Bo Dennis is not a lost girl anymore (faetedlove) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-12-19 19:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, bo dennis, kenzi malikov, lara croft |
Who: Kenzi, Lara and Bo
What: Paying a visit to Bo's adoptive parents to attempt to possibly mend bridges. Things go better than anticipated.
When: Early December
Where: Bo's childhood home in Canada
Warnings: Feels. Lots and lots of feels.
Bo had at least been back to Winnipeg since she’d run away from home. She’d had to come back earlier in the year to get her passport stuff ironed out. Their flight had arrived on time, and then there was a car rental because it was still a couple hour drive to the farm Bo had grown up on. She took it upon herself to drive, mostly because she knew where they were going. However, she was getting more and more anxious the closer they got. She was almost sick to her stomach and her knuckles turned white on the steering wheel now and then.
She didn’t know what she’d find upon arriving, but she hoped that it wasn’t worse than what her dreams had been. It might be too much to ask that both of her adoptive parents were alive and well, but she hoped that she could at least have a conversation with them. Or maybe they’d turn her away at the door. Those thoughts, among others, kept echoing in her head as she drove.
Finally, she pulled to a stop at the end of a long driveway. There was a white two story house with a large porch on one side of the driveway, and there was a barn further on. There were a couple big, old trees around the house and some open land behind the house. All in all, it looked like a nice place to live, albeit kind of removed from civilization.
“Well, there it is.” Bo said, swallowing past a lump in her throat as her heart was starting to pound in her chest. She then pulled into the driveway and drove closer to the house. Kenzi would certainly recognize the place because it looked similar to the one in the dreams.
Back in the dear ol’ homeland! It’d been awhile since Kenzi left - there was a certain ex with a mommy-complex she purposefully avoided (considering Birkhoff had helped her wipe him clean of moolah, uh, so…), not to mention most of the Russian side of the family, but she doubted they’d get a whiff of her arrival anyway. Nothing would stop her from being there for her bestie as it was, everything else be damned. There was no way to really know how this would go down, but she’d been there when Bo faced her mother in the dreams and she’d be there in this life, too.
During the entire drive she remained in the backseat, making some quips here and there to lighten the mood and occupying the lag time with the latest Pokemon DS game - she got Moon, of course - but once the vehicle slowed she blinked her eyes up, and woosh came that wave of deja vu.
“That’s one thing that hasn’t really changed,” she mumbled under her breath and closed the handheld console, stuffing it in her bag, and then adjusted the black corset jacket she’d been wearing. It was cold out here. “Take a deeeeeep breath, Bobo. Namaste this shit. You’re allowed some extra minutes to collect yourself, you know.”
If things got violent, Lara had smuggled a gun across the border. It would be hard to get to while in the car, but it wasn’t like she wasn’t experienced in moving weapons where they shouldn’t be. She was always prepared.
Of course, Lara wasn’t planning on shooting Bo’s parents. “It’s a nice house.” She put her hand on Bo’s leg. “Take your time. A few more minutes isn’t going to change a thing.”
Bo was thankful for the periodic quips. She definitely needed them. Her stomach was tying itself in knots over how her parents were going to react to her. Was her father even still alive? Would her mother have enough of her mind to recognize her? She was definitely worried. She was even entertaining the possibility that neither of her parents were in the house anymore. Perhaps her father had died and her mother was suffering from dementia, and perhaps her aunt had taken steps to give her mother the care she needed.
As horrendously difficult as it was to face her parents again, Bo really didn’t want to have to go knocking at her aunt’s door. It would be best if her aunt remained out of the loop for Bo being here. If things went well today, then maybe her aunt would get a call from her mother. But until then, no one needed to know of her arrival.
Looking back at Kenzi, then at Lara, she set a hand over Lara’s. “I know, but I feel if I don’t go up there now, then I’ll just sit here forever. Or possibly turn the car around and leave. Or get out and run away.” While she could potentially outrun Kenzi, depending on the footwear her bestie had chosen, she well knew she couldn’t outrun Lara. Not in the long run, anyway. Lara would always catch her eventually, she had more stamina in that department.
“Whatever happens, I’m so thankful both of you are here. It means a lot to me.” Bo managed a soft smile, looking from Kenzi to Lara again. She needed both of them to get through this.
Rip the bandaid and all that, Kenzi understood - simmering could lead to more doubt, but it still wouldn’t hurt for the succubus to take a couple of deep breaths to ease those frazzled nerves. “We wouldn’t miss it,” replied the tiniest thief with a wink, opening the car door. “And whatever happens you know we’ve got your back, okay?”
