Lucky Break (6 page)

‘W
hat have you got in here?’ Brendan asked, pushing his long hair out of his face and hauling Ivy’s black duffel bag across the porch towards her dad’s car.

It was Saturday morning, after a week of intense rehearsals, and she and Olivia were just about to head off to Aunt Rebecca’s farm for the night. Ivy was looking forward to spending time with her aunt but hoping to avoid the four-legged residents of the farm.

‘I tried to pack light,’ Ivy replied. ‘Well, not light colours, of course.’

‘And yet you’ve ended up with a bag that weighs more than a solid marble tombstone,’ Brendan said.

‘Sorry,’ she said and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘I didn’t know what to pack for a farm.’ She had eventually decided to wear her black and grey camos and a three-quarter sleeve T-shirt. At least she knew her sturdy boots would do the trick. ‘Plus I had to pack some Vita-Vamp bars.’ If Aunt Rebecca didn’t serve much meat, Ivy had to make sure she had enough iron intake. It wasn’t easy staying overnight with someone who didn’t know about the whole vampire thing.

‘I still can’t believe you’re off to be a cowgirl out in the sticks,’ Brendan said.

‘Just point me to the cows that need a-milking,’ Ivy joked.

‘This I have got to see,’ he replied, and they dissolved into giggles.

‘Come on, you two!’ Mr Vega called, using his vampire strength to easily lift Olivia’s bag into the back of his car. ‘We’re leaving in five minutes.’

Olivia and her pink leather overnight bag had just been dropped off by Mr Abbott, who was on his way to a weekend seminar on the discipline of ikebana, Japanese flower arranging.

‘To calm the soul,’ he had intoned, just before he drove off.

Ivy needed some soul-calming. She was really excited to spend time with her aunt, but she had no idea what to do on a farm. Despite her joking, she really did not want to milk any cows.

‘Where is he?’ Olivia hopped from one foot to the other, as Brendan and Mr Vega heaved Ivy’s bag into the car. ‘Jackson said he’d come and say goodbye.’

Just then, a sleek chauffeured car pulled up at the end of the driveway and Jackson jumped out
and hurried up to them. He was wearing a white button-down shirt and faded blue jeans with his trademark cowboy boots.

‘I’m so glad I didn’t miss you,’ he said. ‘Camilla had me running my lines with Garrick until late last night and I overslept.’

Olivia held up her purse. ‘I’ve got my script here. She’s a tough director, isn’t she?’

‘But good,’ Jackson said. ‘And I’ve worked with lots of directors.’

Ivy tried not to stare as Olivia and Jackson moved away to the lawn to talk privately for the last few minutes they had together this weekend.

Brendan grabbed her in a big bear hug from behind. ‘See you later.’

‘I’ll call,’ Ivy said.

Brendan waved and hopped on his bike.

Mr Vega took a step towards Olivia and
Jackson but Ivy stopped him. ‘Just a couple more minutes.’

‘OK,’ he said. ‘I’ll programme the sat nav.’

Ivy tried to avoid watching the couple, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Olivia rise up on her tiptoes. Ivy knew her sister hadn’t had her first kiss yet and it looked like she was going for it right then and there!

In front of Dad!
Ivy couldn’t believe it.

Ivy glanced over to her dad, who seemed engrossed in his route-planning on the front seat, but he could look up at any moment.

Should she try to block his view or try to stop Olivia’s kiss? Ivy looked back and forth between the lawn and the car; everything seemed in slow motion.

But then, she saw Jackson glancing sideways at the car.
He doesn’t want to kiss her in front of Dad
, Ivy guessed.

Jackson did a last-minute ducking to the side, by-passing the kiss entirely and leaning all the way in for a hug.

Olivia looked like she’d just lost a winning lottery ticket.

‘Have a great time,’ Jackson said with a goofy wave and led Olivia back to the car. ‘I’m jealous that you get to ride horses.’

Olivia brightened. ‘I can’t wait!’

