Olivia giggled.
‘I hope you’re hungry,’ said Mrs Abbott.
Olivia felt her tummy rumble. With all the excitement of the movie people showing up and then working her way through Ivy’s enormous and scattered wardrobe, she’d barely eaten all afternoon.
‘I’m starving,’ Ivy said.
Mrs Abbott ushered the girls into the dining room. ‘I wasn’t sure what to make, so I just made all of Olivia’s favourites.’ With a flourish, she revealed ten dishes with different meals arranged around the table. All of them vegetarian.
This could be a problem, Olivia thought.
She should have realised that there wouldn’t be any meat on the menu at their house. ‘There’s plenty of iron in spinach,’ Olivia whispered, knowing that wasn’t going to help fill Ivy’s stomach.
‘Oh!’ her mom exclaimed. ‘I forgot the garlic bread!’
Oh no! Olivia thought. She remembered all too well what happened when Ivy ate even the tiniest amount of garlic – it was a full-scale vampire emergency.
Ivy sat down at her place with a forced smile on her face, but when Mrs Abbott went into the kitchen for the bread she leaned over the table and whispered, ‘You’re going to have to eat twice as much!’
‘What?’ Olivia asked.
‘Your mom has gone to loads of effort. I can’t leave tons of leftovers.’
Mrs Abbott came back and Ivy had to keep quiet. Mrs Abbott said brightly, ‘Are you two girls going to spend all night talking about boys?’
‘Mom,’ Olivia complained.
‘What’s this about boys?’ Mr Abbott said, walking into the room and sitting down.
‘Nothing, Dad.’ Olivia rolled her eyes.
‘You know,’ Mr Abbott said, stuffing his napkin into his shirt collar. ‘I could help if you have boy troubles – I did use to be one, you know.’
Ivy chuckled. ‘My boyfriend’s trouble is that he’s hungry all the time.’
‘That’s easy to fix!’ Mr Abbott declared. ‘Feed the boy!’ And with that, he took a huge scoop of the mustard macaroni cheese in front of him.
Olivia watched as Ivy took a little bit of everything, a spoonful of the olive salad and the tiniest slice of the nut loaf. She could hear Ivy’s stomach rumble and felt totally guilty.
Poor Ivy, Olivia thought.
‘So what errand have you two sent Charles jetting off on?’ Mr Abbott asked, taking three of the lotus-leaf parcels.
Mrs Abbott passed around the veggie dumplings. ‘He said something about it being a trip for his daughters?’
The sisters exchanged a glance.
‘We thought it was a business trip,’ Olivia said.
‘A piece of garlic bread, Ivy?’ Mrs Abbott asked.
Olivia didn’t have time to think about what her parents meant; she had to stop the garlic disaster! If any garlic so much as touched Ivy’s plate, she wouldn’t be able to eat a thing.
‘Sure,’ Ivy said brightly, trying to avoid touching any of the garlic butter. ‘Thanks!’
Ivy was holding up the poisonous piece of bread, Mrs Abbott was waiting expectantly. Olivia had to do something.
‘Um . . . can I smell something burning?’ Olivia asked, sniffing the air.
‘Oh no, did I leave the stove on?’ Mrs Abbott rushed into the kitchen with Mr Abbott racing after her.
Ivy slipped her garlic bread on to Olivia’s plate and carefully wiped her fingers on her napkin. ‘Eat it quick!’ Ivy said. ‘They’re coming back!’
Olivia shoved the whole slice of bread into her mouth as Mr and Mrs Abbott came back.
‘Nothing burning,’ Mrs Abbott confirmed.
Ivy made a big show of saying, ‘Mmmm, garlic bread,’ while Olivia tried to swallow the hunk of bread without choking. The edges of the crusts were scratching the inside of her cheeks and the salvia rushing into her mouth was making it hard not to dribble.
‘Are you all right, Olivia?’ Mrs Abbott asked.
Olivia could only nod emphatically and give the thumbs-up sign.
‘Did you know there was a film crew in town?’ Ivy put in while Olivia swallowed hard.
Olivia was on full alert for the rest of the meal and when her mom and dad disappeared into the kitchen to get dessert, Olivia clutched her tummy and groaned. ‘I’m going to burst like a balloon.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Ivy whispered back. ‘But at least you won’t have to eat two desserts.’
‘After all that garlic bread, I’m not going to be able to eat one dessert,’ Olivia said.
Just then, there was a funny trumpeting noise from the kitchen and her mom and dad came back with party hats on and two candles in the middle of a pie.
They handed two matching party hats to the sisters that had ‘Birthday’ covered over with magazine letters cut out to read ‘Happy Not Moving Day'.
‘We know it should have been a couple of days ago,’ Mrs Abbott said, ‘but we wanted to recognise the wonderful news that you and your father aren’t leaving.’
‘Aw, thanks!’ said Ivy, blowing out the candles.
‘I’m full,’ Olivia confessed when her mom offered her some delicious-looking lemon meringue pie.
‘But it’s your favourite,’ Mr Abbott said.
‘I know, but –’ Olivia began.
‘Oh, sweetheart, it’s a celebration!’ said Mrs Abbott.
Olivia couldn’t stand the upset look on her mother’s face. She sighed. Her belly felt tight as a drum and a loud gurgle erupted. She hugged her stomach and tried to laugh.
‘OK, maybe just a little,’ she said, gazing at her plate as her mum slid a thick slice of trembling lemon meringue on to it.
‘And as you girls have liked the garlic bread so much,’ said Olivia’s mom, picking up the empty plate, ‘I’ll make some more tomorrow!’
Ivy and Olivia looked at each other.
This might be a tricky few days! Olivia thought with dread.
Ivy was spread out like a bug splattered on a windshield, trying to get comfortable on the air mattress that Olivia had blown up for her. But every movement felt squishy and wobbly – nothing at all like the cold, firm feel of a wooden coffin beneath her back, the pleasant feeling of being cosily encased.
‘I can’t get comfortable,’ Ivy complained, pushing the fluffy pillow on to the shaggy white carpet and tugging at her flannel bat-covered pyjamas.