Tell It To The Moon (BWWM) [ON HOLD]

Chapter Five

"This is us on our wedding day. We were dating eight months before he proposed. I knew he was the one when Ana got into this little scuffle with a guy at camp and Philip had a talk with the boy. He never messed with her again." She flipped to the next page in the photo book while scratching her scalp. "This is when Philip got out the military." She pointed at the rough looking blond.

I tilted my head to see who he was standing next to but I had no idea. "Who is that guy? His friend or something?"

"I actually don't know. Philip refuses to talk about him. All I know is that they were really close at one point. Military buddies, you know?" Frankie nodded with a wide smile. "He's so cute," Gabriella said as she looked up at him. "Tell me about you two. You can learn all of this and more when Philip gets here."

Frankie looked between the both of us then sat closer to the edge of the couch. "I'll start! Yvette and I met our freshman year in this lame class about child development. We shared this thing in common where we always thought having kids was soul destroying." This made me chuckle at the fact that he remembered that. "I asked her out a year later because after all the time we spent together I realized she was my other half. Which is wild because I never thought I could be worthy of a girl like Yvette." He gave me a kiss on my cheek. "Oh crap. I mean I never thought Yvette was worthy of a guy like me! A tongue twister!"

I rolled my eyes as Gabriella laughed at his stupid joke. "He's always saying something dumb."

The sound of the screen door opening caused everyone to jump out of their seat. We all watched too stunned to move as the front door eventually opened and a young brunette girl stepped in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw two strangers standing in her house. After a second of staring us down. She slowly walked over to her mom and handed her a bag in her hand.

"Where's Philip?" Gabriella asked in a whisper. Ana pointed at the door where a tall, scruffy, blond haired man stepped into his home. "Philip..."

He turned to face her then turned to face us. A small smile spread across my face as it settled to me that this is in fact my father and I could tell just by looking at his face. Frankie massaged my back as if telling me to move but I couldn't. My feet were glued to the dingy brown carpet.

"What is this?" He questioned while closing the door.

Gabriella walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "This is Yvette, your daughter, and her boyfriend, Frankie. They came from Tulsa to see you."

He looked into my eyes and I knew right away that something wasn't right. His fist were clenched and Gabriella quickly took her hand off him. "Leave!" He shouted so loud my heart exploded. "Get the fuck- Get out! I can't even- How could you let her into my house! How could you go behind my back and let her in my house!"

Ana quickly ran to the back the moment she saw her mom cover her ears. Frankie grabbed my hand and dragged me out the front door. Both of us were too scared to even walk past him but he was a few inches from the door and it was our only way out.

Once we were in the fresh air, I pulled my hand away from him and completely broke down. I didn't know I was on my knees until I saw Frankie looking up at me trying to calm me down. He didn't know that nothing would work. My father rejected me but his complete stranger of a wife was more than welcoming. Where did I go wrong? What did I do besides try to reconcile with the father I've never had? Did I do something as a child that I couldn't remember? Did my grandma say something unforgivable?

"Yvette! Get up so we can go!" Frankie tugged and tugged but I couldn't get to my feet unless I was being carried out on a stretcher. With the sound of the screen door opening once more, Frankie released me and for a second I knew he wanted to drive off and leave me.

"Yvette?" We both turned to the sweet voice that actually belonged to Philip himself. It shocked us both to see he wasn't rigid but walking freely as if he was entering heaven. "I- I am so sorry for yelling at you like that. I don't even know what happen." He took another step towards me with caution. "Come back inside please and... I bought lunch meat. You two could be hungry?"

I nodded slowly.

"We've been here long enough sir. Waiting for you actually. Yvette and I have school tomorrow and it's getting late. An hours drive out." Philip fumbled with his big hands as he looked at us with complete regret on his face. "We really have to go, Yvette."

"You guys can come back and visit any time you want." I finally got to my feet when he started digging in his pocket for something. He then pulled out a small business card and held it out to me. "I run a small woodwork business where I teach people how to use certain tools in construction. It's really small and I get an hour break from ten to eleven. Call me during those times and I'll be sure to pick up."

Since my arm was stuck by my side, Frankie reached around and accepted the card. He then grabbed both of my shoulders and forced me to turn around to the truck. "It was nice meeting you sir." He assisted me into the car then ran around to get behind the wheel.

The entire drive was miserable. I was shocked, embarrassed, and angry all in once. A part of me was even mad at Gabriella for making it seem like my father missed me so much when in reality, something as simple as my face brought him nightmares. He couldn't even look at me without red burning through his soul.

"It's not you, Yvette. God knows what triggers that man. Maybe he had a long day at work and was overwhelmed. Maybe we caught him off guard and he's not the type of guy who likes surprises."

"Or maybe I reminded him of my evil mother and he wants nothing to do with me." I stared down at his business card that had a few specs of saw dust on it. "He's never going to want to see me again. Who knows if he'll even pick up the phone. His wife probably told him to come out and apologize. I would never mean anything to him." I ripped the card up as many times as I could causing Frankie to swerve a bit.

"Are you fucking me right now?! He gave you his business card! It's a fucking start, Yvette! You're taking this out of hand!"

"Fuck him, Frankie! He's an asshole!"

"He's a veteran from a fucked up system that creates emotionless killer robots! You and I both saw the record on that man. If anything, he's trying but he's never going to be the father you want him to be. He's not made that way anymore. The least you can do to fill up that hole in your heart is talk to him as much as you can but keep your distance at the same time. He's like a automatic weapon. Releasing a rain of bullets and once he's empty... he's not a threat anymore."