Free Operation Get Rid of Mom's New Boyfriend by E. N. Joy Page B

was.
    “ Isn’t that a coincidence,
girls? That both Mr. Bo and I are an only child?”
    “ Pure twist of fate?”
Kennedy shot.
    There was a moment of
awkward silence again.
    “ So, Bo, how’s the food?”
Sammi asked.
    “ Oh, it’s delicious,” he
said as he scooped up another huge forkful and began to
chew.
    The girls looked from one
to another with confusion. They couldn‘t figure out why he was
enjoying a meal that should have set off a five alarm fire in his
mouth. Kennedy shrugged.
    “ It‘s a family recipe.”
Sammi smiled proudly as she took a bite of her own food.
    Bo licked his lips. “Well,
it’s the best spaghetti I’ve ever had. I mean this sauce is…this
sauce is…” Just then, Bo’s eyes watered up and his face turned beat
red. “This sauce is…”
    “ My sauce is what?” Sammi
smiled as she batted her eyes. She just knew a compliment was
coming.
    “ It’s hot!” Bo managed to
shout as he began to choke.
    “ Oh, my goodness! For
goodness sakes,” Sammi said as she stood up and went to Bo’s aide.
She felt helpless, as Bo couldn’t even talk. He gripped his hands
around his own throat as if he were choking himself. Thinking quick
on her feet, Sammi handed him his glass of punch.
    The girls sat there
watching the scene unfold, kicking each other under the table with
excitement that their plan was playing out just as they had
imagined.
    “ Here, drink this,” Sammi
told Bo.
    He took the glass from
Sammi and began gulping it down. Within seconds, all the red punch
went flying out of his mouth and all over Sammi‘s outfit.
“Pah-yuk!” Bo choked. He managed to get up and go over to the
kitchen sink. He turned the water to cold and began chugging right
from the faucet.
    The girls couldn’t hold it
in any longer as they each burst into laughter. They laughed so
hard that tears fell from their eyes. They were holding their
stomachs and keeling over. Joy laughed so hard that she fell out of
her chair. It was when she looked up to see her mother towering
over her, dripping in fruit punch, that her laughter, along with
her sisters’ laughter, stopped.
    They had pretty much
expected what Bo’s reaction would be after he dug into his extra
spicy plate of food and after he drank his bitter drink.
Nevertheless, it was their mother’s reaction that they had failed
to prepare themselves for. That was one glitch in their operation
they’d have to repair, but for now, it was too little too late.
There was no time to prepare for their mother’s wrath.
     

Chapter Ten
    No Apologies, No
Regrets
    “ Girls, how could you?”
Sammi said in a disappointed tone. Her voice was shaky. It sounded
as if she wanted to cry, but the girls knew she wouldn’t. They
hadn’t seen her cry since their father’s funeral. Her eyes had
watered, tears had threatened to fall, but each threat had been
idle.
    Just a couple minutes ago,
Sammi had walked Bo to the door, apologizing for her daughters’
actions the entire time. He’d left without telling her that he
accepted the apology. The rawness and burning in his throat as a
result of the pasta sauce had prevented him from being able to
speak.
    As Bo walked out of the
door, he had put his hand to his ear and mouth as if it were a
phone, signaling Sammi that he would call her. She knew in her
heart, though, that he wouldn’t. Sad thing about it was, she
couldn’t blame him. There were, though, three other people she
could blame.
    Kennedy, Daryn and Joy each
sat on the couch silently with no reply to their mother’s question.
They were slightly moved by Sammi’s obvious frustration with them,
but the feeling of victory deep down inside them was too
overwhelming for them to truly show it. They hadn’t intended to
hurt their mother, but the look on her face proved that they had.
So even though their faces expressed some regret, they still
couldn’t help but to rejoice over the success of the evening;
according to their plans anyway. Of course, their mother