‘Bye,’ Olivia called and turned to Ivy as Jackson’s chauffeur opened the car door. ‘Why oh why oh why won’t he kiss me?’ she whispered, as Jackson was driven off.

‘What’s that?’ Mr Vega asked.

‘Nothing!’ Ivy called. ‘Let’s get on the road.’ Ivy got in the front seat and Olivia sat in the back behind Mr Vega.

‘Righty-oh,’ Mr Vega called. ‘Let’s ride ’em, cowboy.’

The twins looked at each other and burst out laughing.

That just goes to show how vampires and country don’t mix
, Ivy thought.
But as long as it’s not too bunny on the farm, this weekend should be fun.

‘Ooh, I love this song,’ Olivia said, bopping around in the back seat to the twangy music blaring from the car speakers.

‘It sounds like a dying hyena to me,’ Ivy said, pretending to plug her ears.

‘This is classic country music,’ Mr Vega said. ‘I made a playlist for the car journey, to get you in the mood.’ He grinned, which on him looked a little sinister.

‘Oh yes,’ Ivy deadpanned. ‘It makes my feet itch for some square dancing.’

‘Ha ha,’ Olivia replied. ‘Itchy feet are no joking matter. The last time I had to deal with your
itchy feet, you turned my Romeo from a Jackson Caulfield into a Garrick Stevens!’

‘A prince to a frog,’ Ivy quipped.

‘Precisely,’ Olivia said.

‘Now, girls,’ Mr Vega said, turning serious. ‘You are, of course, able to come home at any time. If at any point you wish to leave, I can be there in half an hour.’

‘Thanks, Dad,’ Ivy said.

Olivia realised that Mr Vega was a little more worried about the weekend than his just-for-fun playlist suggested.

‘You know that Aunt Rebecca doesn’t know anything about … ah … our background,’ he said.

‘We know,’ Olivia replied.

‘She doesn’t really understand why your mother and I didn’t keep in touch with her. We were planning to tell her about you two once you
were born. Things just didn’t work out that way,’ he finished sadly.

‘Don’t worry, Dad,’ Ivy said. ‘We get it. And we’re really glad you tracked her down so we could meet her.’

Just then, a phone beeped.

‘That’s mine,’ Mr Vega said. ‘It’s in my briefcase on the back seat. Olivia, will you answer it, please?’

Olivia fumbled for the phone and then pressed the green button. ‘Charles Vega’s phone,’ she said.

‘Ivy?’ said a female voice. ‘Olivia? It’s Rebecca. Are you guys on your way? When will y’all get here?’

‘It’s Olivia and, uh … hang on.’ She pressed the mute button. She didn’t want Mr Vega to think that Rebecca was checking up on them, so she decided to rephrase the question. ‘Aunt
Rebecca would like to know how far away we are.’

‘We are on schedule, of course,’ Mr Vega said, ‘and will be arriving at 10 a.m. as discussed.’

‘We’re right on time,’ Olivia translated, leaving out the ‘of course’ and ‘as discussed’ so that it didn’t sound too defensive.

‘Your dad’s not expecting to stay for lunch, is he?’ Rebecca wanted to know. ‘We’re going to be real busy as soon as you get here, and I wouldn’t want him hanging around with nothing to do.’

Olivia pushed mute again. This was tricky to phrase. ‘Rebecca says that lunch will probably be late so if you want to leave before then, she won’t be offended.’

‘That’s kind of Rebecca,’ Mr Vega replied. ‘But I would like to have a look around Susannah’s ranch. She told me so much about it.’

Drat
, Olivia thought. If her bio-dad had been planning on just dropping them off, it would
have made this conversation much easier.

‘He’d like to see some of the ranch with us, if you don’t mind,’ Olivia told her aunt.

‘Well, of course, that’s fine,’ Rebecca said but Olivia wondered if she didn’t really want him to stay. ‘I just wouldn’t want him to get stuck in prelunch traffic on the way home.’

