Mr Vega gave a dashing smile. ‘You might be surprised to learn that I have a first-edition signed copy of Love in the Black of Night in my library.’
Ivy’s jaw dropped and Olivia squealed.
‘Oh my goodness, you have to show it to me!’ That was the first Count Vira book she had ever read.
‘I promise I will.’ Mr Vega kept squeaking his straw in between sips. ‘How about your favourite subject in school?’
‘I love art class,’ Olivia said.
‘Art? Is that so?’ he replied. ‘You know I –’
Ivy’s phone blasted out the first riffs of the Phantom of the Opera musical, interrupting them.
‘Sorry,’ Ivy mouthed as she answered the call. ‘Hey . . . Yeah . . . OK . . .’ From her smile, Olivia could tell Ivy was talking to her boyfriend, Brendan. Whenever she was around him, Ivy’s usual goth grouch turned into adorable goth glee.
While Ivy chatted, Olivia took a moment to study Mr Vega’s face. With his strong jaw and dark eyebrows, he looked like he belonged on the cover of Count Vira’s books.
‘You know, Olivia, I’m an art enthusiast,’ Mr Vega said. ‘I would dearly love to see some of your work.’
Olivia beamed. ‘OK!’
Even though her bio-dad’s style was on the opposite end of the colour spectrum, he had excellent taste. He was even setting up a new exhibit at the Franklin Grove museum.
‘Brendan wants to have lunch at the Meat & Greet later,’ Ivy explained, putting her phone in her bag.
‘Just you two?’ Olivia asked.
‘Everybody. He’s already texted Sophia and Camilla.’
‘What a thoughtful young man,’ Mr Vega said. ‘Do you have a sweetheart, Olivia?’
For the past few months, what with settling into her new home and discovering her new family in Franklin Grove, Olivia hadn’t had a moment to think about romance.
‘Nope,’ Olivia said. ‘I never have had. But seeing Brendan and Ivy together makes me wish I did.’
Ivy smiled her shy little smile. Olivia knew her sister had crushed on Brendan for years but hadn’t spoken a word to him until Olivia accidentally broke the ice during a twin switch.
Mr Vega stopped squeaking the straw. ‘Do you mean . . . Do you want someone like Brendan?’
‘Oh, no.’ Olivia could see what he was getting at. He fell in love with her human mother and that made his life totally complicated. ‘I’m looking for a perfectly normal boy – without any, erm, unusual eating habits.’
Mr Vega started squeaking the straw again. ‘I see. Well, I am certain that the perfect someone for you would have to be a very special kind of normal.’
‘I second that,’ Ivy said, bumping her shoulder into Olivia’s.
I’m so lucky to have a new dad and new sister, thought Olivia.
‘Now, I spotted some chocolate-chip cookies on the menu,’ Mr Vega said, slurping the last bit of his drink noisily. ‘I’ll ask the waitress to bring three over.’ He raised a hand in the air.
‘There aren’t any waitresses,’ Olivia said. ‘You’ll have to go back up to the counter.’
‘Oh.’ Mr Vega looked like he would rather gulp down a garlic smoothie. But he eased himself out of the booth and went to stand back in line.
Ivy and Olivia grinned at each other.
‘He must really want to spend time with me to risk another sing along,’ Olivia commented.
‘No kidding,’ Ivy agreed, as she watched Mr Vega chatting to the server. ‘He’s the best real dad we could have.’
An hour later, the twins were walking to the Meat & Greet with their friends. It was cold so Olivia had wrapped herself up in her matching pink scarf and gloves set.
‘How was your morning?’ Camilla Edmunson asked.
‘Let’s just say it was pretty . . . musical,’ Olivia answered, smiling at the memory of Mr Vega dancing.
‘My head almost imploded when Olivia wanted to put on “The Right One”,’ Ivy said to Brendan, sticking out her tongue and pretending to strangle herself.
‘I love that song!’ Camilla declared at the same time as Sophia Hewitt said, ‘Torture!’
Olivia was on one side of Ivy and Brendan, and Camilla was on the other. They started singing ‘The Right One’ as loud as they could, forming a surround sound of chipper elevator music.
‘Nooo,’ Ivy screeched, covering her ears with her woolly black mittens. ‘I’m melting!’
Olivia wasn’t about to stop now. She gave Camilla a wink and the two of them started dancing around Ivy and Brendan, still singing the cheesy lyrics: ‘You’re the right one for me, can’t you seeeeee?’
Sophia removed the lens cap from her camera and snapped a few shots. ‘Ivy, you look like Frosty the Snowman at an ice-carving contest.’
Ivy was wearing an ankle-length mauve jacket with big black buttons down the front and had her eyes shut trying to block out the dancing.
Everyone laughed.
‘It’s safe to come out now, Ivy,’ Brendan teased. ‘The happy people have stopped singing.’
Everyone laughed harder.
‘Enough!’ Ivy cried. ‘We have an evil alert at twenty paces.’ She was looking down the street at three girls walking towards them.
It was Charlotte Brown and two hangers on. Her blonde hair was poking out from under her white fluffy hat. Olivia wasn’t Charlotte’s biggest fan, but they had to cheer together on the squad and so she wanted to avoid any major incident.