Operation Get Rid of Mom's New Boyfriend (11 page)

“
Yes, may I speak to
Sammi?” the male voice on the other end of the line
asked.

“
Bo?” Sammi said in a
surprised tone. She hadn’t even heard a ring on the other end, and
yet Bo was on the line.

“
Yes, it’s me. I hope I’m
not calling too late.”

“
Well, no, as a matter of
fact, I was calling you?”

“
Good, then I didn’t catch
you sleeping and interrupt a sweet dream or anything,” Bo
flirted.

This made Sammi smile. It
also made her relax. She had not known what to expect from Bo the
next time she spoke to him after that dinner fiasco, but she hadn’t
expected him to be his usual charming self. Even though it sounded
as if Bo had already forgiven and forgotten, Sammi still felt the
need to speak on the situation.

“
Bo, I can’t apologize
enough about yesterday’s dinner,” Sammi started.

“
Sure you can, and you
have,” Bo said. “You apologized enough yesterday. Sorry I couldn’t
accept your apology, but my mouth was kind of, you
know…”

“
Yeah, I know,” Sammi
sighed. “I still feel so awful. I never expected my girls would
ever do anything like that.”

“
They’re kids,” Bo
reasoned. “Kids who love their mother and who might be feeling a
little anxiety about the new man in their mother’s
life.”

“
That’s still no excuse for
doing what they did.”

“
I’m not condoning the
girls’ actions not one little bit. All I‘m saying is that I
understand.”

“
I’m glad you understand.
I, on the other hand, am still trying to process it all. I guess I
just need to sit down and have a reasonable conversation with them
when tempers aren’t flared. Because believe you me, I had a good
talking to them all right,” Sammi assured him.

“
And are they on any type
of punishment?” Bo asked.

Sammi felt a little thrown
off by Bo‘s question at first. She hoped Bo wasn’t about to try and
tell her how to discipline her girls. “Well, no, uh…”

“
Good, because I was hoping
I could have one more shot at getting the girls to warm up to me,”
Bo said. “My company picnic is at the Columbus Zoo on Saturday, and
I was hoping that maybe, well, that you, me and the girls could go.
That‘s why I was hoping you went easy on them and didn‘t put them
on punishment or anything.”

Sammi exhaled. Bo was a
dream come true. He was more understanding about the situation than
she could have ever hoped for. Not only was he willing to give her
a second chance, but he was willing to give Kennedy, Daryn and Joy
a second chance as well. It was obvious that he realized, without
Sammi having to say it, that her and her girls were a package deal.
No matter how rotten they may have acted, they were still her
girls.

“
We’d love to go to the zoo
on Saturday,” Sammi gladly accepted the invitation.

“
Great. I’ll get the times
down for everything and let you know all the specifics.”

“
I’d like that,” Sammi
blushed.

“
Me too,” Bo replied. “So
just talk it over with the girls and you and I will talk later.
Goodnight, Sammi.”

“
Goodnight, Bo.” Sammi hung
up the phone and couldn’t get the grin off her face as she sunk
down into her pillows. Her smile soon faded once she realized that
the deal wasn’t completely sealed yet. She now had to make a deal
with the packaged deal, A.K.A. her daughters, B.K. A. (better known
as), the Soul Sisters.

Oh, my
, Sammi thought before turning off the light.
I’d perhaps rather make a deal with the
devil.

Chapter
Thirteen

Life’s a Zoo

“
Thank you for giving my
girls another chance at making an impression on you,” Sammi said as
she and Bo walked hand in hand through the Columbus Zoo. “And for
giving me another chance too. I promise you that’s not how the
sauce was supposed to taste,” she smiled.

“
It’s okay.” Bo returned
the smile. “Trust me, like I said, I understand what it can be like
for a kid to accept someone other than their biological parent in
their life.” He looked over his shoulder at the girls who were
eating cotton candy and ice-cream as they trailed behind the
couple.

Once Kennedy, Daryn and Joy
saw Bo looking at them, they plastered fake smiles on their faces.
As soon as he turned back around, their smiles turned to devious
frowns.