Hopefully they’d see reason, hopefully Bo’s mother wasn’t suffering from dementia nor was her father dead, but they wouldn’t know until they got there. Time to get the show on the road, sweetcheeks.
Lara could be like those horror movies, where you keep glancing behind you and she’s still there, only a little closer each time. “No running, then.” She moved her hand to Bo’s back and rubbed in circles. “But we’re here for you. And we’ll give you a little push if you need it.” She nudged Bo, then opened her door and got out. If they were out, Bo would eventually have to follow.
Despite the anxiety and doubts that this was going to be a good thing, Bo was the type that didn’t back down from something once she’d set her mind to it. Even though this was difficult, she wasn’t going to let fear of what might be win. If this would turn out for the worse, at least she could say she tried. It would hurt, of course, but she could be content that she’d at least put effort in. She took a couple deep breaths, looking at the house as Kenzi and Lara got out of the car. She could do this.
Bo got out of the car, then handed the keys to Lara. “Just in case I do make a run for it, I won’t be able to drive away and leave you both here in hicksville.” It was a slight attempt at a joke, and also hopefully enough of a reassurance for Kenzi that Bo wouldn’t leave her behind like she had in the dreams.
That done, Bo only hesitated a few moments before she strode towards the porch. She was, of course, wearing all black. She was wearing a black leather jacket as the cold didn’t bother her. Besides, it could be way worse than it currently was. She strode up to the door, again hesitating as she took a breath, then finally lifted her hand and knocked. This was the moment of truth.
Or more like the minute or two of truth, but finally the door opened. A woman with dark blonde hair was on the other side. Kenzi might get another shot of deja vu and recognize her as Mary Dennis, Bo’s mother. There was a moment where Bo and Mary just kind of stared at each other.
“Beth? Oh Beth, you came home!” And then the screen door was opening and Bo was suddenly enveloped in a hug. Now it was her turn to have deja vu because that’s what had happened in her dreams.
“Mama?” There was shock, and perhaps a little confusion in her voice. It was a little slow, but Bo finally did return the hug. And that was the first shot to her emotions.
The moment of truth. Kenzi trailed behind as they walked towards the house, ready to serve as some kind of barricade should Bo get a case of cold feet (no pun intended with the wintry Canadian temperature), but the moment the succubus knocked on the door it had all definitely become one of those ‘no turning back’ moments.
“Deep breaths,” she reminded with a quiet mumble, and then -
Well. Second wave of deja vu aside, those blue eyes blinked a little wide in pleasant surprise for the time being. That reaction was at least good. Her mother recognized Bo, and at the moment had literally welcomed her with open arms, but there was also the fact that her parents were a wee bit closed minded, so…
Kenzi’s smile was faint but it was there, and she passed Lara a glance that translated to: so far so good.
Lara fiddled with her pendant, the jade Maori design that had been with her in her dream life since she’d been a child. Watch Bo brought back her own feelings of parental abandonment, but she squished them down. This was Bo’s time, and she needed to be supportive. She glanced at Kenzi and smiled in turn. So far so good. This might actually turn out good.
Bo was too in shock at this initial reception to really think or react beyond returning the hug. This was intensely strange to her, and definitely not at all how she’d thought this would go. Did this mean her mother was suffering from dementia? She didn’t know yet.
After several moments, Mary pulled back, looking at Bo with teary eyes. “Come in, come in out of the cold.” She then looked past Bo at Kenzi and Lara. “All of you, come in!”
Getting some of her sense back as the shock faded slightly, Bo followed her mother inside, more than a little afraid of what would come. She’d crossed the threshold, but what would she find now?
“Sam! Sam, come see who’s here!” Mary called before she turned back to the three girls. “Would you like some coffee or hot chocolate or something?”
Bo refrained from saying vodka because she felt like she needed a shot or five right then. “No, mama, I’m fine.” But she was turning down chocolate. That was saying something considering she was practically addicted to anything chocolate. She was more focused on the fact that her father was, seemingly, alive here. Unless her mother was having an episode or something.
Man, Kenzi was going to get reaaaaal pissed if this was some kind of facade or something - it was in her nature to second guess and err on the side of caution. That’s how she made sure Bo stayed out of a mess, though to be honest that hardly ever worked.
