Ivy smiled and then laughed out loud when her dad came hurrying out of the kitchen. He was wiping his hands on the pink floral print apron that someone had given him as a joke when he had almost moved away from Franklin Grove.
‘Lillian,’ he said, a little breathless. ‘Thanks so much for coming.’
She handed over her tray. ‘As promised.’
Mr Vega beamed and it struck Ivy that he seemed a lot more excited than usual to have a lunch guest. ‘Double dark chocolate cookies,’ he said, peeking under the foil. The most amazing chocolate smell filled the air and Ivy had to admit that Lillian’s dessert did seem worth getting excited for.
‘Lunch is almost ready,’ Mr Vega said. ‘Ivy, will you take all our guests into the dining room?’
Ivy was surprised. She had been expecting finger foods at the kitchen counter, not a sitdown meal. ‘Uh, sure. You heard him, layabouts,’ she said to Olivia and Brendan, who were still lounging in front of the TV. ‘Right this way,’ she said to Lillian, with a little bow.
As they walked through the entryway, past the suit of armour, Lillian said, ‘So, girls, how did you like last night?’
‘It wasn’t exactly my scene,’ Ivy replied. ‘But I think Olivia could get used to it.’
Olivia grinned. ‘I wonder if there were any good photos of me.’
As they reached the dining room, Ivy saw that the candles were lit down the long oak table. Mr Vega was definitely out to impress. After all, it wasn’t every day that a Hollywood director came to lunch.
Just as they sat down, the doorbell chimed again.
‘I’ll go,’ Ivy volunteered, wondering who else her dad had invited over.
When she swung open the door, Sophia hurtled inside like a whirlwind. ‘We did it! We did it!’ she yelled.
Before Ivy could ask what on earth was going on, Mr Vega popped his head out of the kitchen. ‘Is that Sophia shouting?’
‘Sorry, Mr Vega,’ Sophia replied, adjusting her skull-print messenger bag. ‘I hope you don’t mind me barging in, but I’ve got some exciting news.’
‘No, no,’ he replied. ‘Come through to the dining room. We’re just having lunch.’
Sophia grabbed Ivy’s hands, and bounced. Actually bounced.
‘Sophia?’ Ivy said warily, knowing something was up. Her friend did not, under any circumstances, bounce.
‘I want to tell you and Olivia at the same time!’ Sophia scuttled off towards the dining room, leaving Ivy to trail after.
‘Ta da!’ Sophia called, pulling out a stack of magazines and waving them in the air.
‘What is it?’ Olivia said, standing up from her chair.
Sophia slapped each magazine down one by one: the LA Daily, StarWatch, Hollywood Happenings. Then she started flipping through the pages.
‘There!’ she declared, pointing to a spread on The Groves premiere with a big shot of Olivia, posing in her dress.
‘Eeee!’ Olivia squealed. ‘It’s me!’
‘And me.’ Sophia pushed down the page, so they could see the words in tiny type just inside the fold of the paper: ‘Photo by Sophia Hewitt.’
‘Olivia Abbott, supporting actress in the film, looked sharp and sparkling with her cut away dress,’ Ivy read. ‘Hey, that counts as a good review!’
‘Congratulations!’ Lillian said, clapping.
Sophia turned to the dog-eared pages in each of the magazines. There were three other shots of Olivia, all snapped by Sophia.
‘OK,’ Ivy said to Sophia.
Sophia looked serious for a moment. ‘OK what?’
‘OK, I will forgive you – just this once – for the bouncing.’ Ivy grinned and gave her best friend a hug.
Mr Vega came in, balancing six plates on his arms: burgers with fresh avocado salad and French fries, which he’d stacked up in a little tower like they were at a fancy restaurant. Ivy helped him put the plates on the table and saw that while the five vampires had pretty much rare steak, Olivia had a homemade veggie burger.
‘This looks great!’ Brendan said. ‘I should come over for meals more often.’
‘Thanks for fitting me in,’ Sophia said, crunching on a pickle.
‘Ketchup?’ Ivy and Olivia asked at the same time.
‘As if I could forget,’ Mr Vega said, reaching around the door for a little tray of condiments.
Ivy covered her hunk of meat in ketchup, and Olivia dotted some delicately around her fries. Brendan dug in, but Mr Vega was still watching Lillian.
There is something going on here, Ivy thought. Dad is acting very weird. Good weird, but definitely weird.
She tried to catch Olivia’s eye, but Olivia was still looking at the magazines. Mr Vega cleared his throat and Ivy thought he was going to say something, but then he just started eating.
Is he nervous? Ivy wondered. There was an awkward silence, so Ivy decided to fill it. ‘What kind of movie are you working on next?’
‘I wanted to risk doing something small on my own,’ Lillian replied. ‘A little independent film where I get to be full director for the first time.’
‘What’s it about?’ Brendan asked, with his mouth full.
Lillian smiled. ‘It’s a documentary-drama about a dancer who was executed during World War I for being a spy.’
‘Ooh,’ replied Ivy. ‘Sounds cool.’
‘I know about her,’ Mr Vega finally broke his silence. ‘Mata Hari, right? She turned out to be innocent, in the end.’
‘That’s right,’ Lillian said, clearly impressed. ‘The script has gone through so many revisions, making sure we get all the history correct.’
‘It sounds amazing,’ Olivia said.
‘Thanks!’ Lillian said.
‘I’m quite familiar with that time period – having lived through it myself. Perhaps I could help by reading the script?’ Mr Vega offered.
Lillian laughed. ‘I’m not going to reveal my age, but I’d be grateful for the advice.’
Ivy watched the two adults smile at each other. When Lillian jumped up to help Mr Vega clear the plates, Ivy whispered to Olivia, ‘Did you see that?’
‘What?’ asked Olivia.
‘Them,’ Ivy said.
Olivia tilted her head to one side. ‘Them what?’
‘Dad is acting all weird,’ Ivy said.