Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“I would have sniffed him,” Veronica said. “I might even have surreptitiously grazed my leg against his.”
I was pretty sure Jacob’s graze of my leg with his had been accidental. Sitting next to me hadn’t been his idea and to me, he’d clearly been uncomfortable. The woman he was sitting with at lunch was pretty. Beautiful in fact. I’d had a pang of jealousy until I’d clocked the engagement ring on her left hand. A huge chunk of diamond I was definitely jealous of.
Being jealous of Jacob speaking to another woman was ridiculous. If Jacob started seeing someone else, that would be a best-case scenario for me. It would mean no one would be looking too hard at us if we ever encountered each other in the hospital. The door would stay very firmly shut between us. Maybe I could suggest that to him?
“Don’t you think he’s gorgeous?” Gilly asked me. “Or is he still strictly Dr. Off Limits for you?”
If only she knew.
I shrugged, hoping divine intervention would save me from this conversation. My prayers were answered when someone came and opened the lecture theatre door.
“What’s that?” Veronica said, nodding toward the desk on the floor of the lecture theatre.
“It looks like a top hat,” Gilly said. “Are we having magic lessons this afternoon?”
My stomach swooped as I remembered my conversation with Jacob about the importance of believing in magic. “We can only hope.”
Wanda filed in, along with representatives from each department where we’d be assigned rotations. Which of course included Jacob.
Gilly was right. He was absolutely gorgeous. A man with an almost-shaved head shouldn’t by rights be as attractive as Jacob but somehow, he pulled it off. He could probably dress in a clown suit and pull it off. He exuded sexy confidence that had nothing to do with his appearance—though that didn’t hurt, either.
“This afternoon, you’re going to find out your first rotation,” Wanda announced. My heart began to thunder like someone playing the kettle drums in my chest. I was excited. This was what we were here for. All that hard work over the last seven years had been to get to this moment.
So long as I didn’t get pediatrics.
Nothing could take the shine off starting my clinical career other than having to deal with the man who made me feel like I was walking a tightrope between doctor and giddy teenager anytime he was in a five-meter radius.
“Every year we get complaints about allocations,” Wanda said. “Every year I have a queue of foundation doctors lining up outside my office asking to swap rotations. It eats away at my time and my patience. And my patients.” She let out a small laugh.
“This year, I’ve printed out all your names.” She held up a handful of ribboned paper. “I’m going to put them in this hat and then the heads of each specialty will take turns to pick out names one by one.”
Several hands shot up in the air and Wanda shook her head. “I will not be making any exceptions to this process. I don’t care what you did your research papers in. I don’t care that your dad’s next door neighbor’s cat told you that you would be able to choose your first rotation. I especially don’t care if you think you would be doing me a favor by starting in a different rotation. This is how the process is going to go.”
Wow, she was taking absolutely no shit.
I crossed my legs, crossed my fingers, and then crossed my arms.
Anything but peds.
“What are you hoping for?” Veronica asked me, nodding at my crossed fingers.
“Accident and Emergency,” I lied. I didn’t care what I got. Only what I didn’t get.
“Me too!” she said.
Wanda’s top hat got passed around among the specialty leads and names got read out, causing a frisson of excitement to flutter across the new doctors. Jacob’s turn was last of the five and he took his time.
“Come on,” Wanda said. “Anyone would think you’re trying to game the system. You don’t know how terrible any of them are yet.” Wanda laughed and Jacob gave a forced smile before pushing his hand into the hat and pulling out a name. His shoulders dropped and his expression evened out. I knew we were both safe. “Gillian Peters,” he read out.
“Dr. No Limits, baby. I’m all yours.”
“It’s Off Limits,” I whispered to her.
She laughed beside me. “Not to me.”
I bristled at her response.
The hat went round again and I kept saying my name over and over, desperate to get picked before it ended up in Jacob’s hand again. No such luck. Jacob had his turn again. This time he went really quickly, clearly wanting to avoid any questions from Wanda. He pulled out the name and announced, “Robert French.” He scanned the people sitting around me, trying to find his newest recruit. Our eyes locked. I looked down at my pad, scribbling my name on the paper in front of me. Please let the next name pulled out be mine.