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)
So here we were, stuck in our respective purgatories.
After forty-five minutes, everyone changed stations and I went on to an activity which was all about body language and empathy. One by one each participant had a private consultation with a “patient” with an easily identifiable disease. After the consultation was over, the doctor would be asked what they thought the disease was and why. And then they were asked how the patient was feeling. Identifying the emotion of the patient, rather than the disease, was the point of the exercise. They had to remember that communication wasn’t just about words.
This was going to stump many of the doctors. Medicine attracted bright, focused people, which was a double-edged sword. Many of those who possessed those skills were exactly the wrong people to be doctors. Empathy was a key component in medicine and often one that went particularly overlooked in a hospital setting.
There was also a river-crossing game, with a time critical element that tried to foster good communication while under pressure. Lastly there was a treasure hunt that involved all the teams.
Just before the treasure hunt, I headed to the loo. I’d spent most of the afternoon observing the groups that didn’t include Sutton so when I looked up to find her coming toward me, I was a little caught off guard. Over the course of the afternoon, I’d gotten used to not seeing her and now, as she approached, it was like being struck around the head with a frying pan. Her perfect hourglass shape, emphasized by her t-shirt tucked into her jeans, set off electrical impulses in my fingertips. My body buzzed with the need to touch her. As she came closer, my heart began to constrict and seemed to lift. I tried to suck in a breath, to calm down the physiological response I had to Sutton so I didn’t end up passing out before we came face-to-face.
As she neared, she gave me a small smile and headed back to the others without even uttering a word.
Just the sight of her had me dissolving into a physical mess.
What was this woman doing to me?
Eighteen
Sutton
I hadn’t been swimming since I started med school, but I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to take twenty minutes for myself to do a couple of laps in a posh hotel pool. As a child I’d found a way to creep into the local leisure center for free. There was a back entrance where the staff took cigarette breaks and if I timed it correctly, usually around eleven in the morning, the door would be propped open but there’d be no one around. Sometimes I’d have to wait for up to an hour to find a lull in the nicotine-addicted staff’s schedule, but over the six-week summer holidays where I had nothing to do other than get out from under my mother and her new boyfriend’s feet, it didn’t matter what I did, as long as I wasn’t at home. Usually I’d leave the house before she was awake and come back late in the evening, just to avoid the arguments.
As a hairdresser, I’d still swum but when I’d taken up studying, anything extracurricular was sacrificed. It felt good to put my costume back on. It was a perfect place to reintroduce myself to some breast stroke.
The ladies’ changing room was the nicest place I’d ever been other than the hotel bedroom I’d been allocated. When they’d given me the key and I’d made my way through the maze of corridors on the first floor, I thought there’d been some sort of mistake. But the key fit and I was in a huge room, with views of the golf course, a roll-top bath, and a bed the size of a tennis court.
We didn’t have long until dinner. Most people were meeting in the bar right away, but Jacob might be there too and I didn’t want to spend any more time in his presence than I had to. Swimming seemed a better distraction.
The changing rooms went straight out into the pool area. Thankfully, there was just one swimmer in the far lane, making laps of the pool like it was his job. The pool was long but only two lanes wide. I’d slip into the nearest lane and do some old-lady swimming.
The water was freezing cold and I sank up to my neck and started to swim without putting my head under. I warmed up quickly and leisurely made it to the other end of the pool and turned around. I figured the Olympic swimmer in the lane next to me was doing about three laps for every one of mine. On my third lap, I got to the end at the same time as the other swimmer. As soon as I turned to face him, the short, blond hair gave him away.