Operation Get Rid of Mom's New Boyfriend (13 page)

“
Eyes?” Rachel
guessed.

“
Yeah, eyes. Whatever.”
Sammi swished her hand. “But he tried to accuse the girls of
setting it all up, like it was a joke or something.”

Rachel paused for a moment
before saying, “Well, they did play one heck of a joke on him just
a week ago,” Rachel reminded Sammi.

“
Yes, but that was
different. This was serious,” Sammi reasoned. “The girls and I have
had talks about strangers and strangers kidnapping kids. They know
how I feel about that subject matter. They’d never do something
like that to me.”

Outside the door, each girl
expressed a sad, regretful look on their face. Before putting plan
B of their operation into motion, they honestly hadn’t thought
about how it was going to make their mother feel. That seemed to
continue to be the glitch in all of their plans that they just
couldn’t seem to work out. And now that they could hear how it was
making her feel, they almost wished they hadn’t pulled that little
stunt…almost.

“
And, Rachel,” the girls
heard their mother continue, “you know Kennedy, Daryn or Joy would
never agree to do something like that. Heck, water could be pouring
from the sky and you couldn’t get those three to agree that it was
raining. One of ‘em would swear up and down it was melted
snow.”

Rachel chuckled at Sammi’s
comment. “Well, maybe they didn’t mean to do it to you. Maybe they
just meant to do it to Bo and didn’t really think about how it
would make you feel.”

Rachel was right. When the
girls came up with the idea after learning that they were going to
the zoo with Bo, they now wished that maybe they had considered how
their mother might have reacted. All they thought about was how bad
it would make Bo look in their mother’s eyes. And at least that
part of the plan had worked.

“
So are you siding with
Bo?” Sammi was quick to ask Rachel. “Do you honestly think my girls
would do something so despicable as to pretend to be lost at the
zoo?”

“
It’s not about what I
think. It’s about what Bo thinks. Moreover, Sammi, can you really
blame him for thinking it? I mean, what other impression do you
expect him to have of your daughters besides being tricksters?
That’s the only side he’s seen of them.”

This time Sammi paused, and
outside of the door, the girls crossed their fingers and hoped
Sammi’s next words to her best friend wouldn’t be what they though
they might be.

“
Well,” Sammi started,
“maybe you’re right. Maybe I was a little too hard on
Bo.”

Outside of the door, the
girls collapsed on the floor in defeat.

“
Thanks a lot, Miss
Rachel,” Kennedy whispered. “For talking Mom into forgiving that
sucker.”

“
Yeah; Miss Rachel is
nothing but a…a…” Daryn started, but Joy finished.

“
A voice of reason.” Joy
stared off.

“
A what?” Both Kennedy and
Daryn looked to their sister.

“
Oh, never mind, Kennedy,
you’ll learn all about that next year.” Joy said in her Miss
Know-It-All fashion. She then turned to her sisters. “You guys do
know what this means don’t you?”

“
What?” Kennedy
questioned.

“
Let me guess,” Daryn said,
ready to take her shot at being a know-it-all. “Operation Get Rid
of Mom’s New Boyfriend; phase three.”

***

The girls were riding on
the school bus together. Nothing was out of the ordinary about
that. They always rode the school bus together. What was out of the
ordinary, though, was that they were sitting together. The bus
driver kept a close eye on them, peeking at them through his
rearview mirror every time the bus came to a stop. He couldn’t help
but remember what had happened the last time the girls had sat
together on the bus. We’ll he half way remembered anyway thanks to
the concussion he received.

Last school year, he’d
parked the bus and was on his way to break up an altercation
between the Soul Sisters. Out of nowhere, a book meant for one of
the sisters thrown by another sister, accidentally hit the bus
driver in the head. For two entire weeks, Sammi had to drive the
girls to school after being suspended from the bus.

The Soul Sisters hadn’t
shared a seat on the bus together since. But now, here they were
not only sharing a seat, but they were laughing and
giggling.

