Page 119 of A Doctor for Daisy

Without Interference

Right after lunch, Theo got a text on his phone while he was in with a patient.

He turned his wrist to look at his watch, noticed it was from Daisy and wanted to pull his phone out to read it.

He couldn’t. He had to finish this appointment first.

“I’ll be right back,” he said to the nurse when he went into the hall. “I’ve got a call.”

Normally he wouldn’t do that unless it was an emergency and since it wasn’t unheard of for that to happen, he didn’t feel guilty going to his office.

He pulled his phone out, read the text that Daisy would like to see him to talk tonight and felt his heart get stuck in his throat.

Was she going to end things with him? It sure the hell sounded that way when she’d left yesterday.

Theo looked down at his hand and noticed the faint bruise on the knuckle and was lucky it’d only been that.

He decided to call Daisy so he had a heads up of what could happen tonight. He had to prepare either way.

“Hello,” she said, answering it quickly. Her voice was soft and low.

“Hi,” he said, just as softly. “Yes, I want to talk tonight. Give me a chance to explain.”

He heard her sniffle. “We both need to.”

He gulped. Shit. “Are you ending things with me?” he asked. “I just need to know. I can’t wait all day to find out.”

“I don’t want to,” she said.

“Good enough for me. Neither of us has time to talk, but I’m telling you right now, I don’t want to either. I love you. Just remember that.”

He hung up the phone and took a deep breath. Things were far from over, he knew that. But he had to get back to work and when he had a minute he’d let Daisy know when he’d be home.

When he was finished with his last patient, he went to his office and shut the door. He had a call to make before he went home to talk with Daisy.

He dialed his mother and she answered on the first ring. “Hello, Theo. Did you call to apologize to me?”

He ground his teeth. “No. I called to give you hell. I’m not sure what you think you are trying to prove, but it’s not going to work.”

“I told you that I don’t think she is good enough for you.”

“No,” he said. “That is my decision to make. Not yours. You need to let us live our lives without interference.”

“I’m your mother,” she said. He heard the tears in her voice too. He wasn’t going to feel bad about his words though. “I love you and want what is best for my children.”

“And I told you, you raised us and you should let go and know you did a good job and trust in our judgment. This is on you to not let go, not the rest of us. You have three children that are miserable when they talk to you. Do you ever wonder why?”

“That’s not true,” his mother argued. “You’re exaggerating.”

“It’s true and you know it. I told Daisy what you did. I had to. Because I love her and I wanted her to know what was going on.”

“I’m sure she was upset with you.”

“She was. She is. She’s more upset over the fact that you don’t like her and if she loves me and you’re my mother, would I side with you? I think you did that hoping this would all happen. That I’d either not tell her and you’d always treat her like a second-class citizen until she was uncomfortable enough she left me. Or that I’d tell her and she’d leave me because she didn’t want to deal with this or me having to choose. Am I right?”

There was silence on the other end. “Did Daisy break up with you?”

“No,” he said. It was the truth. Nothing was resolved right now and he hoped it didn’t come to that. He was going to try to prove to her he had what it took to be the person she was worthy of too.

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