Operation Get Rid of Mom's New Boyfriend (8 page)

As heartfelt as their
mother’s words sounded, the girls were not picking up what she was
putting down. They just weren’t buying it.

“
Well, it looks like you’ve
gone out and got yourself another heart…literally,” Kennedy
contested.

“
Yeah, Bo Hart,” Daryn
agreed.

“
So if that’s not replacing
Daddy, then I don’t know what is,” Joy huffed.

“
Does he have any kids?”
Kennedy asked without waiting on an answer, “because the next thing
you know,” she directed her words to her sisters, “she’ll be
replacing us too.”

“
Enough!” Sammi said,
raising her voice. “I will not sit here and listen to you girls
talk this way!” The seriousness of her tone stunned the girls. She
had never sounded so angry and disappointed in her life. “Now I let
you girls get away with a whole lot of mess. I don’t know why.
Maybe I thought it was a way of you all expressing yourselves as a
result of missing your father; or just plain ol’ sibling rivalry.
But enough is enough!”

The room was dead silent.
Sammi could hear her voice echo through the quiet house. She
decided to bring it down a notch. She cleared her throat, gathered
her composure and then continued to speak. “Now, I’ve met someone,
and not just anyone…and no, not a replacement for your father. But
I’ve met a man who is loving, kind and caring. He treats me
wonderfully. So I hate to say it, girls, but for once, this is not
about you. It’s about me and what I want. And what I want is for
you girls to act like you’ve got some sense when Bo comes and has
dinner with us.” Sammi dropped that bomb nice and smooth…but it
still exploded nonetheless.

“
Dinner!” she heard ring
out from her daughters.

“
You’re bringing some jive
turkey up in Daddy’s house?” Kennedy shouted.

Sammi put her hands on her
hips and proudly said, “As a matter of fact, I am!” She exhaled and
then continued. “Now, like I was saying; I want you girls to act
like you have some sense when Bo comes to dinner on
Sunday.”

“
Sunday?” Sammi heard the
girls say.

“
Did she say Sunday?” Joy
looked from one sister to the next in disbelief. “I thought I heard
her say Sunday.”

“
Yes, Sunday,” Sammi
repeated.

“
But that’s family dinner
time…our time,” Joy reminded her mother.

Sammi feigned dumbfounded.
She put her index finger to her head. “Well, yeah, it is, isn’t
it?”

“
But not even Miss Rachel
has ever intruded on our Sunday family dinner,” Daryn
said.

Sammi just sat there
looking at the hurt faces on her children. She decided to cut them
a little slack and lose the attitude she was beginning to form.
After all, how could she expect her children to act calm and
reasonable if she didn’t? “Look, girls, I’m sorry you feel the way
you do right now. But I know once you meet Bo, your feelings about
him will change. He’s a good man, girls. He can’t wait to meet you
guys. After all, it was his idea to finally meet you girls in the
first place. You have to know that I’d never bring anyone around
you that I felt wouldn’t be good for you.”

The girls didn’t
respond.

Sammi sighed. “I’m sorry
about yelling and carrying on. This isn’t how I wanted to share my
and Bo’s relationship with you three. The last thing I wanted was
to make you girls even more upset about it.”

The girls still didn’t
respond.

Sammi realized that she
wasn’t going to get anywhere with her daughters tonight. “Look,
just finish up your dinner and clean up the kitchen. We’ll talk
about this later.” Sammi excused herself from the table and went up
the stairs.

The girls sat in miserable
silence for a few moments.

“
Did everything that I
think just happen really happen?” Joy asked. “Did Mommy say she’s
got a man? Because I thought I heard her say she’s got a man…and
that he’s coming to dinner. Did she say he’s coming to dinner?
Sunday dinner no less? Because I thought I heard her-”

“
She said it-all right!”
Kennedy spat. She then pushed her plate away and said, “I’ve lost
my appetite.”

“
Me too,” Daryn said,
followed by Joy saying, “Me three.”

Once again, there was
silence until Kennedy spoke. “It was his idea to meet us,
huh?”