“
Oh, this is going to be a
good one,” Kennedy rubbed her hands together and said. “I think
this is our best plan yet. This one has got to work. I mean, it’s
not too dramatic, nobody is going to get hurt…”

Just then, Daryn’s laughter
faded. “I don’t know, Kennedy. Did you see the look on mother’s
face when you told her that you wanted to ask Bo to play in the
Father-Kid Basketball Tournament with you?”

“
What?” Kennedy shrugged.
“She didn’t suspect a thing. It’s been an entire month since the
two of them made up after that zoo incident. We’ve been like little
angels when it comes to Bo. When mom talks about Bo, we act like
we’re interested. When mom says she’s going out on a date with Bo,
we help her get dressed. When Bo comes to the house to pick her up,
we welcome him with open arms. When we did the whole Sunday dinner
thing again just last week, we didn’t even sabotage his food. So,
see, everything is working just as planned. Which is why I think
this time, we’re going to get rid of Mr. Bo Hart for
good.”

Daryn still didn’t look too
certain. “I hear what you’re saying. And I know we’re not setting
out to hurt anybody, not physically anyway. But you heard what Miss
Rachel said to Mother that day we were eavesdropping outside of her
door. She was right; we didn’t think about how what we were doing
would hurt Mother. But this time…”

“
This time it’s going to
work and Mom will get over it.” Kennedy was stern. It was obvious
she didn’t like the idea of Daryn getting soft on her. “She got
over it these last two times didn’t she?”

Daryn had some doubts about
moving forward with the operation. She didn’t want to upset or hurt
her mother intentionally or unintentionally. But she didn’t want
her sisters to think less of her by wimping out on them. “If you
say so,” Daryn said, “but I still-”

“
Well, I do say so,”
Kennedy said, raising her voice a notch or two, enough for the bus
driver to notice and give them the eye through the rearview mirror.
Kennedy lowered her voice again. “Look, the sooner we get rid of
that jive turkey, the sooner our lives can go back to normal. The
sooner it can be just us and Mom again. Isn’t that what you want?
Isn’t that what we all want?” Kennedy looked to both Daryn and Joy
who ultimately nodded. “Good. Then all we have to do is stick to
the plan. But more importantly, we have to stick
together.”

Both Daryn and Joy remained
silent, so Kennedy needed confirmation that they were still one
hundred percent with her. She stuck her fist out. Daryn looked at
Kennedy’s fist just sitting there in the air, then finally she
placed her fist on top of Kennedy’s. Next, Joy hesitantly placed
her fist on top of Daryn’s.

Although Kennedy felt more
certain of the outcome of the girls’ plan than her two younger
sisters, only time would tell. As a matter of fact, the exact time
would be after school today at three o’clock p.m.

Tick tock-tick
tock.

Chapter Sixteen

Tick Tock

The gymnasium at Saint Amos
Private School was full of fathers, uncles, cousins, stepfathers
and male family friends. They were all paired up with a student who
attended the school. Today was try-out day for the annual
Father-Kid Basketball Tournament. Practically everyone who tried
out was admitted into the tournament, but the judges wanted to be
able to break up the competitors into groups based on grades and
sizes. They also wanted to separate the male students from the
female students.

Kennedy sat on the bench
with her basketball in hand waiting for her turn to try out. Sammi
sat next to her while Joy and Daryn sat up in the stands. The two
weren’t sitting with each other. Instead, they were sitting with
friends of theirs. They had been spending more time together than
usual planning out their little schemes. They didn’t want Sammi to
start getting suspicious.

“
Are you nervous?” Sammi
asked Kennedy.

Kennedy had been sitting
there for the last few minutes rolling the ball back and forth in
her hands while watching the door. “Uh, no, I’m, uh, fine,” Kennedy
stuttered.

Sammi followed Kennedy’s
eyes to the double doors. She then looked down at her watch. It was
ten minutes after two o’clock. “I know you’re a little nervous
about Bo coming to try out to be in the tournament with you. I also
know this was a big step for you, inviting him to play with you in
the tournament period.” Sammi tried to choose her words carefully.
“You haven’t played in it since you’re father…” Sammi took a deep
breath thinking that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to bring up
Kennedy’s father. She looked into Kennedy’s eyes. “Anyway, honey,
don’t worry. I’m sure you and Bo will do fine.”