‘Great,’ Olivia chirped, deciding to end the conversation there. ‘We’ll see you soon.’

Ugh
, Olivia thought.
That was awkward.

Ivy offered a sympathetic look from the front seat.

It doesn’t matter
, Olivia thought to herself.
Finding out about our biological mom is going to be so worth it and we’ll smooth out the adults’ issues later.

As Mr Vega stopped the car at the top of the ranch’s driveway, Ivy’s heart sank. There were animals everywhere.

Dozens of chickens ran free, pecking the ground, while two black Labradors lazed on the front porch. The stables were huge – it looked like a horse mansion. There were pigs in one pen and a goat was bleating as it munched on a green hedge.

This is definitely too much farm
, Ivy thought to herself.
On the positive side, so far no cows to milk.

As well as the animals, there were some picturesque weeping willow trees dotted around the yard. One overhung a small pond with a duck family swimming on it. It was like a scene from a painting.

Olivia looked like she’d just won a cheer-a-thon. Her eyes were sparkling as she undid her seatbelt and got out of the car. ‘This is incredible!’ Olivia declared.

‘That’s one word for it,’ Ivy muttered as she followed, trying to avoid stepping on a white
spotted chicken with feathers on either side of its head that looked like a beard.

It was a huge open space, and the wind was kicking up dust. The air smelled like weird popcorn and grass.

The two dogs snuffled and one let out a short bark. They bounded down from the porch swing to greet the visitors, but as they got nearer to Ivy, they backed off.

‘Hello,’ Olivia said softly to them. ‘Who are you?’

That was all it took for the two big balls of fur to go straight to Olivia for a good scratching. Ivy knew that vampires sometimes had an effect on animals, but this seemed pretty extreme. The dogs didn’t even want to come near her.

The screen door swung open and Rebecca rushed to greet them. She had flour on her hands and a breeze of apple-scent followed her.

‘I just put dessert for tonight into the oven,’ she said. ‘Hope you like apple pie!’

‘I love it,’ declared Olivia as she gave Rebecca a hug.

One of the Labs growled as Ivy tried to step forwards for her hug.

‘Gonzo! What’s wrong with you?’ Rebecca tugged on Gonzo’s collar. ‘Be nice to Ivy.’

Ivy smiled sheepishly. ‘Dogs don’t usually like me,’ she admitted as Rebecca hugged her.

‘Nonsense,’ Rebecca replied. ‘Gonzo likes everybody.’

That doesn’t exactly make me feel better
, Ivy thought, glad that the wind was whipping her hair in her face so that no one could tell she was disappointed.

‘You didn’t have to drive, Charlie,’ Rebecca said. ‘I would have been happy to pick them up.’

‘It wasn’t any trouble,’ Mr Vega replied.
‘Besides, I wanted to see this place that Susannah talked about so much.’

Ivy saw Rebecca wince at Susannah’s name. She must miss her every day
, Ivy thought.
I don’t know how I could live without Olivia.

‘I just wish there was more of her presence here,’ Rebecca said sadly. ‘But we were here so long ago that it seems it’s only my memories that keep her here.’

Mr Vega looked miserable, too. ‘Sometimes the memories just aren’t enough.’

Ivy didn’t want this to turn into a funeral.

‘Can we go and see the stables, now?’ Olivia asked, clearly not wanting it to feel gloomy either.

It’s not what I would have suggested
, Ivy said,
but at least it will change the subject.

‘Of course,’ Rebecca replied, perking up.

‘I’ll wait here and unload the luggage,’ said Mr Vega. Ivy guessed he was feeling
uncomfortable around the animals as well.

The four of them crunched across the dirt and gravel towards the huge wooden structure that seemed the size of a small supermarket.

It was cool and dark inside, with a long central walkway dividing a dozen individual stalls on either side. Two stable hands waved, one a man as old as their dad and the other was probably a high-school student. They were shovelling hay with pitchforks.

‘That’s Hank.’ Rebecca pointed to the younger one. ‘And that’s John.’