, Mom,’ Maya said.
‘I can’t believe it!’ Carla wrapped her arms around him. ‘It is so amazing to finally meet you!’
Brendan patted her back awkwardly. ‘Um . . . you, too.’
Carla’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she pulled him down to sit with her at the table. ‘This is awful,’ she said. ‘I don’t know anything about you – what you like, what you don’t . . .’ She swiped at her eyes and smiled brilliantly. ‘But I promise: if you write out a list, I will buy you gifts for every missed birthday and Christmas!’