“
Yeah, he couldn’t wait to
just get all up in our mama’s house so he can start taking over
things.” Joy folded her arms pretzel style.

“
Mr. Bossy probably even
expects us to cook the Sunday dinner too,” Daryn spat.

“
Yeah,” Joy
huffed.

Just then, it was as if a
bright light bulb went off in Kennedy’s head. “Yeah,” she said with
enthusiasm. “Cook his dinner?” She snapped her finger. “And that’s
exactly what we’re going to do…cook his dinner.”

“
Speak for yourself,
sistah,” Daryn started, “I’m not fixing noth...” Daryn’s words
trailed off as just then she noticed the wicked, evil grin that
covered Kennedy’s face. Soon enough, a wicked, evil grin covered
her face as well.

It didn’t take long for Joy
to catch on either as the same expression showed itself across her
face. “You girls thinking what I’m thinking?” she smiled, nodding
her head.

“
Oh yeah.” Kennedy rubbed
her hands together. “Mom dreamed of the day that we could all just
get along long enough to agree on one thing.” She looked to each of
her sisters. “Well, ladies, we are about to make Mom’s dream come
true.”

Joy agreed. “Yep, we’ve
finally found something to agree upon.”

Kennedy looked to each of
her sisters. “And what is that ladies?”

Altogether, the girls said,
“Get rid of mom’s new boyfriend!”

Kennedy put her fist out.
Daryn placed her fist on top of Kennedy’s, then Joy’s on top of
Daryn’s.

Kennedy whispered,
“Operation Get Rid of Mom’s New Boyfriend, effective
immediately!”

The girls allowed their
fist to drop as they began the planning stages for a successful
operation to get rid of Bo Hart, before he stole their mother’s
heart.

Chapter Nine

Recipe for
Disaster

Ding Dong!

“
Oh, my God, that’s him!”
Sammi exclaimed after hearing the doorbell ring. “But the homemade
spaghetti sauce I made from Mom’s family recipe isn’t even done
yet. It’s still simmering. And you know what Grandma always said
about her special sauce; ‘It’s all about the simmer-one hour long.
Not fifty-nine minutes, but one whole hour.”

Sammi looked up at the
kitchen clock. “Five-thirty; he’s right on time, but my spaghetti
sauce isn‘t.” She tore off her apron and patted down her hair.
“What am I going to do?”

Just then, Sammi looked
over at the kitchen table where her three daughters sat. They
weren‘t looking nearly as excited about the arrival of their dinner
guest as their mother was. Kennedy sat so slouched down in her
chair that she looked Daryn’s height. Joy sat with her chin on the
table looking like a sad, lost puppy, while Daryn rested her elbows
on the table and her face in her hands.

Sighing, Sammi said to her
daughters, “Look, girls, I know you guys really weren’t looking
forward to Bo coming to dinner tonight, but he’s here now…and Mommy
needs your help.” She walked over to the table. “Do you think you
all could watch and stir the sauce for me while I go let Bo in?”
Just then, the doorbell rang again. “Could you, please?” a
desperate Sammi asked.

None of the girls replied.
Agitated, Sammi said, “Well, I’m not asking you, I’m telling you.”
She looked to Kennedy. “Kennedy, you go stir the spaghetti and,
Daryn, you whip up some of Grandma Soul’s recipe for fruit punch.”
She looked at Joy. “And you help with the punch. I’ll be back in a
minute.” After giving orders, Sammi exited the kitchen to go let
her date in.

The girls watched their
mother excitedly exit the kitchen.

“
Look, I was all for that
little plan of ours at first,” Kennedy said, “but then I figure
just being out right mean to the guy might get rid of him too. I
mean, being a jerk toward the guy is much easier.”

“
I agree,” Daryn said. “You
being a jerk comes quite naturally.”

Kennedy shot her an evil
eye, but decided against verbally responding. She had bigger fish
to fry right now. “But can you believe Mom is making our
grandmother’s sauce to feed another man?” Kennedy spat as she went
and began to stir the sauce with a wooden spoon. “That’s a family
recipe.” Kennedy raised her tone, hoping that their guest would
hear her. “And he’s not family!”

