Starting Over

Ross's Life

When he cried there was a rawness to it like the pain was still an open wound. He would clasp onto something for support, anything, a table or the back of a chair, and then his whole body would shake. The sobs were stifled at first as he attempted to hide his pain, then overcome by the wave of his emotions he would break down entirely, all his defenses washed away in those salty tears. This time, the support was a simple picture frame that he had long locked away in an effort to hide the grief and sorrow it brought. But when he was looking for old photographs for his daughter's history project, the photo had come crashing down on him again. The photo held a happy couple on their wedding day. The woman who stood beside the younger version of the man was smiling so big you could have sworn he slept with a hanger in his mouth. The woman's wedding dress could have been made for royalty, the dress was a flowy elaborate dress with flowers embodied onto it. Golden curls fell elegantly from her shoulders, everything matched perfectly with her tan skin and bright blue eyes. To this day, Ross had never laid eyes on a more gorgeous bride.

When the door to his room crashed open, he quickly shoved the photo underneath the bed, not wanting to show his daughter he had just been crying.

"Dad?" Ava, who was a carbon copy of the woman in the photograph, was standing above him, with her lips pursed and arms crossed. She had never seen her dad like this, and it was intriguing and weird.

"Sorry I was just looking at some old photographs for you, and I saw an old friend," He didn't like lying to his children, but ever since Rachel, his ex-wife, had left for Paris six years ago. He never talked about her, and especially not to his children about it.

He had two of his children living with him, the others were with her, in Paris. Of course, he missed his other two children, but they probably didn't remember him, and he had been trying to forget about Rachel, and his kids, but lately that was all that he could think of. Especially since it was August 12th.

August 12th. One of the best days in his entire life, it was the day that Rachel and he had 'tied the knot', but not only that it marked the day they had started dating a year before. They had gotten married in 1996, only a year of dating each other. But they both knew that what they had, it was forever, or so they thought. It turned out it didn't last forever as he was in New York crying, and she was... doing whatever she was doing.

"Dad!" Ava shook him out of his thoughts as she waved her hand in front of his face. "I'm gonna be late for school," For a ten-year-old, Rebecca was incredibly stylish, only something she could have gotten from her mother, as her father often wore a 'mortifying' dinosaur tie to work, that Rebecca said was tacky and cheesy.

"Dad come on, Caleb is waiting!" she tapped her foot impatiently as she stared at her father slowly get up.

"Ok, ok I'm coming, grab my keys will you Av?" She just nodded as she ran out of the room to find her father's keys.

Ross tried to talk to them as they made their way to the local school, "Remember we're going to Aunt Monica's and Uncle Chandler's tonight for dinner. Don't be late!"

"But Dad, Annabelle just got back from her trip and she got me a gift! Can't I just go over to get my present and then go over to Aunt Mon, and Uncle Chandler's?"

"As long as you're there Av," Ross said turning his head to look in her eyes, to show how much this meant to him.

"I promise Dad!" Ava squealed excitedly, as she drooled on about how she thinks it's from a clothing store, that is 'all the rage', and she can't wait to see it.

---

"It's so scary how similar she is to Rach," Ross told Monica, as he sat down on the orange couch. "I swear it's like I'm looking at Rachel in middle school, and especially how she looks just like her. I don't know how much more I can stand of her being a mini Rachel, it's killing me,"