Intertwined

Twelve

Houston

After weeks of aching over Cassidy and my major crush on her, kissing her was the easiest thing I had done. It felt so natural to me like she was the one person I have been waiting for all these years. I wanted to keep kissing her for days, and I wanted to call her mine, and I wanted to show her off to the entire town and world.

Except I didn't.

In fact - like the coward I was - I dropped her hand the moment I heard the car pull up, and now I felt like more of an idiot than I was before. It was better to hide the relationship than to face the consequences of what would happen; I could get fired, or her family could end up hating me or her. As the one person looking into a family as close as hers, any news could disturb the peace.

As dinner time approached, I took the seat farthest from Beau as worry followed my every nerve, and Cassidy took the one remaining chair next to me. She looked more beautiful now than ever before - or it was just me being in awe of her beauty. Maybe, I was too clouded by my judgment to realize that I may have met the most beautiful girl I ever saw.

While everyone at the dining table was engrossed in their conversations, Cassidy caught my attention and leaned into me, and her soft voice whispered into my ear, "Stop looking at me that way. Everyone will know about us, soon enough by you doing that."

I leaned back from her, and I replied shielding her from the busy eyes of everyone around us, "What do you mean? You're the one whispering into my ear."

"You keep looking at me like that," was all Cassidy whispered, her green eyes dancing around the dancing room.

"Like what?"

"Like you want to tear the clothes off me, the moment we can be alone." Cassidy leaned back after spouting that truth and left me fighting for air and reeling over her comment. I nearly choked on my food.

Before the conversations died down, I leaned in close to her where I could smell her perfume, and whispered in her ear, "If that's what you think that look means, then you're in for a surprise. Newsflash: nothing is happening tonight."

Cassidy whispered softly, "Tease."

As I leaned back in my chair, the one person who seemed to hate my guts the moment she met me stared right back at me, as storms and lightning flashed in her eyes. After the stare-down between the figure in front of me, Diane Mitchell returned to her seat next to Beau, and she put on a plastic, fake smile that everyone seemed to be fooled by.

With the feeling of Cassidy being close by and so far at the same time, I returned to eating the meatloaf that made me vaguely remember my mother's cooking at home. Memories of my mom's cooking were not good; I still have nightmares from the various concoctions she called a recipe.

For once in my life, I came up with a great joke about the dinner I was currently having, hoping I could share it with somebody - Cassidy, specifically. Then, I remembered how no one knew about the kiss at this moment, and I made damn sure that no one would know about the kiss. Except that meant treating each other like we were strangers, in cases of suspicion from others.

As Cassidy sparked a new topic of conversation, I couldn't help but listen to her drive and ambition about the ranch. She asked, "So, Dad, two people ended up visiting the ranch and were asking if we were thinking about selling. You're seriously not thinking about selling the ranch, right?"