That Maid

Meetings: New and Old

Raelle

We had got to the restaurant and went to the lady by the door waiting tables. "Hello how can I help you two young ladies?" She said smiling, she looked around our age and was white. "Um I'm here to meet someone." "What's their name?" I couldn't really remember my dads name so I thought long and hard. "Um I believe his name is Ryan Taylor." She nodded. "You must be Raelle, he's been waiting on you. Let me show you guys where you'll be sitting." She said grabbing two menus and bringing us to a private area. I seen a man and a woman sitting down but when they seen us they stood up. The waitress put our menus on the table. "I will be back in 5 minutes for drinks." She said walking away. We all just stared at each other for a while. "Wow, Raelle honey you look just like your mother." My father said breaking the silence hugging me. I remember years ago I said if I ever seen my dad I wondered how I was going to feel but honestly I don't feel a thing, completely nothing. I nodded at him and we all sat. "Who's this?" He asked. "This is my best friend Olivia." They shook hands and made introductions to each other. "Well this is my wife Terri." I shook her hand and smiled. "So seeing as to how quiet you are I guess I'm just going to explain everything. Um around the time you turned one me and your mother started having problems in our relationship. Anytime I had to work late she would think that I'm going out and cheating and that was never the case. As time went on it got worse and worse to the point where one night when I came home she was throwing things at me, like shoes and clothes and other things screaming she hates me. She told me not to come around and don't think about you cause I wasn't going to ever see you while she was alive. I tried many times but she always got your grandmother to come and help her get me away. After a few years I just stopped when you was 7 and tried moving on. I meet Terri and we got married and wanted to starts family but I still couldn't get over the fact that I never got a chance to say goodbye to you or even hold you one last time so we never did. One day I heard that your mother died and it saddened me cause At one point and time I did love her and so I went to her funeral and seen you and that made it worst. Your grandmother spotted me and tried to keep you far away from me. When she came up to me she said I was the cause of your mothers death and I had to go or she was calling the cops. After all these years I tried ways to get you back but none worked and once I heard you lived here in Atlanta I used some of my police connections and tried to find you but your name was different. I never found you under your birth name but I found you threw your mothers last name and got your number just this morning and decided calling you which lead us all here." He said finishing up. I was just trying to take it all in so I stayed quiet. The waitress came and asked for our drinks and we gave our drink orders to her as she walked away. "Well um that was a lot to digest in just 10 minutes." I said trying to lighten up the mode. "Yah I know and I just want to apologize for never being there for you and trying harder." "No need to, from your story it seems as if you tried your best." I said shrugging. He nodded. "So tell me about yourself since I missed 19 years, fill me up on everything." I told him about myself and the struggles of my lifestyle not having a dad and an alcoholic mother and grandmother. He felt slightly bad but I let him know I was fine with the fact that I basically grew up alone other than Olivia, a person that I known since I was 8. We both meet in class since she was the new girl from America. She's actually from Atlanta but moved to the Dominican Republic when she was 9. I was her translator since I was the only person in the whole school that knew English. We both grew real close as I taught her Spanish and shared a bound. We opened up to each other and shared things together. She was like that older sister I always wish I had but never got. We both decided to move to Atlanta a month after my grandmother died because home left to many bad memories. I was 16 and she was 17 at the time, we finished school and did everything together after that. She is probably the only person in the world that truly cares about me and that's why I love her. We ordered our food and ate catching up on life and getting to know each other. We finished up and walked outside saying our goodbyes. "How about me and you go somewhere Friday night." My father suggested. "Um okay, that's fine. You can just call me and let me know." I said as we walked away. We got into the car and Olivia just stared at me. "Damn, that was A lot and you look like him." I shook my head. "Not really." "Where's my jacket?" She asked looking at me. "Oh I left it at August house on accident sorry. I'll get it when I go back Friday." "No bitch we going to get it now, so call him and let him know." I sighed shaking my head.