“
Yeah, if he ever gets
here,” Kennedy pouted.

“I’m sure Bo will be here
soon. After all, he’s the most prompt man I’ve ever met,” Sammi
smiled.

“
More prompt than Daddy
was?” Kennedy questioned.

Sammi’s smile faded as she
looked down at her watch again. “What time did you tell him try
outs started?”

“
Two o’clock,” Kennedy
lied. Well, perhaps she didn’t actually lie. At first, she had told
Bo that the tryouts started at two o’clock. Then she had sent him a
text message that morning telling him that their exact tryout time
was three o’clock. She wondered how perfectly prompt her mother
would think Bo was after today.

About forty-five minutes
later Kennedy was still watching the door and Sammi was still
looking down at her watch. One of the school gym teachers
interrupted both their actions when she shouted out, “Last call for
participants in grades five through eight.”

“
Isn’t that your division?”
Sammi asked Kennedy.

“
Yes.” Kennedy put her head
down, pretending to be disappointed.

“
Well, I uh, don’t know
what happened with Bo. I tried to call him on his cell phone, but
it went straight to voicemail. I know sometimes he turns his phone
off when he’s in a meeting. Perhaps he forgot to turn it back on.
Or maybe he’s still in the meeting. I do recall him saying that he
had a meeting today but that he would move it around the try out
time.”

Kennedy had recalled him
saying that too, which was all the more reason why she knew their
plan would be pulled off without a hitch.

Sammi worriedly looked at
her watch and continued to try to come up with all kinds of excuses
for Bo. She looked at her watch one last time. “Are you sure you
told him to be here at two o’clock?”

“
You’re here aren’t you?”
Kennedy made her point. “I told him the same time I told you; that
try outs start at two o‘clock and end at three o‘clock.”

“
Kennedy,” the gym teacher
walked over to Kennedy and said. She then looked to Sammi. “Hello,
Ms. Soul,” she greeted.

“
Good afternoon,” Sammi
greeted in return.

The gym teacher then turned
her attention back to Kennedy. “I have you on my try out list. It’s
last call. Have you had a change of heart?” The gym teacher knew
about the girls losing their father. Kennedy hadn’t played in any
tournaments since his passing. The gym teacher had been surprised
to even see Kennedy’s name on the try-out list.

“
A change
of heart?” Kennedy repeated. She looked up over at her mother.
“
Heart
…I
guess you could say something like that.” Kennedy looked back to
the gym teacher. “I guess I won’t be trying out after
all.”

“
Okay then.” The gym
teacher crossed Kennedy’s name off the list and then walked
away.

Kennedy stood up. “Let’s
go, Mom. I don’t want to be here. I knew this was a mistake. The
only man we could ever depend on was Daddy. I don‘t know why you
think that’s ever going to change.”

Kennedy’s words stung
Sammi. And at the same time, she wondered if perhaps she was
wanting this thing between her and Bo too much, to the point where
her girls could possibly get hurt. First, there was the incident at
the zoo that she was still iffy about in regard to Bo accusing the
girls of faking. Now there was Bo not being there for Kennedy,
after she put pride aside to make a mends with him. Maybe God was
trying to give her a sign; that Bo was not the right man to allow
into her and her girls’ lives.

On cue, Daryn and Joy
approached Kennedy and their mother.

“
Hey, Kennedy, aren’t you
trying out?” Joy asked knowingly.

Kennedy looked at Sammi.
“Mom, can we just get out of here?” She then took off walking while
her two sisters and mother followed behind her. Three o’clock was
right around the corner. She had to hurry up and get out of there
before Bo showed up and Sammi tried to talk the teachers into
letting them go ahead and try out. The last thing she wanted to do
was be in that stupid Father-Kid Basketball Tournament with her
mom’s boyfriend. He wasn’t even a stepfather but just some guy, is
how Kennedy saw it. Their lives didn’t have room for just some guy.
Their lives didn’t have room for Bo Hart.