Page 5 of A Doctor for Daisy

“What?” the cute brunette said. “When did you two meet?”

Theo looked over and his gaze stayed on the woman. “This hero pulled her out of the car when it was catching on fire. I grabbed Heather’s purse so I could get an ID.”

“Fire?” Mrs. Davis screeched. Guess no one told them the facts.

The trooper shook his head. “Don’t let him kid you. He helped me get her out and then examined her the minute I laid her down. I told everyone to get back and he stayed.”

“Doctors do those things,” he said. “I wanted her ID but this guy…don’t know your name.”

“Luke Remington,” the trooper said, putting his hand out.

Theo shook it. “This guy pushed everyone back and went in and nothing was stopping him. He knew her when I turned her over.”

Growing up, Theo would have dreamed of being a hero like that. Saving the damsel in distress.

His mother flipped out when he got a thorn on his arm playing hide and seek outside and told him he was better off putting his brains to work rather than frolicking with the neighborhood kids. He never felt he was strong enough to stand up to her back then. That came later in life.

But Luke...he looked like nothing stood in his way and never would.

“How do you know our daughter?” Mr. Davis asked, looking at Luke.

The brunette whose name he hadn’t gotten spoke up. “Luke was the best man at Zane and Lily’s wedding. She met him at the wedding and then the Christmas party when he moved here.”

Those names meant nothing to him.

“Oh,” Mrs. Davis said. “Then I guess we owe you both a lot for being on the scene and getting Heather the care she needed right away. I can’t imagine what would have happened if she didn’t get out fast enough.”

Theo left after that to finish his notes and check on another patient here. His day off was ruined, but he wouldn’t linger any longer and try to salvage what he could of the day.

When he got home over an hour later, his phone rang before he could even get into the shower.

He saw it was his mother and ignored it. She’d give him crap over that, he knew. But he didn’t answer her calls when she reached out anymore as much as it bothered her.

He waited until he was done eating dinner before he picked his phone up and saw no voicemail but four texts asking him how he was doing. What he was doing. If he was okay. And to call her.

Nothing changed, it seemed.

He called to avoid more texts.

“Hi, Theo,” his mother said sweetly as if she hadn’t just blown his phone up having an anxiety attack that he wasn’t replying to her. “How was your day?”

“Long,” he said. “Interesting.”

“Long and interesting how?”

He shouldn’t tell her what happened, but damn it all, he thought of Luke and his heroic efforts and just for once in his life, he’d like to be thought of like that too. Not just by strangers on the street but by his mother who’d babied him his whole life.

He told her what happened and wasn’t surprised she shrieked into the phone.

“Theodore Andrew James! What is wrong with you? How could you put your life in danger that way? You’ve got way too much to offer to this world to risk being careless and getting hurt.”

He ground his teeth. “It’s my job to save people. I was doing my job. You have to stop acting like I need to live in this bubble.”

“I’m having chest pains,” his mother said. “Don’t do this to me.”

“Go talk to Jerry then,” he said. “I’m sure your husband can tell you to calm down and get over it just fine. I’d think you’d be happy your son helped save a woman from an accident today.”

He didn’t mention the gas and smoke, the car catching on fire. His mother would have probably driven the ninety minutes here to look him over for any injuries.

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