Page 61 of A Doctor for Daisy

“Some time in the middle of the night it ended,” Heather said. “I couldn’t sleep. Or not much and kept looking at my phone for updates.”

Daisy pulled her phone out and looked for the news. “It says he was killed by police. Do you know what happened? Have you talked to Luke?”

“No,” Heather said. “I’m not sure he can even tell me or if they release things like that to the public. We don’t talk about his job much.”

“Do you want to know more?” she asked. She got her coffee off the island that Heather made for her. “I’m not sure if I would. I mean, don’t take that the wrong way, but it’s scary.”

“It is,” Heather said. “I didn’t think of it as much as last night. I know he was probably safe. He’d be out of the line of what was going on.”

“I guess that means something,” she said.

“I texted him, but he hasn’t replied. I guess I’ll go to work soon. I just hope I hear from him today.”

“I’m sure you will,” she said. She watched Heather finish her breakfast and then leave. She still had time before she had to go in and sent a text to Theo. He had office hours today, but she knew he’d be up.

She learned that on surgical days he could be out of the house at five depending on where he was operating. Some surgeries started at six. Office hours were at eight and it was barely seven right now.

Her phone rang a second later. “Morning,” he said. “How is Heather doing? I saw that it’s over on the news.”

The fact he asked about Heather went a long way with her. “She’s hanging in there. I don’t think I told you Luke was a sniper, did I?”

“No,” he said. “I’m not surprised either.”

“Yeah. Heather was pretty rattled. Not much bothers her. I mean nothing other than getting the cast off her leg.”

He laughed on the other line. “She’s pretty tough. Her parents were a little harsh, but she held it together.”

“They babied her,” she said. “Man, I worked my butt off to prove to them I could take care of her so they wouldn’t drag her home.”

“I didn’t know that,” he said.

“I didn’t think much of it. I mean it wasn’t anything major. Just that I had the house spotless and food ready. I wanted them to know she’d be fine here. I worked from home until I knew she was okay on her own. I just wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable.”

“I didn’t know you could work from home,” he said.

“Sure,” she said. “I mean they made an exception for me because they wanted to make sure Heather was cared for. Rose did orders from home too when she was pulled out of work. She’ll do them again after Thanksgiving. If things get really busy, I might do the same. There is no reason to stay at the shop late in the back on my own when I can do the same work at home. I’ve done it before if the weather is going to be bad too. Not that you get that luxury.”

“No,” he said. “I can do some office visits via web calls if a patient can’t get in, but in my field, I normally need to see them in person.”

“I’m sorry I had to cancel on you. We don’t get to see much of each other and it’s not fair. I’ll see Heather this weekend and I’m going to tell her about us. This way, you and I only have to work around your job and mine.”

“You need to do what works for you,” he said.

“I know,” she said. “But it’s silly now. I mean it was early before and is still kind of early. Not even two months, but what is the timeline? There isn’t one. I feel I know you so well and we get along. There is no reason for this now. Whatever happens will, but we don’t need another thing in the way.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” he said. “It’s not that long before we get into the holidays. It does make it easier.”

Oh boy. Her mind hadn’t even gone to that. She wasn’t in a good space to deal with it either. That could be another day.

She was trying to listen to Rose to not judge Theo based on the family he came from, but she was a little terrified of meeting them if that was what he wanted.

It’s not like she had any family around or had to worry about it. Though her mother had made a few comments about her meeting Charlie.

Urgh, the last thing she wanted to do was have to decide where to go or who to be with for the holidays.

“It does,” she said, agreeing. It was just best to do that right now.

“I need to run,” he said. “Let me know if you get any updates on Luke or Heather. I know she’s family to you.”

---