“I’m good, thanks,” she managed to politely reply while keeping in the background, scanning the house for any signs of Sam. Moment of truth. Bo’s mommy dearest was either nuts in the head and maybe hallucinating her dead husband, or her husband was alive and kicking and she should expect some kind of tearful group hug.
Did Bo just turn down chocolate? Lara turned to Kenzi and mouthed those words, her eyebrows raised in shock. Bo just had to be rattled, but she left it up to her to introduce them. If she remembered to even do so. In her current mental state she probably wasn’t thinking clearly. Lara erred on the side of politeness. “Just some water, thank you.”
This really was the moment of truth. Until Sam walked into the room, Bo was more inclined to think her mother had dementia here as well. After all, she had continually spoken of Sam in the present tense in the dream. But within a minute, a tall man walked into the room. His hair was mostly grey, but there was still a little bit of the brown that it had once been.
Well, at least her mother wasn’t delusional or something? But Bo very nearly lost it at seeing her dad.
“Beth?” He asked, obviously shocked and having stopped in his tracks. While Mary quickly went to retrieve a glass of water, Bo was enveloped in another hug. When Mary returned, she gave Lara the glass of water.
“Please, sit down,” Mary said, gesturing to the couch in the living room.
Okay. Deep breaths. Bo took a couple after her dad released. Then she somehow remembered Lara and Kenzi were there. But first was the getting a grip on her emotions enough to speak. “Mama, dad, this is Kenzi and Lara.” She was going to start simple. She’d already told Lara she wasn’t going to hide that they were getting married (that engagement ring was rather visible on her finger). “I don’t really know where to start.” Where did one start when the last time they’d seen each other there’d been a heated fight, and twelve years had then passed? She sat down in the middle of the couch, room enough on either side for Kenzi and Lara to sit and be a wall of protection.
Also a deterrent if she decided to try to bolt and run. Climbing over one of them or the couch wouldn’t let her get very far.
Daaaaaaaaaamn. Pops was alive! Things were looking extra up, but that caution wasn’t tossed to the wind just yet - it all could really be that initial ‘OMG’ honeymoon moment before things went to total shit. Kenzi was glad her dad was alive, though, she knew how upset she was about missing the attempt at making any sort of amends.
At least she had one here. The life of second chances, or whatever.
Loyally, she sat by Bo’s side and offered an awkward wave. “Yoooooo,” she said, smiling oddly. “What’s kickin’, folks?”
Would they even understand her lingo? Huh.
"Thank you," Lara said, taking the glass. It seemed to somehow be extra polite in her accent, though she tried to keep from sounding stiff. She had grown up with a sailor for a foster father, after all, but some stuffiness in her previous upbringing had always remained. It was mostly that Lara was a loner and preferred books and musty tombs for company.
Lara shook Sam's hand with a firm, calloused grip, then took a seat on Bo's left side, for reasons that were mostly silly. "It's nice to meet you."
Bo was still remaining skeptical and expecting the storm to come. She wasn’t going to avoid certain topics, and she had come here to let things out that she’d been keeping silent for far too long. And to seek closure to that chapter of her life. Whether she and her parents could forge a new relationship going forward, she didn’t know. But she also wasn’t thinking that far ahead right now.
Sam noted the feel of Lara’s hand in his, a sign that she must work outdoors quite often. He could respect that. Both he and Mary gave their polite hellos to Kenzi and Lara.
“When that young man was here asking us about your adoption, he was rather stingy on the details about you.” Mary started. “But we were very relieved to know that you were alive.”
“I asked him to be stingy. I wasn’t ready to fully face you yet.” Bo explained. And it was just then that she noticed the Beth Shrine in the corner of the living room, just as Killian had said there was. And it looked similar to the same one her mother had in the dream.
“But you are ready now, aren’t you Beth? You’ve come home.”
“My name is Bo.” Bo corrected, possibly a little thorny edge to her tone. “And I’m not staying. I came here because I need closure. I need to say things that I’ve kept inside ever since I ran away, things that are holding me back.” Though at least in this world, they weren’t holding her back from completing her Dawning. “You hurt me, badly, with what you did and said. Not just on the day I left, but many times before in arguments.”
“Beth, I mean Bo, you were out of control, and we only wanted to bring you back to yourself in a safe manner.” Sam explained.
“But I was myself. Yeah it probably started as teenage rebellion, but I liked it, and it’s what I wanted. You wanted me to be someone I wasn’t anymore.”
