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She sniffled some and followed him out of his bedroom to the living room. “Can I have some water, please?”
“Sure,” he said. “I’ll get you a bottle.”
He grabbed the box of tissues on his way back in too, set them in front of her on the coffee table and handed her the water where she’d sat on the couch in his living room now.
“Thanks,” she said. “You’re so sweet. Too sweet for me.”
“Why do you say that?”
She reached for a tissue and blotted her eyes. “I need to stop that stuff. That is part of why Heather is mad. I’m more outgoing than her, but I’ve always been insecure about my upbringing.”
“I gathered as much,” he said.
She’d made comments here and there. Even their first date she couldn’t understand why he went on a date with her. But he’d felt he’d done his best to convince her he didn’t care about those things.
“Heather and I made this pact that we wouldn’t let the other feel insecure or knock ourselves down. She’s been somewhat shy and you met her parents. She never seemed to make her mother happy. Not in her career choices or who she dated.”
“What does this have to do with telling her about us dating?” he asked.
“She was hurt I didn’t tell her and wanted to know why. I told her but then went into more detail about feeling out of place at times. That I didn’t always feel I was good enough for you and it was new.” He opened his mouth to argue with her, but she put her hand up. “That was early on. I’m better now, I promise. But there is still some of it there. Then the time got away from me. I wanted to do it a few weeks ago, but running into Ryan hurt me some.”
He let out a sigh. “She’s mad that you are getting down on yourself and you kept this from her, right? A double whammy of sorts?”
“That’s it,” she said. She blew her nose this time, then drank some water. “We’ve never fought. Ever. I expected her to be shocked, but then maybe laugh after she realized why I did it. Not act the way she did. Then she went to her room. Like just walked out and wouldn’t finish talking to me.”
“Do you think she is under stress with Luke? Everything that has happened in the past few days could be getting to her,” he said.
“I thought of that after. And I’m trying not to take it personally, but it’s hard. Then I get to work and decide to call my mother. I thought maybe she could give me some advice.”
“She didn’t?” he asked.
“No. She did what she always does. Acted like a friend and not a parent. I know my mother did her best. I really do. I appreciate everything she’s done for me too. But sometimes I want her to be my mom.”
“What did she say to you?” he asked.
“That you learn from your mistakes and that I needed to do that. Her mother never gave her advice, but she didn’t want it and wouldn’t listen to it so she didn’t want to do that to me.”
“Ahhh,” he said. “She thought what she wanted was the same as what you would want?”
“Pretty much,” she said. “What I needed was her to help me figure this out. Or even just listen and be sympathetic and all she did was validate Heather’s reaction by saying she’d feel the same way.”
He couldn’t imagine his mother doing that to him. But again, his mother was the total opposite and smothered and babied him.
His mother told him what to do and never asked his opinion.
There was no advice given in his house. His mother made all the decisions because his father wasn’t around. And then his father had enough too.
“You know Heather the best,” he said. “Be honest, did you think she would react this way?”
“I thought she’d be upset and hurt that I didn’t tell her about you. I was prepared for that. I wasn’t prepared for the anger.”
“We can’t prepare for everything in life,” he said. “I know. I tried. It just doesn’t work out the way you want and then you’re frustrated for a lot more reasons. The best you can do is run scenarios or options in your head. Ask yourself this, what would you have done differently if you could go back in time?”
“Now you’re sounding like my mother going with the learn from your mistakes,” she said.
She blew her nose again. He hated to see her upset like this and was surprised at how upset it was making him.
Did he fall in love with Daisy without knowing it? Was it possible? He wasn’t sure he’d ever felt this before with another woman, but he didn’t know what else it could be.
