Page 2 of Dr. Off Limits

Had the metal ropes holding my harness clip fallen down? I turned my head—it was just Parker stepping onto the bridge before I’d finished.

“Is that safe? Us both being on the bridge at one time?” I asked the instructor right in front of me.

He offered his hand and I took it, letting him hoist me up onto the platform. “It’s perfectly safe. A hundred people on this bridge at the same time would be perfectly safe.”

I wasn’t sure a hundred people would fit, but I wasn’t going to be one of a hundred that went on that bridge to find out.

“Next, you need to use that climbing wall to reach the platform above and commando crawl across the net to the next platform.”

I bent my head so I could see where he was pointing. About five meters above us, the next section was not only higher, but you weren’t upright. People were crawling over a rope net, forced to look down. “Who designed this thing? Sadists?”

“Some people like to push themselves,” Parker said, coming up behind me. “Like you. You’re always pushing yourself to do better.”

“The difference is I like to push myself at a desk in front of a computer. There’s no mortality risk involved.” I grabbed onto the pebble-shaped blue plastic holds on the climbing wall and started my ascent.

“Then dinner on Saturday night should be right up your street.”

I groaned. “Noooo.”

“It’s dinner. And it will be hellishly distracting. I’ve seen a photo. You’re not going to be able to look at anything else or think about anything else while you’re sitting opposite this guy. Also, your arse looks fantastic from down here. You need to show it off more.”

I reached the top of the climbing wall and inelegantly pulled myself up onto the platform. I rolled to safety and just lay there on my back, wondering if there was an easy exit and whether Parker would forgive me if I abandoned her. “This, for the record, is a terrible place for a date.”

“Saturday night is in a restaurant. With chairs and everything. And although there’s a lovely view, there’s a lift. No harnesses required.”

“Sounds like all my dreams come true. But no. I’m not going on a date. The last thing I want to do is get involved with anyone at the moment. I’m about to start as a foundation doctor at one of the best hospitals in the country. I don’t want to be distracted from Monday. I want to be completely and utterly focused on my job. It’s going to be difficult enough to just survive the next two years without trying to keep a relationship alive.”

“You’re going to be just fine.”

“I need to prove myself. I can guarantee you there will be plenty of doctors there waiting for me to fail. Getting into medical school the way I did is already controversial. I don’t need to be proving anyone right.”

“I don’t see how working your arse off can be controversial. I know loads of them are from Oxford and Cambridge and all that, but you all had to sit the same exams.”

I didn’t say anything. There was no point. Parker was right—the snobbery that existed in medical circles about where you went to school and university and who your parents were didn’t make sense and wasn’t fair. I’d learned a long time ago that life wasn’t fair. Complaining about it didn’t help.

“Anyway, your job starts on Monday,” Parker continued. “The date is Saturday night. I’m not introducing you to your future husband or even boyfriend. He’s a hot way to spend an evening, that’s all. And he’s leaving for Medicine Sans Frontiers the week after next, so even if you wanted to be distracted by him again, it won’t be an option.”

I sighed. Parker was right—I should enjoy my last weekend of freedom before exhaustion and shift patterns meant that weekends didn’t exist for me anymore. “I’m going to have to crawl across this net backwards, I think. You’ve seen enough of my arse today.” I crouched down and dangled my legs over the edge of the platform, trying to find a foothold on the net.

“Fantastic technique,” the instructor called over at me. He was kidding, right?

“You see? You get it right without trying,” Parker said.

“I’m trying to spare you the sight of my bottom, not be a ropes-course whiz.”

“You surprise yourself. It will be the same on Saturday night when you come to the end of the dinner and realize you’ve had a wonderful evening and haven’t thought about Monday at all.”

I groaned. “Stop trying to convince me.” She knew better than to take any notice of what I was saying. I wanted to be convinced. The problem was, when I wasn’t working or studying, I felt guilty. Like downtime, fun, or relaxation wasn’t something I deserved. Parker was the person in my life who reminded me that I was allowed to be human sometimes.

“It might be the last time you have sex for two years if you’re so intent on being relationship-free while you’re at the hospital.”

Maybe I should reach out to a guy in another hospital who was also just starting out and we could have an arrangement of no-strings hook-ups for the next two years. At least that would be entirely consistent with my dating history so far. I’d never found time to indulge in relationships when I was trying to keep a roof over my head. I had to keep focused on my future.

“I thought you said Saturday night was dinner. Not sex.”

“It might turn into sex. I mean, this guy is seriously hot.”

“If you showed me his picture, maybe I’d change my mind.”

“No,” she called after me. I could tell by the strain in her voice that she was lowering herself onto the net. “It’s a blind date. That way it takes up more of your headspace as you think about what he might be like. It’s more distracting. What have you got to lose? It’s one night of your life.”

“I’ll tell you what I’ve got to lose—a night in with Nick and Vanessa Lachey and a bunch of Instagram-influencer wannabes. God I’m going to miss Netflix.”

“Exactly. You’ll have much more fun with a hot doctor you never have to see again.”

I had to admire her persistence. She was genuinely trying to do what she thought was best for me. As always. Now she was so happy with her fiancé, Tristan, she felt my life needed a little man-injection. I couldn’t blame her for that. It was just delightful to see her so in love. And she’d put so much effort into this week of distraction, I felt bad saying no to her.

“Tell you what, if we get to the end of the day without ending up in hospital and we can work in a mimosa at some point, I’ll go on the date with your mystery man.” Truth be told, I was a little curious to meet someone who was going to do Doctors Without Borders. Though I couldn’t imagine doing it myself, I liked the idea of spending time with someone who hadn’t taken the traditional route. Maybe this ex-hairdresser would find something in common with another doctor. For a change.

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