The Sister

"Hi, we're over here!" Carolyn waved Bonnie over as she entered the coffee shop. "I ordered for you, since you were late getting here." Carolyn pushed a lukewarm latte in Bonnie's direction as she sat. The nieces were currently under the table, attempting to trip anyone who dared to enter their attack radius.

"Thanks, sis, you.... shouldn't have." Bonnie said as she looked down, her face bunching into a frown at the sight of the latte.  

"Oh, come on, Bonbon. Don't pout! Just try it, you'll love it." Carolyn touted from across the table. At that moment, the table shook violently. The latte in front of Bonnie tipped, rolling off the table and shattering into tiny pieces on the floor. The nieces screamed at the sound of the shatter.

"Girls, if you don't knock it off THIS MINUTE." Carolyn hissed as she leaned down to look under the table.

"Sorry, Mommy" they said in unison.

Bonnie stood, grabbing napkins to clean the spilled latte while Carolyn picked up the pieces of the broken cup.

"Sorry, Bonbon, no latte today. Maybe next time." Carolyn sighed heavily.

"it's fine, Carebear, I wasn't going to drink it anyway, you know that." She laughed and shook her head at her sister's insistence that she knew what Bonnie liked better than Bonnie did.

"Black coffee is disgusting, and if you like it, then you're just a broken, sad, miserable human being. I don't like to think of my own sister like that." Carolyn retorted as she dumped the broken pieces into the trash can, dusting her hands together over the bin.

"It's really not that deep, Carebear, you should stop caring so much about what other people think of you." Bonnie muttered, mostly to herself, as she knew Carolyn was not really listening.

"Girls? Where are you? You better not be hiding from me I swear—" Carolyn was walking up and down the row of tables, but there was no sign of them. "Okay now I'm freaking out, is that what you want? You want Mommy to freak out?" Her voice wavered as fear overcame her.

"Carebear" Bonnie shouted from behind her. As Carolyn turned, she saw Bonnie with the two girls, one arm around each of them. "They were in the bathroom."

"Oh my God don't you ever do that to me again, do you hear? I about lost my mind looking for you two! What have I told you about running off without telling me?" Carolyn's face was turning red as her voice got louder and louder. Everyone in the coffee shop was staring now.

"Carebear, they're safe, let's finish this discussion outside and let the people enjoy their coffee, yeah?" Bonnie nudged the girls toward the door as Carolyn snatched her purse and sweater from the back of her chair, huffing and puffing as she stormed out the door toward the car.

"Okay, ladies, thank you for the fantastic coffee date, I hope to see you again real soon. I just need to speak to your mom for a sec." Bonnie made sure the two girls were buckled in before shutting the door and turning to face Carolyn.

"Don't be too hard on them, Carebear, remember what we were like at their age?" 

"Yeah, I do remember. That's why I have to watch them like a hawk. You just never know what kind of shit they're gonna pull next." Carolyn rubbed her forehead, a look of exasperation coming over her face. "Hey, Bon, I'm worried about you. I don't like you living all by yourself out in the woods. it's not safe! What if something happens to you? How would anyone know?" She reached out and touched Bonnie's arm.

"I appreciate your concern, sis, but I'll be fine. Nothing is going to happen to me. And if something does, I have this handy dandy thing they call a 'cell phone' that allows me to notify someone in the event of an emergency." Bonnie smiled, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Okay, okay, I got it. You'll be fine. But that won't stop me from worrying. And I'm bringing the girls out soon for a swim, whether you invite us or not." Carolyn turned and got into the driver's seat, waving to Bonnie as she pulled away.

Carolyn merged onto the highway as she glanced at the girls in her rearview mirror. "You two are in big trouble."

"But Mommy—" The younger one started to say, when the older one chimed in.

"We're sorry, Mommy, we let you down." her eyes dropped to look at her feet.

"You two are going to be the death of me, just you wait." Carolyn muttered as she turned into their driveway. "Now go pester your father for a while, Mommy needs a break."