Page 17 of Dr. Off Limits

“In front of you is the timetable for the next two weeks,” Wanda said. “You won’t start with your department until you’ve finished orientation.” I groaned internally. Two weeks?

Hands around the lecture theatre shot up.

“If any of you are about to complain, think again. You might think these two weeks are a waste of your time, but let me tell you, it’s better than you not understanding the computer system and having to take up the valuable time of doctors and nurses on the ward. We want you to be able to order prescriptions, understand what to do in various types of emergency situations. We want you to understand and memorize the layout of the hospital, key personnel, and every other detail we come at you with. Until then, you are a hazard to the rest of this hospital.”

“I have another question,” a guy with a baseball cap said.

“Take the cap off,” Wanda said. “And save your questions until I’ve finished.”

“You don’t know what I was asking—”

Wanda continued without waiting for Baseball Cap to finish his sentence. “At the end of two weeks, you’ll be split up into five specialties. During each rotation, you’ll work under one of our consultants. That doesn’t mean you’ll be working with them all the time, but the Foundation Lead will be responsible for your training during your four months in that rotation. If you don’t think you’re getting the experience you need, you speak to them. If you have any issues related to your medical or surgical experience, you speak to them. You do not bother them with issues outside what is medically or surgically related. Anything in connection with salary, admin, technology—anything outside medical or surgical—you come to me. Am I clear?”

I nodded.

“The five consultants will be here after lunch to give you brief introductions to their departments and what they expect of you. Before that we have some health and safety training. Stand by as we get things set up.”

Murmurs filled the lecture theatre and people began to chat among themselves.

“Do you think she’s going to mention the competition?” Gilly said from behind us. I hadn’t even realized she was sitting there.

“That’s what I was going to ask about,” Baseball Cap said from across the walkway.

“I love a competition,” Gilly said. “I don’t care if it’s a hopscotch race or an eating contest, if there’s competition, I’m in.”

“Same,” Baseball Cap said. “I heard there’s no trophy or anything—just an understanding throughout the hospital that you’re the best. And apparently it lasts your entire career. I heard she was a winner.” He nodded toward Wanda, who was talking to a stocky white man with a chin that jutted out like Buzz Lightyear.

“That’s what I heard too,” Gilly said. “That you stand out for the rest of your career.”

I didn’t care about winning this competition. In fact, I wanted to lose. I didn’t want to bring attention to myself or have anyone asking any questions. No one needed to know I was older. Or an ex-hairdresser. Or that I had left school and been supporting myself since I was sixteen. I just wanted to mind my own business and do the job I’d wanted to do for so long. That would be tough enough.

We filed backin to the lecture theatre from lunch break and all took the exact same seats as we’d been in this morning. Maybe I should have stayed on site to have lunch and gotten to know some of my colleagues, but I’d needed to find a library or an art gallery. There was a small library in the hospital, but I needed to get out of the center of my anxiety. Luckily, there was a library just up the road. I was pretty sure I’d staved off a panic attack by spending twenty minutes in autobiographies and memoirs.

I opened my notebook, ready to take down anything about the five doctors we would be introduced to this afternoon. Every person who studied medicine had their own intricate systems and devices to memorize things as well as the mnemonics and more commonly used devices that medical students had used for generations, like APGAR and P-THORAX. Most of them had come easy to me, but I had a brain block when it came to people’s names, so I would think of an object or person that reminded me of them. Wanda was a cricket ball: hard, powerful, and would break you into pieces if it came at you. When I looked at her, I imagined her bowling a fast ball at me and making a W shape in the air. Veronica was a mattress, the springs curly, red and stuffed full of information. When I saw her, I imagined her jumping in the middle of a bed and making the mattress shoot up at either end, making a V shape.

I glanced up to see Wanda stride back into the room. I took out my pen and wrote the time and date in the top right-hand corner of the page. As I was writing, a murmur passed through the room. Veronica elbowed me and I looked up from where I was scribbling notes. People were filing into the room. It must be the consultants that were going to head up our rotations.

“That’s Lowenstein,” Veronica said. “I’ve got to get a placement on his team.” Dr. Jed Lowenstein was one of the most famous surgeons in the country. He regularly used robotics as part of his practice and training under him would be a dream come true.

“And who’s that hottie?” Veronica whispered. “Oh my God, is that Jacob Cove? I heard he was good looking but wow, in the flesh, he’s beyond gorgeous.”

“Who?” I asked. As soon as the question left my lips, I locked eyes with the man who’d taken me to dinner Saturday night, the man who’d made me come so often all I could do on Sunday was eat cheese and crackers and watch TED talks.

My breath settled in my lungs, and my heart rate dropped as if it had just given up. There was no point in going on anymore. I was pretty sure I was about to pass out.

“Did you say Jacob?” I asked. Parker had definitely told me his name was Beau.

His gaze looked far more serious than I’d experienced on Saturday. I wasn’t sure whether it was shock or anger I could see staring back at me. Without a doubt, he saw complete disbelief in my eyes.

My heart seemed to kick back into gear, racing from a standing stop. What was he doing here? And why was Veronica calling him Jacob?

Someone whispered in his ear; he pushed his hands into his pockets and looked away. I tried to look away. I really did, but I couldn’t. My heart had picked up speed again but my brain was stuck in a dark room, unsure which way was up.

“The hot blond one,” she said. Yup, she was definitely talking about the guy I’d spent the night with on Saturday. “You’ve heard of the Coves. He’s the eldest son.”

The eldest son? Of the Coves? Everyone in this lecture theatre had heard of the Coves. They were the most famous couple in medicine. John Cove was off-the-charts clever and had changed his specialty and research interests numerous times throughout his career, rising to the top in each one. It made him the most revered Chief Medical Officer the British Government had ever had. Carole Cove was the most famous surgeon in the UK. She’d done transplants and had been one of the first in the country to pioneer and refine keyhole surgery. She was incredible.

“And he works here? He hasn’t left or he’s not about to leave or something?” The only reason I’d agreed to a date on Saturday was because Beau was leaving for Africa. I would not have agreed to have dinner with a man who was sticking around London—especially one who was going to turn out to be working at the same hospital as me, as my superior.

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