Page 15 of A Doctor for Daisy

Penny was eighteen when Daisy was born. Her mother had been pregnant her senior year in high school but had managed to keep it a secret. A single mother and they pretty much raised themselves. There were times she wanted her mother to be more of a parent to her than a friend but never had the courage to say that to her.

“Does your mother wish you were closer to her?”

“No,” Daisy said. “I don’t think she does even though she says it. She’s dating someone now and I’m happy for her.”

It’d taken over a year to get to this point. Where she could prove to her mother they were better off not being best friends now and could both figure out their lives.

“Is this a first?”

“No,” she said. “She’s dated over the years, but it’s not like she had men in and out of my life. She never lived with anyone either. So I guess dating is about all it ended up.”

Her mother and she had moved a lot. Not always out of the area until she was older. When she was still in elementary school, her grandmother—who was a single mother too—had been around. But when her grandmother got a job offer out of the area, Penny encouraged her to take it. By then her grandmother was seriously dating someone and talking of marriage anyway, so thinking back, it was a good excuse to get out.

Daisy remembered that even though she was ten at the time. She’d told herself that she would be selfless with her mother if the time ever came.

That just meant that it was truly the two of them and some friends of her mother’s over the years.

They moved when her mother could find a better job, more money or a nicer place to live. Not a lot of stability for a long period of time.

“Do you miss moving as much as you had?”

“No,” she said, stuffing her face more. Then she slowed down. She had a bad habit of eating more or fast when she talked about her childhood.

It’s not like it was horrible. Many had it worse.

But it wasn’t always pleasant and when she was going through a stressful patch and didn’t want her mother to know, she found comfort in sweets.

She was lucky she was active enough that it didn’t show up on her hips.

“Slow down. You’re going to choke. I don’t think I can do the Heimlich maneuver on you.”

“You can just beat me on the back with one of your crutches,” she said. Guess she didn’t do that great of a job hiding things or feelings from her closest friend.

“That might be fun.”

Daisy slowed down her chewing while she grinned. “Sorry. I tend to stuff my face at times. I love my mom and all. We are like best friends. But when I was a teen I wanted a mother, not another friend. I just didn’t have the most stable of lives, but it’s all good. I get that my mother didn’t have a lot of support in life either.”

“My mother was always a parent and never a friend,” Heather said. “It’s annoying. I’m not sure what would be better.”

“Having a nice balance would be the best,” she said. “But it seems that is hard to come by.”

“Don’t I know it,” Heather said.

“Are you going to tell your family about Luke?”

“At some point,” Heather said.

“Are you embarrassed to be dating him?” she asked, frowning.

“No!” Heather sipped her coffee to gather her thoughts. “It’s not that. You know my brothers. They are going to want to look into him and make sure he’s good enough.”

“Not sure they are going to find anything bad or he wouldn’t have the career he does.”

“I know that. But I’ve had to deal with my brothers my whole life when I liked someone. They almost always scare the person away.”

She frowned some more. “I’m not sure there is much that can scare Luke away. He’s been to war. He’s a sniper. He’s a state trooper. He rescued you from a burning car that might have exploded.”

“I know,” Heather said. “But it’s hard when it’s what you’ve always seen happen.”

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