He was out of words.

And quite honestly, so was I. Our father-daughter relationship was nothing but a tenuous bond drawn together by the legal papers that state he is my biological father.

And sometimes I wish I could grab hold of those legal papers and burn them so I could throw the ashes out the door along with my father. He wasn’t family anymore- he hasn’t been ever since I was a teenager. Who the hell chooses to leave their own happy family anyway?

David didn’t say much ever since my father unexpectedly showed up- not that he really could anyway. It was my battle to fight.

“You need to leave, dad. I can’t have you ruin my life again. I’m finally on my own two feet and I’m getting married and-”

“You’re what?” He asked coldly.

I looked over at David and then smiled before standing beside him. “David and I are getting married. You would know if you-”

“You’re getting married… to him?” He cut me off mid-sentence again to clarify.

“Why should it matter to you? You never cared before.” I sneered. “We were just organizing our wedding, actually.” I jerked my head gently over at the table that was scattered in papers. I wanted him to actually believe that I was making a life for myself, and that I didn’t need him. I only needed David.

My father then broke his infuriated glare at me to walk over to the table. David and I both watched him closely, trying to predict what he would say. But neither of us actually knew, because we didn’t know who he was.

“I’m living a more successful life than you,” I blurted without thinking. “I’m doing everything I’ve always wanted to do and I couldn’t ask for anything better. David is a musician, for Christ sake… he promised me that we won’t ever have to struggle- he’s quite the opposite of you.”

David looked at me as if it was a giant secret that he was the guitarist of a band, but I couldn’t care less. I was spilling words as if I was a caged my entire life- which in a metaphorical sense, I was.

“You’re going to throw your life away for a rockstar? Have you lost your fucking mind? You’re throwing away a world of opportunities for a life of partying, drugs, alcohol… and for how long will that last, Amelia? These types of relationships don’t last. You’re making a big fucking mistake.”

“My biggest mistake was wishing that you would come back into my life.”

It looked as if I had just shot him in the hard with a silver bullet. I felt rotten for saying what I said, but the truth had an immense power over me.

A new look glazed over his face and changed his expression completely. He looked down at the table and picked up papers by the pile, ripping them into shreds as they fell on the ground.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” I yelled. “Stop it!”

David and I tried to get him to stop but he cursed in our faces and wasn’t going to stop anytime soon.

“Please don’t do this, dad. Things were finally starting to look up for me and I can’t let it all crumble again.” I cried. “I was beginning to be happy again and you’re taking that away from me… again.”

He stopped and looked me in the eye. “You really don’t want your father in your life?” he scowled.

“No, I don’t.” I said without hesitation, meaning every single word.

And just like that, he walked right past me and out the door. At least that time, I watched him leave, and I knew that he wasn’t coming back.

David pulled me in for a hug, but I didn’t want one. I started to pick all the ripped pieces of paper off the floor and brought them over to the garbage can. A year of planning the perfect wedding and my father came back into my life to ruin everything.

“Well… that was interesting.” David mumbled. “Are you okay?”

I didn’t know how to answer that question. There wasn’t anything good from my father’s visit- I honestly didn’t know what I was expecting all of those years that I wished for him to come back. I guess I was hoping for everything to be normal again, but you can’t fix a broken family with superglue.

“I’m starting to think that the world just doesn’t want me to be happy.” I whispered softly, looking up at David. I felt tears flood in my eyes and that’s when I decided that I really did need a hug.

“It’s been a hard year for you, Em. But we’ll be okay.” He smiled, lifting my spirits just a bit.

At that point in my life, I really thought that things couldn’t have gotten any worse.