Stories Yet To Unfold

“Hello Rian.” The petite, auburn hair woman greeted as she opened the door after she heard the knock to be met with the father of her child. She stepped aside so he could have room to enter the house. She was mad and he couldn’t blame her.

"Hey Samantha, I'm sorry I'm so late. I completely forgot it was Friday."

"I'm not the one you should be saying sorry to. The four year old who was waiting for you by the door for over an hour would probably find an apology more useful than I would." She told him as she made her way into the kitchen to start cleaning up the mess her daughter made at the table with all of her coloring books and crayons. By the time he arrived he was close to two hours late making her late, which in turn she was sure it has made Jake angry. She wasn’t ready to deal with his wrath.

"Is she all ready to go?" He asked as he slid his hands in his pockets a little uncomfortable with the cold shoulder the mother of his child was giving off.

"Yeah, she’s waiting in the living room watching Dora."

The young guy made his way through the house and into the living room where his daughter was sitting watching her favorite show. He smiled to himself as she began talking back to the television when Dora had asked a question.

"Hey my favorite girl." He said from where he was standing behind the couch the young girl was sitting on.

"Daddy! I missed you!" The small girl replied as stood up on her feet and raced over to him to wrap her arms around his legs. He bent down to her level and lifted her up in his arms to hug her.

"I missed you too baby girl. You ready to go?” The small girl quickly nodded her head up and down. “Okay, go tell mommy bye and we'll go out for dinner where ever you want."

"Okay!" The small four year old answered excitedly as he put her back down on her feet and she ran off down the hall towards her mother's room. He followed slowly after her. "Bye mommy."

"Bye baby, I'll see you on Sunday. Be good for daddy, okay?"

"Yes ma'am."

“I love you bunches.“ Samantha told her as she hugged her baby girl and kissed her cheek.

Rian picked up her bag that was waiting by the door and led her to the car once she had said her goodbyes to her mom. “Daddy,”

“Yes Hannah?” He answered her as he helped her into her safety seat and fastened the belts.

“Why do you and mommy live in different houses?”

“Because mommy lives with you and I live in a house with Uncle Alex.”

“Well, Molly’s mommy and daddy live in one house, why not you and mommy?”

“’Cause me and mommy don’t always get a long.” He answered as simply as he could for the small girl to understand. His relationship with Samantha hadn’t always been civil. He did a lot of growing up in the last couple years, however he doubted she noticed. He understood the hurt feelings though. He would have them too if the tables were turned.

“Why not?”

“We just don‘t, and mommy has Jake. Where do you want to eat at?” The twenty-two year old man asked her trying to change the subject.

She of course ignored his question and went on with their previous conversation. “I don’t like Jake.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say.” He told her as he looked back at her through the review mirror.

“Well he’s mean to me… I don’t think he likes me very much.” She told him as she toyed with a Barbie doll she found in the seat next to hers.

Rian was a little taken back by what she had said. “Why would you say that?”

“He yells a lot at me and he makes mommy cry a whole lot.”

As he reached a red light he turned in his seat to look back at his daughter. “What does he yell at you about?” He began to feel aggravated by the news he was getting.

“My toys, and when I leave my coloring books out, or when he says I‘m being too loud.”

“Well I’ll talk to mommy about that later. Where do you want to go for dinner tonight?” He asked trying to change the subject before he let the situation ruin their weekend together.

“McDonalds! Can Uncle Jack and Uncle Alex come too?!”

“I’ll call them and see.”

“Okay.” The small girl turned to her left and watched out the window as Rian drove towards the McDonalds on the other side of town, knowing it was the only one that still had a play area inside it.

“Uncle Jack!” The young girl squealed once she saw him waiting by the counter where you order you food. She quickly pulled her hand out of her father’s grasp and ran as fast as her small legs would allow her to over to the lanky boy.

“Hey munchkin.” Jack greeted her as he wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a hug.

“Hi.” She replied cause Jack and her dad to let out light chuckles.

“How were you for your mom while daddy was gone?” He asked her as they waited for their time to order their meals.

“I was good, I promise. Uncle Jack! Did you know I’m almost five!?”

“I do. You’re getting old.” He told her causing her to let out a loud laugh.

“You are silly Uncle Jack. Mommy is going to have a party for me!”

“Oh yeah? Are you going to have a transformers cake?”

“No! That’s for boys! I’m having a Dora and Boots party!”

Once the line had moved up and it was their turn Rian ordered himself a burger and Hannah a kid’s meal. When their number had been called they walked over in the play area with their food and picked a table near the slide. He knew as soon as she was done eating she was going to want to play and he wanted a close enough seat so that he could keep an eye on her while she played and the two guys ate their dinners. When they found a table he set her down in a chair and laid out her chicken nuggets and french fries for her and told her once she had finished her food she could go play.

“What’s up with you man? You’re acting out of it.” Jack asked as they were sitting at their table watching Hannah climb into the tunnels heading for the slide at the other end.

“Nothing, just thinking.”

“About?”

“Jake. We were in the car on the way over here and Hans started talking about how he yells and how he makes Sam cry. She seemed pretty upset about it when she was talking about it.”

“In front of her, he yells at Sam?”

“He yells at Hannah! She said he yells about her toys and coloring books.”

“That’s fucked up. She’s four, what does he expect?”

“I have no clue. He’s obviously not ready for fatherhood if he flips out about toys and coloring books being out.”

“No kidding. I don’t even know the dude and that makes me want to punch him.”

“I’ve met him a couple times, they’ve been dating for about a year now. I ‘m pretty sure things are serious between the two of them. I had no idea he was such a jerk though, anytime I’ve met him he’s seemed like a nice dude.”

“You going to talk to Sam about him yelling at your kid?”

“Yeah, Sunday when I drop her off.”

The guys sat around watching the small girl play for a little while longer before Rian caught her at the bottom of the slide to tell her it was time to go home. He walked her over to the table and sat her on a chair as he helped her put her shoes back on. “Is Uncle Alex going to be home when we get there?”

“He should be.”

“Good. I missed him too.” She told her dad.

“Well munchkin, I will see you tomorrow, maybe we can talk daddy into taking us to the park or something.” Jack told her as he made his way over to the door and opened it for the three of them to walk through.

“Bye Uncle Jack, love you.” She told him as her dad and her walked over towards their car that was parked next to Jack’s.

“Love you too. I’ll call you tomorrow once I wake up Rian.”

“Alright man, thanks for meeting us for dinner.” He told his friend as they went their separate ways.

“No problem.”

Once Jack had pulled out of the parking lot Rian helped Hannah back into her seat and fastened her belts again. The ride back to the house wasn’t long seeing as they were already on his side of town.

When they walked into the house Rian glanced up at the clock seeing that it was only nearing six. It was too early for bed time so he figured he would let her watch a movie while he checked his emails and what not till it was bath time. So while he sat on one end of the couch with his laptop replying to countless people‘s emails, she sat on the other end watching DVR’d episodes of Dora The Explorer. Not too long after the first episode had come to a close they heard the front door open then close, soon Alex made his way into the living room and sat on the recliner on the side of the room.

“Uncle Alex! You’re home!” Hannah said as she slid off of the couch and ran over to him climbing up onto his lap.

“Hey kid. How you doing?” He asked her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Good! I missed you!”

“I missed you too! What are we watching?”

“Dora and Boots, but only till it’s bath time. ‘Cause after that it is bed time.” the small girl told him as she leaned her back up against his chest making herself comfortable as the two of them watched the next episode of Dora.