“
Besides,” Bo continued,
“they’re girls with sweet, little innocent faces. They can’t be all
that bad, can they?”

Sammi bit her tongue and
quickly changed the subject. “Hey, we’ve been walking around this
place for almost an hour. What do you say we take a load off for a
minute?”

Bo spotted a bench that sat
up against a half brick wall. He led Sammi over to the bench while
the girls went and sat on the wall, finishing off their
snacks.

“
You know, I hated the zoo
when I was little,” Sammi confessed to Bo.

“
Is that so? Tell me about
it.” Bo used this opportunity to show attentiveness to Sammi by
scooting in close to her and putting his arm around her.

Just then, Kennedy
interrupted. “Mom, my lovely sisters and I would like to go see the
gorilla exhibit f you don’t mind?” Kennedy was acting so sweet,
she’d give a dentist a cavity.

“
Honey, we just sat down,”
Sammi told her. “How about you girls give us a minute to rest
up?”

“
Kennedy can watch us while
you and Mr. Bo stay here,” Daryn suggested.

“
Yeah, Mom,” Kennedy
agreed. “I watch them for an entire half hour everyday when we get
home from school-sometimes a whole hour if you’re running late.
Surely I can watch them for five minutes at the zoo.”

“
Ummm, I don’t know. I
better just go ahead and go with you guys,” Sammi said as she
prepared to stand. Bo removed his arm from around her and prepared
to follow suit.

“
Mom, come on,” Kennedy
begged as she began to wink her eye at her mother as she leaned
down to her ear and whispered. “Come on, Mom. We’re doing this for
you so that you can have some alone time with Mr. Bo. Do you really
think we want to go look at a bunch of extra large monkeys that
smell bad, stick their finger in their own butts and smell it?”
Kennedy stood back up and began using her regular tone of voice.
“The gorilla exhibit is just right in there.” Kennedy pointed to
the indoor cave like tunnel, which was a maze through the various
species of gorillas and monkeys.

Sammi observed it. “Yeah,
but I don’t know if I want you girls going in there by yourselves,”
she said in a leery voice.

“
Uh, duh…hello, Mom. I’m
thirteen years old. I’m not a baby any more. I think I can handle
being the boss of those two long enough to make it through the
gorilla exhibit.” Kennedy pointed at her sisters who made innocent
faces while shifting their heads from left to right for dramatic
effect. “Plus, you wouldn’t want to deny your youngest two
daughters the opportunity of getting a peek at their cousins, would
you?”

Daryn and Joy’s innocent
expressions turned to tight lip frowns.

“
Hey,” Daryn
spat.

Kennedy whispered over her
shoulder between closed teeth, “Hey, I gotta make this thing look
real don’t I?” She then turned a smiling face back toward her
mother. “So what do you say, Mom?”

Sammi had no idea how much
her response depended on the success of phase two of the Soul
sister’s operation.

“
Well…” Sammi
hesitated.

“
Oh, Sam, go on and let the
girls go,” Bo said, hoping to get brownie points with the girls.
“Let them enjoy themselves.” Not to mention the possibility of him
getting some alone time with Sammi.

“
Yeah, Mother,” Daryn
jumped in. “And while we’re gone, that will give you and Mr. Bo a
few minutes alone to talk about grown up stuff.”

Joy nudged Bo on the arm.
“Yeah, maybe even steal a little kissy-pooh-pooh while you’re at
it.”

“
Joy!” Sammi exclaimed with
a flustered look on her face as she tried to cover up her
blushing.

“
Can we, Mom? Can we
please?” the girls begged with their hands folded.

“
All right. Get out of
here…please,” their mother gave in.

The girls ran off, leaving
Sammi and Bo alone.

“
Wow, I’ve never seen the
girls getting alone so well. And I swear they’re on their best
behavior I’ve seen in a long time.” Sammi looked at Bo. “They must
really feel bad about last week.”

“
Yeah, like I said,” Bo
told her, “it just takes time for kids to accept a partner for
their parent outside of their other biological parent.”