“You turned away from God and the path He laid out for you. We were trying to put you back on it.” Mary chimed in.
Aaaaand there came the religious talk. In the event there was any question over why Bo hated religion, this was certainly the answer to it. “How do you know that I wasn’t on my intended path? Yeah, it was dark and scary and I was very alone for a long time, but I am where I am supposed to be. I don’t need divine guidance to tell me that because I feel it.”
“You were on the devil’s path. That path never leads to anything good.” Mary stated. Bo’s hackles went up, metaphorically speaking.
“Could you just for once leave religion out of it?” This was quickly devolving towards an argument. The honeymoon feeling was by now certainly gone. Bo and Mary seemed ready to go at it again. At least Bo seemed to be more on the verge of verbal fighting as opposed to trying to run away. Though Sam had established they’d had good intentions in what they did, doing what they believed was best to save their daughter from supposed danger.
That’s what Kenzi had been waiting for. That’s what Kenzi had been expecting. Families weren’t perfect, sometimes love wasn’t enough to make them tolerable in the same damn room, and the moment the righteous spewing began her eyes icily narrowed. Her nails plucked at the fabric of her pants in a mindless habit, though it was really a way to suppress the urge to hit something.
“Stop,” she intervened, exhaling some kind of snarly, frustrated sigh. “Just stop. This kind of crap is exactly what drove her away from you guys - do you really think she really wanted to come back to this point with you guys? She’s happy. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to want?”
This was already starting to be painfully awkward, and Lara put her hand on Bo's arm as a subtle sign that she was there and she would back her up. Where Kenzi went straight to the emotions of the matter, Lara tried something reasonable, but no less from her own heart.
"There are many different ways to find who you're meant to be. Some of the paths are darker than others but the only one who could have walked Bo's is her. A just God doesn't abandon their children or force them to follow a path that doesn't suit them, they guide them through their own journeys and we come out stronger for it." She didn't think anyone should have to suffer, but it happened and it was better to try to draw something from it than let it consume you.
Both Sam and Mary looked at Kenzi as though they’d just been slapped, or at least Mary did. Sam seemed more taken aback. Bo was very thankful she wasn’t here alone. Having Kenzi and Lara to back her up and defend her is what she needed to help her get through this.
“If you didn’t want to be here, then why are you here?” Mary asked, directing her attention back to Bo. She was more than a little defensive.
“Mary,” Sam gently chided. He then looked at Kenzi. “Of course we want her to be happy. We always wanted you to be happy, but when you started breaking the rules no matter what we did, we felt we had to drastic measures.”
“Drastic measures? You treated me like I was Regan in The Exorcist! I didn’t need an intervention or an exorcism. I didn’t have the devil in me!” It could be argued that she had the devil in her now with the whole succubus thing, but she wasn’t going there because she didn’t want to end up in an asylum for saying it. “And honestly? I could have done far worse things than break the rules and have sex.”
“It seems as though you are still on that dark path.” Mary said. “You clothing style hasn’t changed much.”
“Oh for fuck sakes,” she muttered under her breath as she pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment. “Look, I came here to seek closure, to say the things I need to say before it hurts me even more than it already has.”
“We’re listening,” Sam said calmly, keeping a hand on his wife’s arm to keep her silent. He clearly was the more reasonable one as far as staying calm went.
“All those things you said to me, that I had the devil in me, that I was evil, they’ve been echoing in my head ever since. I’ve hated you for it, for not accepting me, for turning me away. But no matter how much I have hated you, I’ve hated myself far more. You taught me that sex was evil, and for a long time I believed I was bad because I liked sex. I refused to get close to anyone because I was afraid to. I let your words keep me living in fear of myself for years. It wasn’t until I met Kenzi and Lara that that started to change. They’ve helped me to be a better person, and I am happy now. But I needed to come here and tell you those things, to tell you how much you hurt me so that I can try and let it go and move on.” Letting go might be the hardest part because sometimes Bo didn’t easily forgive when it was about something this large. When her trust was broken, it did take time to earn it back.
There was some silence as Sam and Mary digested that, and Mary actually had tears in her eyes. Apparently Bo had finally gotten through to her.
“I never wanted you to hate yourself, and I am sorry for what I did to you. We only did what we thought was right to help bring you back. I never meant to drive you away from us.”
Now it was Bo’s turn to get misty eyed and she pressed her lips together. It was a first step. But there was more work yet to be done.
