Cleo looks like I remember her from the video call I crashed.That seems a lifetime ago, but it’s only been a fortnight; even so, those two weeks were long enough to turn my world upside down.And Colin’s sister is at least partly to blame for that.
He hasn’t yet brought up the fact that he knows she sent me the messages, but her uncertain glance from Colin to me and back again tells me she’s just waiting for him to mention it.
Apparently, he doesn’t consider this the right moment, though.
“Don’t you have a welcome-home hug for me?”he jokes, but his voice sounds strained.The way it always does when he’s trying to hide that he’s a lad with emotions.
I chew my bottom lip to stop my eyes welling as Cleo throws herself into his arms and bursts into tears.I’m an only child, soI probably can’t come close to imagining what it’s like to have your big brother leave and not know when he’s coming back.
This is the first time Colin and Cleo have seen each other since then.I knew that, but I didn’t know what it would really mean.That doesn’t sink in until Cleo digs her fingers into his jacket and can’t stop crying.Colin’s dropped his suitcase.His eyes are also glittering a bit too brightly when he finally lets go of her and looks to me.“Cleo, this is Olive.Olive, Cleo.”I can feel that he’s on the verge of saying something else.But he doesn’t.
Cleo looks seriously stressed, but she smiles back at me.“Pleased to meet you,” she mumbles, looking down.
“Likewise,” I reply.
“Where are Mom and Dad?”Colin asks.
“Dad’s still at the office, and Mom had to go into the studio early.There was some kind of issue.”
“Obviously.”There’s a bitter undertone in Colin’s voice.He laughs.“Well, it looks like you won’t get the pleasure of getting to know them until later,” he adds, turning to me.I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved.
But I do meet Kirsten—the nanny, Colin explains.She shows me the guest room that’s been made up for me, and I notice Colin’s expression as I thank her.
Guest room...I can imagine what he’s thinking.Wing time at Dunbridge can’t stop us spending the nights together, so his parents are hardly going to.
“Mom asked if you guys wanted to go into the studio,” Cleo says as we head back to the living room.“Hayes Chamberlain is there today.”
I raise my eyebrows in amazement, while Colin looks like he hasn’t a clue who she’s talking about.
“Is this his first interview since the band split up?”I ask.
Cleo nods enthusiastically.“Yeah, so I’m totally going!Maybe he’ll say something about when Temporary Fix are getting back together.”
I just nod, because from everything I’ve heard about the boy band lately, it doesn’t exactly look like they’ll be ending their self-imposed break any time soon.Tori’s been keeping me up to date on all the gossip.She’d die if she knew that one of the band will be on Colin’s mother’s talk show this evening.I glance hastily at Colin.
“Up to you,” he says.“We can stay here if you’re tired.”
“Areyoutired?”I ask, by which I really mean, is he feeling up to it?I know that the long journey and jet lag will have messed up his blood sugar.But he shakes his head.
We have time to eat dinner with Cleo before we leave.There’s a large neon sign that readsLate Night with Ava Fantino, in elegant script, adorning the building where the show is produced.The minute we walk in, I feel as though I’ve stepped into a world that couldn’t be more different from mine.
Colin and Cleo seem to know the place like the backs of their hands—same as everyone who works here.I can instantly tell that we’re going to meet his mother because Colin tenses more and more with every step.Cleo turns a corner and stops outside a door with Ava Fantino’s name on it in discreet letters.And then I see her.
Ava Fantino is smaller than I imagined, but no less intimidating.
She looks up from her phone, her eyes rest on Colin.I don’t know what I was expecting.Her features to soften at the sight of him, maybe.An emotional reunion with his mother.But there’s no sign of any such thing.
“How nice that you both could come.”
Surely that’s not how you greet a son when you haven’t seen him for weeks.
“Did you have a good trip?”
“Yeah, amazing.”Andbam, my chilly, sarcastic Colin is back.Now I know where he comes from.His jaw muscles are working as he hugs his mum.She radiates an incredible presence, yet her eyes are like ice as she looks at him.
Then she turns to me.“You must be Olive,” she says, holding out her hand.
I shake it.“Thank you for the invitation, Ms.Fantino.”
