Where It Leads Us

Chapter Twenty-two

I thought it was all bullshit when Lauren started talking about encouraging what my father did. I thought she was joking, but I've come to know she's made her point.

When people didn't mind their own business, I was always annoyed. This is most likely why Jonathan gets irritated with me, and we disagree over insignificant things if I poke my nose into his affairs.

As soon as I got home from school, I took my mother back to the hospital, as Dr. Fhassan had told me weeks before. The whole trip to the hospital was disconcertingly silent. Between my mom and me, it was killing me more than it was killing her.

I stayed in the waiting room, as always, with just my phone to distract me from the boredom that was trying to overcome me. Instead of sitting and waiting while playing Candy Crush, I went online to see where the next painting would possibly be.

I copied a few links relating to the google searches I made on the search engine and pasted them on the notes app on my phone.

I have this strange habit of immediately snapping my head up to see the person's face that walks as they walk past where I was sitting at. I didn't realize I was doing that until I began spending a third of my life in hospital waiting rooms.

I've only seen three people walk past me. Two little children, one a girl and the other a boy who could barely walk if it weren't with his mother and sister grasping his hands to assist him.

I hear Dr. Fhassan calling out my name as I try to proceed to surf the internet. As I instinctively lift myself out of the chair, my head snaps up. As I was about to walk into his office, I see my father sprinting down the hall, panting as he comes to a halt in front of me. He manages to catch his breath with both hands on his knees.

"I came as soon as I can," He says as my eyebrows draw into confusion.

"I'm sorry, am I late?" He looks at Dr. Fhassan.

Dr. Fhassan and I exchanged looks before I say, "What are you doing here? Did you call him over?" I look back at Dr. Fhassan as he shakes his head.

"I did," I hear my mom's voice inside Dr. Fhassan's office, claiming that she did, in fact, called my dad over. "I called your dad."

I rolled my eyes and stepped inside of Dr. Fhassan's office, walking towards mom as I say, "Why? Being here with you isn't enough for you? If you wanted me to leave, you could've just said so."

My mom shakes her head. She opens her mouth to speak but was cut off by my dad, "I wanted to be here. I told her that I'd be here for her appointments."

I ignore my dad as if he were a wind passing through me.

"Oh, great. Another promise I can't wait to see you break," I mutter it to myself. My mom hears me and softly slaps my arm. My mom sees my dad standing a few inches away from me as he motions for him to take a seat.

I drew the chair next to her into mine before my father could even take a seat, already occupying the only seat left in Dr. Fhassan's office. My dad gives me a quizzical smile before turning to face my mom.

"It's all right," He says, brushing his pants off, "I'll just stand here and listen."

❀

All seems to be well with Mom, though we are still in the process of finding a kidney donor. I came out of the hospital like a kid, arms folded over my chest, ready to complain about not getting his candy.

"Come on, mom. Let's get you—"

"I'll take you home, Sarah," Dad responds right away. While I watch the hospital doors closing, I turn around. My mother smiles softly at my father, who smiles back at her.

I stomped my two feet towards them and said, "You don't have to. I'm taking my mom home. You can go back home to your new wife and kid."

Mom turns her head, looking at me as though I'd said something terrible. I gave her a look that said, "What did I do wrong?"

Mom sighs and says, "Aaren and I drove on the way here."

I nod my head, looking at my dad. His eyes sparing me a glance, then says, "Then, let me at least buy dinner."

My mother beams at my father once more as though they've already rekindled their relationship.

"Where's Jonathan? Is he still on his soccer practice?" Dad looks at me. "I can just pick him up and meet you at the restaurant."

I held up my finger, "We never agreed to let you buy us Dinner. There's food at home," I thought up an excuse. I'm beginning to sound like my mother when I was ten years old and begged her to take me to McDonald's to buy a burger, but all she said was, "There's food at home."

"No, no," My mom says as she continues to smile at my dad pinching my arm, causing me to grimace and hiss in pain, "Dinner sounds lovely. Meet you at Bluewater Grill?"

"You do have Jonathan's number, right?" my mother asks as she continues to speak to my father.

"Yup," my father says with a smile, nodding his head along. "I'll give him a call right away."

As my mother began heading into the parking lot, I mutter to myself, "It's too early to even go to dinner."

When we reached the car, I unlocked it, but before I could get in, my mother taps the car's roof, capturing my attention and saying, "Don't utter anything more disrespectful over dinner tonight."

Who was she trying to impress? Her husband who cheated and left her?

She silently enters the car, and I do the same. There was the same old quiet from earlier on our way to Bluewater Grill.

***