Page 38 of A Doctor for Daisy

“I had no idea. Maybe you told one of the girls and not me?”

“No,” his father said. “I’d tell you before them and if I didn’t tell you then I didn’t tell them.”

“What happened?”

“The usual. I’m not around enough. I just don’t understand women. They know my job. I’m fifty-eight years old. I’ve got a lot of years left in me to work. I’m not sure why everyone thinks I’m going to retire.”

Theo knew that he was born when his father was still in his residency. His sisters during the fellowships. His grandfather was a plastic surgeon who had his only son late in life.

When his grandfather died, his father inherited everything. His mother and his father married and had kids early; his mother never worked.

The arrangement worked for them until it seemed to not work for his mother anymore.

“You can’t let it get to you,” he said.

He wondered if it brought back memories of his parents' marriage. His mother was never happy that he could remember.

“I know,” his father said. “I’m more annoyed than anything. Whatever you do, Theo, when you find someone that you think you want to be with, put them first as best as you can. Or at least make sure they understand your career.”

It seemed odd that his father was giving him this advice now when he was dating someone that no one was even aware of.

Daisy had said before that she wanted her mother to be a parent but got a friend instead.

His father had never given him dating advice. He’d had to figure it out on his own. Seemed like he wasn’t doing that great of a job of it.

Maybe now he could change that.

14

Embrace Life

“Ican’t believe you talked me into this,” Theo said the following weekend. “Horseback riding.”

“You said you wanted to do things that were fun,” Daisy said, laughing next to him in the car. They’d just driven over an hour to a ferry and then taken the ferry to a small farm on an island that had horseback riding on trails and the beach. “This is going to be fun.”

“Not if I fall off the horse and break a bone.”

“You can fix it yourself,” she said, poking him in the belly.

“Very cute. I need my hands to do my job,” he said.

“So do I,” she said.

She was being a good sport about this so he should do the same. “It’s more likely someone else is going to get hurt and I’ll have to deal with it,” he said. They were remote here. They probably had some medical personnel at the farm but no fast route out of there.

He hoped this date didn’t bite him in the ass.

She grinned at him and pointed. “Look at the horses.”

He looked and then wondered if it was more likely one of them would bite him in the ass while he was trying to get on.

Theo wasn’t intimidated by much in life, but this was scaring the crap out of him.

“You do a great job in emergencies and you know it. We’ll have a good time.”

It was the look in her eyes, and the hopping around she was doing by his Mercedes SUV that had him joining in the enthusiasm some.

“You’re right, it probably will be. Have you ridden a horse before?”

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