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.