Chapter 42

As far as Kiana was concerned, the next few days were great. As soon as they got home, Michael called Christine, had her come over, and told her what had happened. Kiana stayed upstairs in her room but she kept the door ajar so she could hear how things were going downstairs. And just like she had predicted, Christine was surprised and shocked, but at the same time she wasn’t angry or upset at all and she assured Michael that Olivia would not affect their relationship in any way. Her only real concern was how to proceed from there, and she was adamant that Kiana and Michael needed to spend as much time as possible with Olivia to make up for all of the years they had lost.

“If you think you feel bad,” she told Michael, “imagine how Olivia must have felt. She went nineteen years without having a father.”

Kiana was excited. Like most ‘only-children,’ she had always wanted a sibling and now that she had one she was going to make the most of it. She went in their house’s spare bedroom and cleaned it from top to bottom. The room wasn’t really that dirty since normally no one used it, but at the same time she wanted it perfect anyway. That way Olivia would be as comfortable and as happy as possible during her time with them.

The visit itself turned out to be immensely fun. Holley dropped Olivia off at 5:00 pm the next day. Michael introduced her to Christine, then they had dinner, which was excellent. Christine made lasagna and a side salad, and she topped the salad with a mango dressing that neither Kiana nor Olivia had had before, and they both thought it was dreamy. It was one of the first times Kiana had ever asked for seconds of salad (normally, she considered it rabbit food). As they ate, Olivia told them all about her, including the places she had lived and the schools she had attended in Greece, England, and Australia. Currently, she was in her second year at a small university in downtown Sydney.

“What are you studying?” Michael asked.

“Just general studies so far. I haven’t decided on a major yet.”

“Any hobbies?”

“A few. I like hiking. And taekwondo.”

Kiana’s eyes lit up. “Really? Taekwondo?”

“Kiana likes taekwondo, too,” Michael said.

“Sweet,” Olivia said. “One day we should spar a little.

“Be careful,” Christine said. “Kiana is pretty intense when it comes to her taekwondo. And her kicks are downright nasty.”

Olivia smiled. “Nice.”

After that, they had Olivia do her accents again, both Australian and British, and they laughed heartily as she did each one. She even started teaching Kiana how to do it and that was a complete blast. Unfortunately, Kiana really wasn’t any good at it and both of her accents sounded exactly the same, and neither of them sounded Australian or British at all. Christine, however, was another story. They were all amazed when she jumped in and started rattling off sentence after sentence in an absolutely perfect British accent.

“I spent three years on assignment in London. Learning the accent helped me fit in a little better.”

After dinner, they went to a local mall to catch a movie. They got their tickets, then Kiana and Olivia waited in the theater’s lobby as Christine and Michael went to the restrooms.

“She’s nice,” Olivia said, referring to Christine.

Kiana nodded. “I didn’t like her at first. But I was completely wrong. She’s a good person. And she seems to make my dad - I mean, our dad - pretty happy, so I can’t complain.”

“They’re a nice couple. Do they have any plans to get married?’

Kiana shrugged. “I’m not certain. They haven’t mentioned anything.”

“Speaking of couples, what about you? Any guys worth mentioning?”

“I like this boy named Jacen. He’s a senior on the baseball team at my school. We just started going out a while back and so far things are dreamy.”

“Sweet. I’d like to meet him sometime.”

“How about you? You must have a boyfriend. I bet those Australian guys are all over you.”

Olivia grinned. “Unfortunately, I’m between boyfriends right now. I was seeing this guy for about six months but things went sour and we broke up. And I’ve been pretty busy lately so I haven’t had much time to find a replacement.”

Michael and Christine returned a few minutes later, they all got candy and drinks at the concession stand (Kiana and Olivia shared a bag of jelly beans and a bucket of popcorn – it was so big it had to have its own seat), then they watched the movie, which was an outrageous (and extremely crude) reboot of a television show from the eighties that neither Kiana nor Olivia had heard of. They had a good time and on the way home Kiana showed Olivia some photos on her phone of Jacen. Olivia’s eyes got big the minute she saw Jacen’s picture.

“Nice. He’s a hottie.”

So far, Olivia had only been with them for a day but already Kiana was convinced of one thing.

Having an older sister was awesome.