Geez, Mary, those comments made it sound like Bo had strolled in wearing a skimpy stripper ensemble. It was good Lara added her commentary after she did, and it was even better that Bo stood up for herself and held her ground against them. Kenzi knew they probably weren’t awful people but, dude, were the condescending holier-than-thou comments really that necessary?
Apologies, though, were a decent start. There was a sigh she held back, and she went to rub Bo’s back soothingly. There was nothing Kenzi could or even should say after Mary expressed what she did.
While Lara might never fully forgive Bo's parents for the way they'd treated her, she didn't think she had to. Or that Bo really had to either. But building a bridge and at least having some closure was a good start. And she knew well enough that almost anyone could change. Hopefully Sam and Mary would start changing, and become more open and accepting. In Lara's experience, it was the people who were the polar opposite who became the real zealots when they changed.
Lara took Bo's hand and squeezed it, rubbing her thumb over the engagement ring. It was subtle, but it was meant to be subtle. Maybe making Bo an 'honest woman' could help.
Bo took a couple deep breaths as Kenzi rubbed her back and she squeezed Lara’s hand back. She needed the strength to carry on through this and to try and keep it together enough to communicate meaningfully. She could lose it later when they weren’t here.
“That’s just it, mama, I didn’t need to be ‘brought back.’ Yeah, I was probably a bit out of control, but I wasn’t doing drugs or anything like that. I was just looking to have a good time, and to have a little freedom from the rules like most teenagers want.” Bo drew in another breath. “I’m done with hating myself and self-sabotaging whatever good things I get in my life just because I don’t think I’m good enough for it. But I am good enough, I always was, I just couldn’t see it until now.” That was probably directed towards Lara more than anything else. Bo had initially felt like Lara was way out of her league, but she definitely didn’t feel that any longer.
The being done with hating herself was also an echo of what she’d said to her mother in her dreams.
Sam had noticed the movement of Lara’s thumb over a ring on Bo’s finger. He looked at it for a moment, seemingly taking in what that meant, but he didn’t bring it up yet. “We were wrong in what we did, and we may not be entitled to it any longer, but we have missed you and we never stopped loving you.”
Okay, that part about not losing it went completely out the window because Bo did start crying at hearing her dad say that.
Awww, Bobo. Kenzi’s heart cracked a little bit at the sight of her bestie’s tears, and she circled an arm around her waist to pull her into a tight and comforting side squeeze. “I think she definitely needed to hear that,” she said quietly, keeping her stare pinned at the parental unit. “Your daughter goes out of her way to help people out, hell or high water - she’s a good person, one of the best I know.”
So don’t fuck around with her feelings was what she really wanted to say but had enough sense to bite her tongue and leave that unspoken.
“She really is.” Lara squeezed Bo’s hand tighter. What she had to say next could only make the water-works worse, but Kenzi was right. “She helps everyone she gets a chance to. She’s kind of a hero.” She glanced over at Kenzi, “She’s our hero.”
The way Bo helped her with her PTSD, and accepted her quirks and other issues, and understood when Lara needed to be alone or somewhere other than civilization…. And the way Bo did go out of her way to help people, perfect strangers even. It was inspiring.
Yeah, the water works definitely got a bit worse at hearing those statements from Kenzi and Lara. And they were completely right. Bo had a heart of gold, quite possibly the squishiest and bleediest heart of gold to ever exist, but she made the most of it. She put others before herself, and she’d sooner die than hurt those closest to her. Hell, she’d starved herself of chi after a misunderstanding with Lara devolved into a larger problem.
“She always was a good girl, always concerned about others and doing the right thing.” Mary said with a sniffle.
“Clearly you have good people in your life as well. Hopefully ones that know how to handle you when you get stubborn,” Sam chimed in. That made Bo laugh a bit through her tears.
“Yeah, yeah they can handle that. I don’t always make it easy, but they’re still here.” She gave a watery smile to Kenzi, then one to Lara.
“And clearly you found someone to spend your life with as well,” Sam added again.
Bo’s heart promptly stopped beating, but she forced herself to take a breath. “Yes, I have. Lara is an amazing woman, and I love her with every bit of my heart.” She looked at Lara again, squeezing her hand, before she dared look at her parents.
Her parents were silent, seemingly taking some moments to digest that their daughter was getting married to a woman. Despite the silence, neither of them immediately denounced the union, which for Bo said a lot because they had immediately denounced her being bisexual in the past.
