Obsessed with a Daddy

“Teaching is a good job.” I shrugged. “It might not pay as much, but I think it has its own rewards.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I might end up doing that after all, but I’m going to take some core classes first and see how I feel about it in a year.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” I took another bite of my cookie and nodded. “You’ve got plenty of time to figure it out.”

“Tell that to my parents…” She sighed. “They just want me to pick something and stick with it.”

“I’m sure you will when you finally decide what that is.” I nodded.

“You’re a doctor—right? My parents cornered the real estate agent to find out who was moving in next door…” She reached for her milk.

“I am.” I raised an eyebrow and laughed as I imagined my real estate agent being cornered by concerned inhabitants of suburbia.

“Did you always know that was what you were going to be when you were growing up?” Holly leaned back in her chair.

“Sorta…” I shrugged and nodded. “My parents gave me a lot of hints—doctor, lawyer—president. They didn’t care which one I chose as long as I was successful at it.”

“President?” She looked down and laughed. “That’s quite a leap from a lawyer.”

“Yeah, I think they were kidding about that one, but you never know with my parents.” I shook my head and chuckled. “Okay, I’m going to have to hide these cookies, or I’m going to keep eating them. Do you want another one?”

“Yes, but I’m going to do the responsible thing and pretend that I don’t.” She took a sip of her milk.

“Let’s just have one more—to get it out of our system.” I grabbed a cookie and pushed the plate towards her.

“I would have thought a doctor wouldn’t want me to have another cookie…” She narrowed her eyes at me.

“No, eat all the cookies you want—if you get sick, you have to pay me to make you better. I’m just investing in my future.” I winked at her and took a bite of my cookie.

“That’s so wrong.” She grinned and reached for a cookie.

“So are dentists that give kids candy after they fill their cavities—same concept.” I sipped my milk and shrugged.

Holly and I kept talking while we finished off our final cookie, but the conversation didn’t end when we wiped away the crumbs. She was surprisingly easy to talk to, and it was a breath of fresh air after spending most of my days with people who just wanted to talk about work. The few times I went out for drinks with my co-workers usually devolved into conversations about stuff that happened at the hospital. I found myself getting lost in her eyes while we talked—and I laughed more than I had in years. The age difference was obvious—she was way too young for me, and we were at completely different points in our lives—but I wasn’t thinking about that when I started to wonder if those perfectly pouty lips were as soft as they looked.

“Would you like the grand tour?” I motioned to the house. “I don’t have much stuff yet…”

“Sure, why not.” She nodded. “It’ll be interesting to see what you’ve done with the place.”

“Did you know the family that lived here before me?” I pushed my chair back and stood.

“Yeah, they had two kids my age.” She stood up and wiped a couple of cookie crumbs off her shirt.

“Ah, I figured they did—there’s a tree house in the back yard.” I walked to the window and pointed.

“Yes, there is.” A hint of a devious grin formed on the edge of her lips but quickly fade

d. “Are you going to tear it down?”

“Honestly? I don’t know if I’ll have time to tear it down myself.” I shrugged and walked away from the window. “Maybe I’ll hire someone to take care of it at some point—it’s definitely seen better days.”

I gave Holly a tour of the house, but there really wasn’t much to see. I mainly just wanted to keep talking to her and didn’t want the conversation to dry up once we shared a few details about our lives. It had been a long time since I had been able to entertain someone—especially someone as pretty as her. If she wasn’t leaving for college in a couple of days, I would have probably asked her out on a date—even if she was too young for me. There was something that drew me to Holly, and I didn’t really know why. Maybe the loneliness had just finally chipped away at my normal inhibitions. I definitely needed to start putting myself out there more and going on dates if I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life wondering if I should have just taken a chance rather than analyzing the impossibilities of it.

I said I would start dating more after college—then I said the same about medical school—now I’m almost done with my residency and I barely need two hands to count the number of dates I’ve been on since high school.

“That’s about it.” I motioned to the empty room next to the one I slept in. “I think I’m going to turn this one into an office.”

“Are you planning to bring your work home with you?” Holly looked into the room and then turned back towards me.