Page 31 of A Doctor for Daisy

“This is really good,” he said. He’d taken a bite of the Italian sandwich. “You went all out. You made it yourself. I can tell the difference between store bought and homemade assembled sandwiches.”

She smiled at him. “Yes. I did. I don’t eat out all that much and it’s cheaper and healthier to make it. Heather and I take turns cooking. She’s with Luke this weekend so she has no clue what I’m doing right now.”

“Do you not want her to know?” he asked. He wasn’t sure where this was going.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Not right yet.”

“Why?” he asked.

“I’ll get to that. Can I ask you a question first?”

He knew where this was going. It always started this way. “Thirty,” he said.

“What?” she asked, frowning. She’d taken a bite of her salad and put her hand in front of her mouth to speak again and cover any food in there. “I can ask you thirty questions? That’s a lot. I’m not sure I can come up with that many.”

Now he felt like more of a fool. “No. I mean yes, if you want. I thought you were asking my age. That always comes up. That I’m too young to be where I am in my career.”

“Damn,” she said. “I’m not good with guys’ ages, but I’d put you at least mid-thirties or older. Heather said you’ve been practicing a few years too. Okay, we’ll circle back to that. My question was going to be something along the lines of why we are on this date. I mean you’re a doctor and I make jewelry. I barely got through two years of college and you’ve been practicing for a few years. Not that I know exactly how much schooling and training you need, but something tells me a lot.”

He hated that she didn’t think she should be with him right now. Here he thought she had a ton of confidence, but maybe she was good at hiding it.

“I told you why I asked you out,” he said. “I’m not a snob or anything. Not like my mother can be.” He smiled when he said it.

“Okay. So then we’ll circle to your age and how you are practicing so young. Are you some kind of a whiz kid that skipped grades?”

She wasn’t smiling or joking when she said it. Just asked a serious question. “Actually, yes. I was in college at sixteen, medical school at nineteen. I started practicing at twenty-eight. I got through medical school early too.”

“Wow,” she said. She started to eat faster as if she was nervous for some reason. “I’m not sure what to say to that. I figured you out to be a serious guy that was trying not to be, but this is nothing that I imagined.”

“Why or how did you figure me out to be that way?” he asked. He took a healthy sip of his beer. This date seemed to be going downhill in a hurry.

“I just took you for a guy that was or is very disciplined. I mean I think it goes without saying in your field alone. And that you were trying to not be that way so much for whatever reason. I’m the ‘you get what you see’ all the time. I’m professional at work, but I guess I’m the same there as here.”

“I doubt you talk to your customers like you do your friends or dates,” he pointed out.

“You’ve got me there. I guess this is going to be one of those classic opposites things.”

“Just based on our careers?” he asked.

“And personalities. Which I don’t have a problem with. Maybe I could be more serious in life and you could loosen up.”

This time she laughed. “I doubt you need to be more serious, but I definitely have been told enough times to loosen up by my sisters.”

“More than one sister. Another opposite. I’m an only child to a single mother. My father isn’t in the picture and never was. My grandmother was a single mother too. I’m breaking the cycle. I’m the first to get a college degree even though it’s only two years. You’ve got a family.”

“A family isn’t determined by the number of people. Having witnessed you with Heather, I’d say you’ve got a sister.”

She put her fork down. “That is the sweetest thing you could have said. Yes. She is like my sister. My bosses, they treat us all like family too. So I guess in a way I’ve got it. I am close to my mother though. We’ve always been close.”

“That’s better than me,” he said. “No one is close to my mother though my sisters would insist I’m the favorite.”

“Because you’re the smart one?” she asked. She’d gone back to eating now and not stuffing her face but at a normal pace. Maybe she was relaxing rather than planning on running.

“They say that. I’m the oldest. Erica is twenty-eight and Harmony is twenty-four. My youngest sister says she is the troublemaker and I’m the perfect one, but the truth is I think Harmony is the happiest of us. She’s kind of like you. Though she says she’s not sure what she wants to do with her life and it drives my mother nuts, Harmony is just this person who draws the good out of everyone around her. She makes you laugh and she has you believing the world is a better place through her eyes.”

He’d been talking while he ate and looked up and saw Daisy with tears in her eyes. Son of a bitch, he was blowing this.

“Oh my God,” she said. “That’s so many sweet things in less than thirty minutes and I don’t even think you’re trying. What the hell am I doing here?”

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