Dianne Drake - The Nurse And The Single Dad

“In other words, you’re an ogre.”

“That’s a question you need to ask Maddie. She has a very distinct opinion on a whole list of subjects, and I happen to be at the top of her list.”

“Then she’s headstrong.” Zoey scooped a pat of butter off the butter plate and spread it on a roll. “Taking after her daddy, of course.”

“You think I’m headstrong?”

“I don’t know you well enough to form an opinion, but my instincts tell me yes.”

“I’ll admit it. I’m headstrong...as headstrong as you are blunt.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You intend to be blunt?”

“I’ve practiced being blunt.” Her eyes gleamed with laughter. “It’s an acquired skill that I’ve worked on over time.”

“Let me guess. You used to be shy and retiring.”

“Something like that.”

“Hard to imagine,” he mumbled as he forked up a spear of asparagus.

He regarded her for a moment as she chewed a piece of her dinner roll. Bluntness became her. She wore it well because she wasn’t rude about it. More like, she was practical or matter-of-fact. She made an observation and was honest when she called it out. He couldn’t fault her for that. Couldn’t fault anyone who didn’t skirt around the truth.

“More like hard to overcome,” she stated after she’d swallowed. “I was always reserved and quiet when I was young. Not so much an introvert like you, but always under my mother’s thumb. She’s pretty domineering and I was the recipient of that dominance. But, in her defense, I think she was that way because it was difficult for her to raise me alone and that was her way of making sure I was being taken care of.”

“Do you still have a relationship with her?”

“A pretty good one, actually. She worries about me, but the way she expresses that worry is more like...well...nagging.” Zoey laughed. “Sometimes it gets frustrating, but I’m used to it.”

“And your father?”

“He split when I was a baby. Didn’t want the responsibility of raising a kid, even though later on he got remarried and raised another family. And never had anything to do with me.”

“Not even child support?”

“Not even child support, which my mother could have used, since she worked three jobs off and on to support us.”

“So why’d he turn his back on you?”

“Who knows? Maybe guilt? Maybe he never wanted his second wife to know that he had a daughter from another marriage. I mean, I can worry myself to death over what caused him to do what he did, or I can think of all my mother did for me and be grateful she was strong enough to give me a good life.”

“It was rough, though, wasn’t it?”

“It was. But we got along. Anyway, Elizabeth said your parents live in Florida...?”

“In a condo on the beach. Living in grand style and loving the retired life.”

“Do you see them often?”

“I haven’t been down there for years, but they manage to visit Maddie and me about once every two or three months.” He had a good relationship with them. Talked to them via the Internet every few days, mostly so Maddie could keep in touch with them and have a visual reminder of what they looked like. Emailed them occasionally, texted every once in a while when something interesting popped into his mind and snail-mailed pictures that Maddie would draw for them. All in all, he was closer to his parents now than he’d been years ago, when he’d still lived at home.

And it was a good thing, as Damien had practically dropped off the face of the earth in his newest venture. Sure, he snuck into civilization every now and again to hit up a computer for an Internet chat. He emailed whenever he could. Also, he called when he was near a cell tower. In fact, Damien even went so far as writing an occasional letter—short, to the point, often lacking in detail, but always welcome. Being in a remote jungle in Costa Rica might have hampered communication with his twin, but it didn’t cut them off.

Daniel thought back to those very bleak days when Elizabeth had been deteriorating rapidly. He’d told his twin how he was feeling, how he was doing, how he was coping, and Damien had dropped everything to rush to his side to help him through it. It was such a relief to have him there—the closeness of twins couldn’t be overexaggerated.

Sighing, as he thought back on those times, Daniel recalled how grateful he’d been to his brother for the support, and now he often caught himself wishing they could live closer together. Of course, Damien was happy in his life, where he was, doing what he was doing, and that was good. What made Damien happy made Daniel happy, as well.

* * *

Zoey was enjoying the antics of the comedian on stage who touted his credentials as a couple of late-night television appearances as well as his very own special on a comedy channel. A couple of his jokes had her laughing so hard she hurt.

“He’s good,” she said, nudging Daniel. She looked over at him to gauge whether or not he was enjoying the entertainment, but she found it difficult to tell as he had a polite, fixed smile on his face.

“He is,” Daniel agreed, his facial expression remaining flat.

“But you’re not laughing.” She wondered what, if anything, ever struck his funny bone, or was he serious all the time?

“Laughing on the inside,” he said.

“Which is no laugh at all.” Elizabeth had talked to Zoey about her fears for Daniel, one being the way he drew in on himself. Was he doing that now? Feeling guilty for having fun without her?

“It’s the best I can do. I’ve never cared that much for comedians.”

Zoey sighed out loud and tried to refocus her attention to the act.

“What?” he prodded.

“Nothing,” she said, biting back her response, as what Daniel did or didn’t do was truly none of her business.

“I know what follows that kind of sigh. Elizabeth was the master of the provoked sigh, and I’ve had a fair share of them directed at me. So let me have it.”

“It’s not my place.”

“It is if I invite you in.”

“Don’t invite me in. You might be sorry.”

“Why? Because you’re blunt?”

She tossed him a tight-lipped smile. “Something like that.”

“I’m a big boy, Zoey. I can take it.”

“But we’re not really friends. Just passing acquaintances.”

“We could remedy that.”

“How?”

“Coffee later on. Something one-on-one.”

That caught her off-guard. She didn’t think he was asking her for a date, especially after what she’d told him about her dating life. Yet, whatever his intentions were, she was hesitant to be part of them. He scared her. Filled her with mixed feelings, as she could almost picture herself together with him. But there was always that one, huge drawback, wasn’t there? First her father, then Brad... The men in her life had never worked out and she often wondered if her history was doomed to repeat itself. “Sounds nice, but I’ve got an early morning ahead of me, and it takes me quite a while to go to sleep. So, unfortunately, I think I’ll have to pass.”

“Suit yourself. But at least tell me what the sigh was about.”

“Suit yourself.” She glanced up at the stage in time to see the comedian take his final bow and disappear from the stage. “You’re here in body but nothing else, and I have a hunch you won’t allow yourself to have any real fun. That guy was a riot and you never cracked your fake smile.”

He paused before he spoke and frowned. “Elizabeth used to say the same thing about me—that I don’t know how to have fun.”

“You wouldn’t know fun if it came up and bit you on the backside.”

Before he had time to reply, one of the speakers appeared on stage and waved as the audience greeted him with thunderous applause. He was the CEO of the hospital, and Zoey assumed this was where he would make his pitch for donations. She looked over at Daniel and smiled. “Guess this cuts our conversation short,” she said, leaning over so he could hear her. “But keep in mind that having fun is...fun. You should try it sometime.”