“
And she’s making our
father’s mother’s fruit punch recipe to quench another man’s
thirst,” Daryn added as she got some oranges from the fridge and
began to peel them.

“
And she’s making her
daughters make their father’s mother’s special recipe to feed
another man,” Joy said, retrieving the sugar from the cupboard.
“That’s low.” Joy’s eyes tightened. “Even lower than us. And that’s
pretty darn low.”

Kennedy and Daryn shot Joy
a look.

“
Okay, maybe not that low,”
Joy smiled nervously.

The girls each nodded in
agreement; a rare act on their part.

“
Yeah, I can’t believe
she’s making us prepare the dinner that her new boyfriend is going
to…” A huge, wicked grin covered Kennedy’s face as her words
trailed off.

“
What?” Joy said. “What
were you about to say?”

She looked over to Joy who
was now helping Daryn fill a glass pitcher with the punch
ingredients. “This must be fate; or what the grown-ups mean by
opportunity knocking.” Kennedy’s eyes were lit up, but that
menacing grin was still on her face.

Daryn looked up at Kennedy.
She was replaying Kennedy’s words in her head to try to figure out
exactly what it was she’d said that made her stand there with that
look on her face. It didn’t take long for Daryn to know what to
make of it. “Oh, I know that look.” A wicked grin soon covered
Daryn’s face as well.

“
Are you thinking what I’m
thinking?” Kennedy asked Daryn.

“
You betcha,” Daryn
said.

“
Well, will somebody tell
me what’s going on?” Joy asked as she lifted the bag of sugar to
pour into the pitcher.

“
Whoa-not so fast, little
sister” Daryn said, lifting her hand and blocking Joy from pouring
in the sugar.

“
But it needs sugar or
otherwise it will taste like…” Joy started before her words trailed
off. She was now catching on to what her sisters were up to.
“Ohhhhh; I get it,” she smiled. “Opportunity is knocking for us to
put our original plan in motion.”

“
And we’re going to answer
the door,” Kennedy proclaimed, heading over to a
cabinet.

For the last hour they had
attempted sabotage the meal their mother was preparing for their
dinner guest. Sammi had never left the kitchen in order for them to
do so. She’d been watching over the meal like a hawk. But now,
she’d basically put the plan in motion herself by turning over the
kitchen to her daughters.

“
Now, for that last missing
ingredient from Grandma’s sauce.” Kennedy grinned as she opened the
cabinet that the seasonings and condiments were kept in.

“
But there is no other
ingredient,” Joy informed her oldest sister.

Standing there with crushed
red pepper in one hand and a bottle of hot sauce in the other,
Kennedy replied, “Oh yes there is; two to be exact.”

“
You are so bad,” Daryn
said, shaking her head.

“
Thanks for the
compliment,” Kennedy winked.

“
He’s definitely going to
lose his appetite for dinner,” Joy chuckled.

“
After we get finished with
Mr. Bo Hart tonight,” Kennedy affirmed, “not only is he going to
lose his appetite for dinner, but hopefully he’s going lose his
appetite for our mother as well.”

***

“
Girls, come on into the
living room, I want you all to meet-” Sammi started as she peeked
her head into the kitchen. Her words halted when she saw the table
beautifully set with Grandma Soul’s good china. She guessed then
that her stern words she’d delivered to her daughters earlier in
the kitchen had really gotten through to them. Obviously, her words
had enough affect to change their attitude about the new man in her
life. It looked as though the girls might be willing to give Bo a
chance after all. “It’s absolutely lovely in here.” Sammi entered
the kitchen.

“
Thanks, Mom,” Kennedy
smiled as she piled the cooked noodles that had been sitting in the
strainer onto each plate.

“
Why don’t you have Mr. Bo
come on in for dinner? We don’t want it to get cold while we’re all
out there going through pleasantries,” Daryn suggested as she
removed garlic toast from the oven.

“
Yeah,” Joy added. “Rebecca
Joe’s big sister said that there’s no better way to a man’s heart
than with food; hot food.”

“
And it’s hot all right,”
Daryn mumbled under her breath.