Come What May: a short(?) Sims story

Chapter 9

Bjorn had, honestly, prepared himself to share bad news with his wife and older daughter this afternoon. So you can imagine how light his heart felt when he thought about how different the conversations he was about to have with them would be.

He couldn't find Sofia or Elsa when he arrived home. Elsa had come in from playing outside and had immediately noticed how sad her sister seemed to be. The Bjergsen girls had not always gotten along well--Sofia had always thought Elsa was a pesky little know-it-all--but Elsa couldn't stand to see Sofia looking so blue. She had asked Sofia to take a walk with her, and when Sofia looked over at her mom, Clara had given her an almost imperceptible nod. In mom talk, that meant "Yes, that would be a very good idea. You girls run along."

This gave Bjorn an opportunity to talk to Clara alone, which he decided was a good thing. He shared what Cameron had told him about his family and his life goals.

"I honestly just want to give him a hug," Clara admitted.

"I do, too. I almost did, right there in the cafe."

Clara leaned closer to Bjorn, even though they were alone in the house and couldn't be overheard.

"I'm still curious, though. Did you find out anything about...ummm...the other thing?"

Bjorn pretended to be shocked. "Of course I did! Do you have so little confidence in my...conversational skills?"

Clara rolled her eyes, but she smiled, too. "And....?"

Bjorn proceeded to share what Cameron had told him about the context of the infamous photo Morgan Fyres had sent to Sofia. Immediately, Clara's features relaxed into a warm, knowing smile.
https://i.imgur.com/P7EIngN.jpg
"So Cameron told you all this without you prompting him?" she inquired.

"That's pretty much it."

"I don't think that was an accident, darling."

Bjorn looked a bit puzzled. "What do you mean? I don't think Cameron knows anything about the picture. He has no reason to defend his actions."

"Goodness, Bjorn...for an investigator, you can be a bit slow on the uptake," she teased. "Can you think of a reason why Cameron might want to make it very clear to you why he's not dating anyone?"

Then Bjorn nodded. "Just in case the topic happened to come up in a conversation with Sofia..."

Clara beamed. Then she paused. 'You know you can't just randomly say "Hey, Sofia! Cameron told me he's single!'...right?"

"Aww, Clara...you know that's what I was about to do!" He laughed, and so did she.

A moment later, they heard footsteps on the stairs. Sofia had come back inside, heard her parents talking, and went upstairs to tell them about Elsa's sweet attempts to cheer her up. As she walked into the room, she heard them laughing.

"What are you two so happy about?" she asked, managing a decent attempt at a smile herself.

Clara looked at Bjorn. "Honey, I had a talk with Cameron today..."

Sofia's mood immediately spun 180 degrees. Her pretty face turned blotchy, "Tell me you did NOT do that! Dad....!"

Bjorn quickly put his hands up, palms outward. "No, no. It wasn't bad. Let me explain."

Sofia remained both unconvinced and feisty. "Oh, please do!"

And Bjorn did.

He watched Sofia's face soften as she heard how Cameron lost the people he loved. He is such a sweet guy, Sofia thought, and he deserves to have a girlfriend he can have fun with. That thought made her blush, and she felt a tiny tweak of sadness, too. I hope he and the yoga teacher will be happy together...

Mothers sometimes seem to be blessed with a special intuition, granted to them when they first look into their baby daughters' eyes. From that moment forward, they sense intuitively what their girl children need most from them...a loving touch, a comforting word, a warning, a look that says "Don't you DARE." Clara Bjergsen possessed this intuition. When her husband paused to take a breath, she rather directly stated, "Dad knows the story behind that photo Morgan texted you."

Sofia's mouth formed an O, and Clara quickly continued. "Not bad. Right, Dad?"

He nodded. "Not bad at all." And he told Sofia what Cameron had told him about his evening at the festival with Kathleen.

"Whatever she thought it was, Cameron is one hundred percent sure it wasn't a date."
https://i.imgur.com/kw3M9oc.jpg
Sofia wanted to jump up and down and giggle. Then she remembered she had never actually admitted she liked Cameron "that way," perhaps not even to herself. But one look at her face told Clara and Bjorn anything they needed to know about her feelings.

And one look at theirs gave Sofia a pretty good clue that they were fine with that. Still, a girl couldn't be too sure.

"You...don't mind it when Cameron comes over, do you?" she asked.

Clara looked at Bjorn before she replied. "Not a bit, sweetheart. We like Cameron, and we like seeing how happy you are when you're with him."

Sofia blushed several shades deeper than the pink sweatshirt she was wearing.

"We aren't OK with you spending hours and hours alone with him here, but we're just fine with him coming over," Bjorn added.

Sofia nodded. "I understand. Thank you. Thank you both."

Bjorn stood up and smiled. "I'm going to see what my other daughter is up to," he announced.

Once Sofia was alone with her mom, the urge to giggle and bounce on her toes became irresistible. "Now I don't have to have an awkward conversation with Cameron about last night," she pointed out.

"Nor does he have to know about the picture," Clara added.

"No, he doesn't." That's not to say I won't let Morgan know how I feel about what she did, however...Sofia thought.

"I'm so happy," Sofia declared. Then she wrapped her arms around her mom and hugged her tight.
https://i.imgur.com/Uw5jeLR.jpg