Intertwined

Twenty

Houston

When Cassidy asked me to meet Dad, everything finally sunk in. The stroke, the past heart attacks, the limited time I had with him. I had been pretending the truth wasn't blatantly in front of me, and I was ignoring it. The more I remembered how fast time changed, the more I remembered the chances I had lost with my dad and Cassidy.

This might be the last chance I could introduce Cassidy to my dad. What other chances did I have after this moment?

I planted my feet on the wet asphalt as I rounded the car to open Cassidy's door, offering her my jacket for once. She glanced up at me with those deep, forest-green eyes of hers brimming with tears, and I instantly thought something had happened.

"Mitchell?" I stepped closer to her and rubbed the tears away with my thumb, and I saw her smile return. "Why are you crying?"

She let out a defiant breath and willed the tears away, as she exclaimed, "I'm not crying."

"Cassidy, you were crying," I reminded her, crossing my arms and standing with my feet shoulder-width apart. "Did I do something? Or did Dallas do something?"

"Okay, I just don't do well with hospitals. They make me sad."

In reply, I instantly intertwined my hand with her and led her over to the front doors of the hospital. Her small, petite frame made her look tinier than before as I enveloped her in a hug. Finally, I said, "Hospitals make me sad, too. Trust me, the room will be far from sad once you finally meet my dad."

Cassidy wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her lips on mine, and everything felt perfect for me again. I pulled away from the kiss first as I led her through the hospital, shielding her from the bright lights and noises that were synonymous with hospitals. After years of cardiac appointments and petrifying encounters revolving around my dad, the Plains Memorial Hospital was a reoccurring pinpoint in my life that always came back for bad news.

I could trace each hallway based on memory alone, and I wouldn't say I liked it ever since high school.

Finally, Cassidy and I approached my dad's hospital room and I gingerly opened the door, bracing for the worst. Bracing for the moment I would watch my father take his last breath.

"Houston, you're back," my father exclaimed, causing the table above his bed to shake. "And you brought a girl?"

I stepped aside awkwardly, away from the doorway as Cassidy waved to my father with a shy grin on her face. I stuttered, "D-Dad, this is Cassidy. We're... er, dating."

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I forced the word out, putting on a strong smile as I leaned too far back into the wall. It was the most difficult word to say, like a swear word stuck to the roof of my mouth. Inevitably, I slipped on the floor and my arm knocked the tray on the chair to the ground, as I reached for safety. 

Cassidy was the first to pull me back up as I propped myself against the wall, careful not to let my knees buckle again.

"Houston, you are so clumsy," Dad smirked, finally cracking a joke that ridiculed my actions. "Cassidy, you seem like a wonderful girl and I'm sure Houston would be good to you, or you'd put him in your place."

In reply, Cassidy giggled at Dad's joke, took a seat by his bed, and replied, "He already knows that I would put him in his place. He does everything I say and more."