“
Maybe you’re right,” Sammi
shrugged. “And who knew all it took was a trip to the
zoo?”

“
I knew,” Bo bragged. “But
anyway,” Bo started as he put his arm back around Sammi. “You were
telling me about how when you were little you didn’t care for the
zoo.”

Sammi smiled at Bo’s slick
gesture and his attentiveness. He‘d heard every word she had said
and remembered where she‘d left off. “Well, I just always found it
quite boring. I mean, I could never understand what was so exciting
about having a stare down with a bunch of animals. I mean, really,
think about it. What is the most excitement one can have at the
zoo?”

Bo chuckled. “Well, I can
tell you a couple of things.” Bo furrowed his brows in a flirting
manner.

“
Then why don’t you just
come right out and tell me, Mr. Hart?” Sammi leaned in closer to
Bo. Just as his lips were about to touch hers, Daryn came running
over to the bench in hysterics.

“
Mother! Mother! It’s Joy!”
Daryn yelled frantically.

“
What is it?” Sammi said
with fear. She didn’t like Daryn’s tone. Her heart began pounding
and she couldn’t have cared less about the kiss she had been about
to receive from Bo. “Where’s your sister? What’s the matter with
her?”

“
She’s gone missing,” Daryn
said.

“
Gone missing? What do you
mean gone missing?” Sammi jumped up off the bench.

“
Just gone,” Daryn said,
throwing her hands up. “One minute we’re looking at the gorillas
and the next minute she’s gone. We looked everywhere for her.
Kennedy is still in there trying to find her.”

“
Oh, no. We better go help
find her,” she said to Bo.

“
Just relax,” Bo said,
rising and taking hold of Sammi’s hand. “She’s not a baby. The girl
is twelve years old.”

“
Eleven,” Sammi snapped.
“And do you know what happens to eleven year old little girls who
get lost at the zoo while looking at gorillas?”

“
They go bananas?” Bo tried
to joke to get Sammi to relax and calm down.

“
That’s not funny, Bo,”
Sammi said sincerely. “Maybe you wouldn’t find it funny either if
it were your daughter missing.” Sammi rolled her eyes at Bo. Daryn
grabbed her by the arm as they headed toward the gorilla exhibit to
search for Joy.

“
I’ll go with you,” Bo told
Sammi.

“
No!” Sammi was quick to
say. “You stay here just in case she comes back to the bench
looking for us.”

“
Good idea,” Bo
agreed.

“
Come on, let’s go,” Sammi
told Daryn as they headed off into the gorilla exhibit.

Bo stayed put and kept an
eye on the Gorilla display. The gorilla display was U shaped. There
was an entrance and an exit door about six feet from each other. If
Joy came out of there before they could find her inside, he would
be right there waiting. He knew that Sammi was upset with his, what
appeared to be, lack of concern. Therefore, he had to admit that
the male macho side of him wanted to make it up to her by being the
one to find Joy. He wanted Sammi to be able to look at him like a
hero. Seems like almost everybody had their own hidden
agenda…especially the girls.

Chapter
Fourteen

Devil in Disguise

Kennedy knew she didn’t
have much time if their plan was going to work. It was all about
timing. Just as she was about to give up hope, she saw
her.

“
That’s her. That’s the
one,” Kennedy said to herself as she made her way toward a woman
who was standing next to one of her girlfriends checking out the
Pink Flamingos. “Hi,” Kennedy said after tapping the woman on the
shoulder.”

“
Well, hello,” the woman
replied, batting her mascara covered fake eyelashes. “What can I do
you for, sweetness?” the unknowing accomplice asked
Kennedy.

“
Well…I…Uh,” Kennedy
stammered purposely. “I really don’t know how to say this, but…do
you see that guy over there?” Kennedy pointed to Bo who was sitting
on the bench watching the gorilla entrance and exit
doors.

The woman perked up after
seeing the attractive man on the bench…all alone. “Well, sure I see
him.” She licked her lips and not one bit of the ruby red lipstick
she had matted on her lips came off. The woman then said under her
breath to her girlfriend, “Who could miss his fine-”