Without waiting for any response, she took the knife from Ivy’s hand and started cutting into the pizza, sending more whiffs of garlic into the air. ‘Here, Ivy.’ She held out a plate. ‘You take the first slice.’
‘Um . . . I think I hear the doorbell.’ Ivy fled to the front door before she could do anything worse.
From a safe distance, she watched the others trying to avoid eating garlic – and not just the vampires. Camilla was human, but that didn’t stop her from promptly slipping her piece into a houseplant pot. Brendan smiled through gritted teeth and made a big show of cutting his slice up into tiny portions – ‘To make sure I savour every crumb of garlicky goodness’ – before rushing into another room. Only Olivia was gamely eating two slices, trying to cover up for everyone else . . . but Ivy could have sworn she saw her twin’s face turning green, even beneath the layer of Double-00 flour. Olivia might not be allergic to garlic, but Ivy knew she was hating every bite.
This was a nightmare – a Holly-shaped nightmare!
As Ivy stood holding open the front door, someone arrived – her dad! Ivy hadn’t even known he’d slipped out. He must have been running yet more wedding errands.
‘Oh good, pizza!’ Charles said, hurrying past her towards the kitchen. ‘Just what I need!’
‘Dad, wait!’ Ivy said. But it was too late. He was already accepting a slice from Holly, who beamed at his enthusiasm.
‘Yum!’ Charles said, and lifted it to his mouth. All the fresh air from the open windows must have wafted the scent of garlic away from him.
There was only one thing Ivy could do. She threw herself at her dad, full-body, and knocked the pizza out of his hand.
‘It’s garlic!’ she whispered into his ear, too quietly for anyone else to hear. Then, as she straightened, she said loudly: ‘Sorry about that. I guess I tripped.’
‘Tripped?’ Holly put her pizza box down, her smile drooping. Charles’s slice of pizza lay on the floor between them, abandoned in the mass of flour, as he backed swiftly out of the room. Holly was still staring angrily at Ivy. ‘From the hallway ?’
‘I’m sure that –’ Olivia began.
‘No, listen.’ Holly jerked her chin up proudly. ‘I know this was supposed to be a baking party, but I just wanted to try something different. I wasn’t showing off, or being difficult – or whatever else Ivy thinks of me. I just thought it’d be fun. That’s all. But I guess I was wrong. Ivy clearly doesn’t want me here.’
‘Holly, wait!’ Olivia said.
But she brushed past her without a word. Seconds later, the walls of the house shook as the front door slammed shut. Olivia swung around to face Ivy. ‘Is Camilla still filming us?’ she asked stiffly.
Ivy glanced around. ‘Um, no. She’s in the living room with the others – they all slipped out when things got . . . awkward.’
‘Good.’ Olivia shook her head. ‘Because I need to tell you something, Ivy: you were really obnoxious to Holly! I know you had to avoid the garlic, but couldn’t you have been polite about it?’
‘Polite ?’ Ivy stared at her. ‘What do you think I was supposed to do? Poison myself, just so I wouldn’t hurt her feelings?’
Olivia crossed her arms. ‘Did you really have to make such a big show of stopping Dad from eating that pizza? You actually threw yourself across the room to knock it out of his hands, right in front of her! What were you thinking?’
‘You know I couldn’t let Dad eat it,’ Ivy said.
‘Well, what happened to subtlety?’ Olivia asked.
She’s never been like this with me – ever, Ivy thought. A lump seemed to be forming in her throat, but she swallowed hard.
‘Hey, guys?’ Brendan stood in the doorway, looking awkward. ‘The others are ready to go home now. I think your dad’s a bit, um, twitchy about the mess.’
Olivia let out a groan, then turned to go play hostess.
As they all said their goodbyes, Ivy fought to hide the hurt brimming inside her. The whole time she’d been at Wallachia, she’d dreamed of coming home to be with her twin again. She’d assumed that Olivia would feel the same about having Ivy back.
It looks like I was wrong about that, she thought. A lot of things had changed while she was gone – like Olivia putting a stranger’s feelings before Ivy’s.
At last, the front door closed for the final time, leaving the twins on their own with Brendan to clear up the mess.
As he and Ivy knelt together to scrub the flour off the kitchen floor, he nudged her gently. ‘Hey, it was a great party until the end, wasn’t it?’
‘I guess.’ Ivy shrugged one shoulder.
‘So why the deflated look?’
She just shook her head and scrubbed harder. She was afraid she would embarrass herself by crying if she tried to talk.
Olivia moved around them with a swish of her flour-covered apron. Ivy bit her lip and kept scrubbing.
Brendan sat back on his heels. ‘You know,’ he said gently to Olivia, ‘you might have been embarrassed, but none of this was Ivy’s fault – she was just trying to stop your dad from having a really bad allergic reaction.’
‘I guess,’ Olivia said eventually. Ivy wasn’t taking her eyes off the floor, but she could hear the shrug in her sister’s voice. ‘I just wish everyone could get along.’
‘Me too,’ Ivy said quietly.
She waited for Olivia to come and give her a hug, but instead she heard her twin wiping her hands, taking off her apron and heading into the living room without a word.