Yeah, say something. Kenzi dared them. She could accept the sort of emotional but happy crying from Bo’s behalf, but if the waterworks started for a negative reason - like rejection and preaching - the thieving bestie wasn’t going to be happy.
“Bo’s got a good gig going on,” she spoke after a minute. “And she’s got family she chose, but - I think she’d also like it if the family she was raised with would make an attempt to patch things up. In the long-term sense.”
No pressure, but she wasn’t about to have them string her along in false hope, either. They were either part of her life or they weren’t; it was their choice, and Bo’s to accept them.
“I love her very much. You’d be gaining another daughter,” Lara pointed out. “Two, since Kenzi is practically her sister. It’s worth...keeping the bridge open, I think.”
This was another reason Bo had wanted both Kenzi and Lara here. They could articulate things that she wanted, possibly not even voiced before, and hopefully it would lead to something fruitful here. Underneath her pride and the hurt that her parents had caused, she did still love them. She had fond memories of them before things went wrong, and she missed that. And it would be nice if they would mend their relationship so that Bo could have them at her wedding. She’d already made up her mind to invite her biological grandfather, though whether he’d actually come was another matter.
“Lara and Kenzi are right. While I came here to say things I’d kept bottled up for so long, I also was hoping there was still some way to mend our relationship. But the only way to do that is if you can accept me for who I am, not for who you wanted me to be.” She sniffed a bit, the tears having subsided for the time being. “I’m not perfect, I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I’m not an evil person. I’m not a bad person. I try to do good like you both taught me to. But I am marrying a woman. I work as a bartender. I wear more black than any one person probably has a right to. Wearing black doesn’t mean I’m depressed or evil or anything. It’s just what I like. If you can’t accept any of that, say so now and I won’t come here again and I won’t be in your life any longer.” It hurt to say it, but Bo knew she needed to. Her chest constricted a bit as she waited for her parents’ response. One way or another, she was leaving here with the past behind her. She just preferred that she didn’t also leave being rejected.
There were some moment of silence, and it seemed that one could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Mary and Sam certainly seemed to consider everything the three women had told them. But finally, Sam broke the silence first.
“The past several years have been hard without you, and many times we have wondered where we went wrong to have driven you away. We do not understand homosexuality, but we do understand love. All we have wanted was for you to be happy and healthy, and it seems that you are both. I don’t want to lose my little girl again.”
Mary sniffed. “I don’t want to lose you again either. I know I said terrible things to you, and I regret all of them, especially now to see you so bright and full of life. It is strange to be talking of your marriage to a woman, but I would rather gain daughters than to lose the only one I ever had again.”
And then there were more tears from Bo. Those were definitely things she’d longed to hear, but had seriously doubted she ever would hear them. She got up and instead of trying to run away, she went over to her parents to hug them both. It was a family hug complete with family crying.
Welp. It could have all been a lot worse - like how the dreams happened with the dementia eating away at Mary’s mind and Sam six feet under. Kenzi’s shoulders seemed to have expelled some tense and lowered some, and she actually managed a little smile.
“I think it’s a success,” she whispered to Lara, and held her fist up in a true bro-fist fashion.
“I think so too,” Lara whispered, bro-fisting Kenzi right back. It hadn’t been a disaster. Emotional, maybe. Enough to make even her throat tight, but stiff upper lip and all that. But they’d supported Bo and that was what they were there for. Support.
This could have so easily turned into a disaster. Bo had thought it would turn into a disaster, or that she’d be left with the same bittersweet feeling she had from her dreams. But no, this was turning out really well. She could actually talk things out with her parents, clear the air as it were.
After the family hug, Mary looked at the three women. “How long were you going to stay?”
“A day or two.” Bo answered as she went about drying her tears.
“Would you like to stay for dinner? You could show them your room and show them around the farm a bit if you want. Your room is just as you left it.” Mary said.
“Thanks, mama. I think that would be nice.” Bo wasn’t going to argue on her mom’s cooking. Her mom was a good cook, and an even better baker. She looked at Lara and Kenzi with a smile. She felt about a million times lighter than she had before. Bo could say she felt a ton better than she had in a long time. Yes, she’d been happier than ever this past year, but Bo had all of the issues with her parents hanging over her and weighing her down. Now all that weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
And it was only fair of her to show Kenzi and Lara the awkwardness of her teenage years. And she’d promised there would be embarrassing childhood pictures, of which there were plenty in this house. So without further ado, she would get on with the tour, and if the talk was any indication, dinner would go well.