When the smoothie arrived, her dad paid, picked up the bright pink and yellow cups and stepped tight-lipped over to the table where Olivia was waiting. Ivy could see his hands shaking.
‘I should have warned you,’ Olivia said, trying to keep the smile off her face as her dad placed her drink down on the bright orange table. ‘There are a few smoothies to avoid if you aren’t into spontaneous group singing.’
‘Hmm,’ Mr Vega replied, sliding into the booth across from the twins. ‘I’m all for trying new things, but spontaneous group singing isn’t one of them.’
‘Thank the darkness,’ Ivy breathed.
Olivia was really happy her biological dad was going out of his way to get to know her. He already knew a lot about Ivy – she lived with him, after all. It was only a couple of weeks ago, just before Christmas, when Olivia found out he was her and Ivy’s real dad.
She took a big slurp of her smoothie and then started coughing and spluttering. She tried to compose herself but Mr Vega had already noticed.
His face fell. ‘Is that not . . . did I get it wrong?’
Should I tell him? Olivia wondered. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but at the same time, she didn’t want to have to force down the whole mushy, sticky drink. ‘I’m not a big fan of bananas,’ Olivia confessed.
Mr Vega groaned. ‘I apologise, Olivia. How about we switch?’
Olivia nodded, gratefully. The Twist and Shout was one of her favourites – especially because of the dancing.
‘This simply demonstrates my point,’ Mr Vega went on, ‘that I must spend more time getting to know you. Which I intend to do as soon as I get back.’
Ivy looked up from her drink. ‘Get back from where?’
‘Another reason I wanted to see you both together is to say that, since we are no longer moving to Europe –’
‘Woohoo!’ Ivy and Olivia said in unison. Just last week, the twins had been forced to try every trick in the book to avert disaster and convince Mr Vega not to leave Franklin Grove.
‘There are some urgent things I must take care of,’ he continued. ‘I have already spoken with your mother, Olivia.’ He was talking about Mrs Abbott, her adopted mom. Neither of the girls could remember their biological mother. ‘She has agreed to let Ivy stay with you for the next few nights.’
Olivia looked at her twin. ‘Sleepover!’ she squealed, causing the couple in the next booth to stare at them.
Ivy grinned. The smoothie had turned her teeth red. ‘I’ve been wanting to repaint my nails.’ Ivy held up her hand to reveal chipped silver nail polish. ‘But what’s the trip, Dad?’
Mr Vega waved a hand dismissively, revealing his cuff link shaped like a miniature coffin. ‘It is just some business I must attend to without delay.’
‘Where are you going?’ Olivia persisted. We’ve barely had one smoothie together and already he’s leaving! she thought.
‘Uh, Dallas has a lot of new construction going on,’ Mr Vega said. ‘Anyway, I won’t be gone more than a couple of days and I will be back before school starts. Now, let’s talk about something more interesting.’
‘Like the presents you’re going to bring back for us?’ Ivy said.
‘Like what that Lipsmacker tastes like,’ Mr Vega said to Ivy, making a grab for her cup. ‘Let’s switch.’
They swapped around their smoothies and slurped. Olivia had a hundred questions she wanted to ask her bio-dad about his family and where she and Ivy came from – but for now she was just happy that they were together without any more secrets.
They traded smoothies again so that Ivy could try the Twist and Shout but then got confused about which smoothie was which.
‘At least I’d never get the two of you mixed up,’ Mr Vega said.
Olivia kept a straight face and didn’t look at her sister. So maybe there’s one tiny secret he doesn’t know, Olivia thought. She and Ivy had switched lots of times to fool Mr Vega and everyone else, too. She felt Ivy squeeze her hand under the table.
Olivia noticed the mini-jukebox sitting on the table next to the box of napkins. ‘Ooh, let’s pick a song!’
Mr Vega paled. ‘As long as there is no audience participation.’
She giggled. ‘We’ll be careful.’ She turned the old-fashioned knob to flip through the list of songs that came up on a screen. ‘How about “The Right One”?’ Olivia stopped on the theme tune from the new rom com she’d dragged Ivy to see two days ago.
‘Ugh, I’m so sick of that song,’ Ivy said. ‘And it’s only your favourite movie because you have a crush on Jackson Caulfield.’
‘I do not!’ Olivia tried to stop herself blushing. ‘OK, maybe I do – but we don’t have to talk about that now.’ She didn’t want her bio-dad to think she was boy-crazy. She flicked through the song list in an attempt to change the subject.
‘Wait!’ Mr Vega cried out, making her jump. ‘You passed the perfect song.’ He took over the knob and twisted until it came back to ‘Double Trouble'.
‘I love that one!’ Olivia hummed the tune and tapped her feet.
As the catchy song played out over the speakers, he pulled his straw in and out of the smoothie cup, making a little squeaking noise. ‘Now that I know your favourite movie,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘how about your favourite book?’
Olivia felt silly admitting it in front of her vampire family. ‘I really love the Count Vira vampire books.’