Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
I smile as I remember her in Norfolk, how she’d been so worried she’d be recognized here. She probably also thought my family would be a little starstruck. It had been wonderful to watch as she realized neither of those things were going to happen and she could just be herself.
“She fitted in,” he says, his words slicing into me like one of Mum’s scalpels.
“I know,” I say eventually. The heaviness I’ve carried since I walked away from Vivian hasn’t left me. I think about her constantly. It’s not getting easier; if anything, it’s getting worse.
Dax was right. Vivian was right. I ran away from her when things started to get complicated.
“What happened between you?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “We come from such different worlds and I didn’t want to hurt her. Maybe I am a commitment-phobe.” I shrug. “A good-time guy. The warm-up guy so the girl’s ready to marry the next bloke who comes along.”
Dad narrows his eyes at me and then refocuses on the pie. “Don’t believe much in labels. Life comes in seasons, phases. We all shift and change. Time stands still for no one. Maybe you have been a commitment-phobe. Doesn’t mean that’s your story forever.”
I sigh. He makes things sound so simple. “I’ve always liked to travel and experience new things. The trip to Finland wasn’t… I mean, it was okay. It just wasn’t as exciting as I expected.”
He binds the crust of the pie together with the prongs of a fork.
“You think I’ve run out of things to do?” I ask.
He scowls at the pie like it’s wronged him, then paints the lid with egg wash. “Do I think you’ve run out of things to do on this planet of ten thousand cities, fifty seas and eight billion people? No. I think there are endless sights to see, rivers to cross and mountains to climb. But none of that will necessarily make you happy. Maybe it will. Or perhaps it did for a time and now you have to look elsewhere. Perhaps you’re turning the page onto your next chapter. Maybe you need to think about your job and whether being a locum GP is your calling.”
My calling? “You think I haven’t found the right career?” I enjoy my job. I like helping people and I like the flexibility it gives me to do other things I enjoy.
“I didn’t say that,” he replies. “But it’s important to keep asking yourself that question every couple of years. I had about five different careers during my working life because I shifted and changed as I reassessed things.”
“And now you’re an apple pie-maker extraordinaire.”
“I don’t think baking is my calling. But it makes my wife happy and that’s a calling I’ll have until the day I die.”
I smile. They bicker at each other, but there’s never been any doubt in my mind that my dad worships my mother, and my mother would walk over fire for my father.
“I’ve heard you talk about your disabled travel business over the years. Have you ever thought something like that might be your next chapter?”
“I have a business plan Nathan helped me with. I still like the idea.”
“Has it occurred to you that the decisions you make today don’t bind you for the rest of your life? I know you’re used to these short-term trips, but every decision you make is temporary. You don’t need to be so worried about making the wrong one.”
Is that what I’ve been doing? Not wanting to make a decision that commits me for long periods of time? I guess that’s another way of being commitment shy.
“Your mother and I make a conscious, ongoing decision to stay married.”
“What do you mean? You’re having marriage difficulties?”
“Absolutely not, but plenty of couples divorce and walk away from each other. Nothing is forever unless you choose it forever, and even then sometimes it’s not. Say you start this travel company and you decide you don’t like being in business. What’s stopping you from going back to being a GP?”
I take a deep breath in. “Nothing.” I’ve been thinking about being a GP a lot recently. I’ve even done a search for open positions back in the NHS. That’s where I could make a real difference. Not on Welbeck Street, catering to wealthy customers, but ordinary working people who rely on free healthcare.
“Right. You end up in the wrong thing, you get out of it.”
It sounds so simple, but I’ve never thought about it like that. All I could see with Everyone Adventures is how complicated it got and how out of my comfort zone I felt with it and…how much it would take me away from medicine, which is what I love to do.
“If you end up in the right thing, it might be better than you can imagine. Starting your own business might be the second-best thing you do. Marrying Vivian might be the best thing you do.”