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 watched her full lips push together and pull apart as she spoke. She wasn’t wearing lipstick. Other than some makeup around her eyes, she didn’t seem to be wearing any. I started to think through the implications, like the fact that no lipstick would come off on me or my shirt. I wondered how her one-shouldered top unfastened. Was there a zip at the side or was it stretchy? Did she have a bra on or was she naked . . .
“Don’t you agree?” she asked. “Have I bored you to death?”
I shook my head, trying to pretend I hadn’t zoned out and started to imagine her naked. “Not at all.” My tolerance for alcohol had fallen in recent months, but surely, I could manage more than one shot. “Maybe next time you get a two for one: decompress and see some art, or borrow a book—depending on your chosen venue.”
“Maybe, but I’ve got a good thing going. Why ruin it? Zoning out in a place like that helps me if I have a problem to solve and I’m stuck or . . . you know, I just need some peace. Anyway, your turn,” she said, taking a sip of her margarita.
What did I have to tell anyone? “I spend a lot of time in Norfolk. My parents moved there after they retired, although we had a holiday house there where we’d spend summers as kids.”
“You’re close with them?”
“I’ve always been close with my mother. She’s the center of our family.”
“And your father?”
I sucked in a breath. “Yeah. I mean, I love him and—” Why hadn’t I just answered her question with yes, we’re a close family. It would have been the truth. Even if it wasn’t the whole truth. “He has high standards. Growing up, sometimes it was hard not to feel like I was falling short.”
I glanced up from my margarita glass to find Sutton’s soft, open, and somehow familiar gaze. Something about her made me feel like I’d known her my entire life. As if there was no point in hiding anything from her, because she already knew the core of who I was.
She gave me a small, reassuring smile. “And your brothers?”
“I complain about my brothers—they really are annoying most of the time—but hanging out with my family is my favorite thing to do, outside the thing we can’t talk about.”
“That must be nice. Things are better now with your dad.”
It wasn’t a question, more an observation, and an accurate one at that. My relationship with my father had transformed over the years. I was never sure if the change had come from his side or mine. Had I grown up or had he finally seen me as a capable man?
“And you still love medicine?” she asked.
I raised my eyebrows. Without blinking she raised her hand to catch the attention of the waiter and ordered three more shots. “I want you to answer and then I want to follow up if need be,” she explained.
“Yeah, I still love making a difference in people’s lives. I love the diagnostic side. I love the interaction with the patients. Even when it’s just a simple thing—a broken leg or congenital torticollis—I’ll never get bored of the feeling of being able to reassure someone that it’s not as bad as they think it is.”
“I get that.”
I smiled at her. “I want to ask you more questions.”
“I want to too, but I’ll enjoy it at first and then something will send me into a spin and I’ll be hightailing it out of here, looking for the nearest library.”
I laughed. “Fair enough.”
The waiter came back with two shot glasses and the bottle and told us to enjoy our night. We poured out and drank two shots each before our starters arrived.
“Can we get a bread basket as well?” Sutton asked. “I need to soak up some alcohol or you’re going to have to carry me out of here.”
That didn’t seem such a bad option. But not yet. There was more I wanted to get to know first.
Our food arrived just before we transitioned from relaxed to drunk. Saved by the carbs.
“Tell me about Norfolk,” she said. “Is it your library?”
I sighed and thought about it. “You know what? I think it has been. There have been times . . .” I tried to think about how to say it without talking about medicine. I couldn’t take any more tequila. “Points in my career have been incredibly stressful and . . . I haven’t told anyone this, but my parents live just outside a village up there, right on the marshes. It’s a beautiful place and it’s easy to do nothing there, you know?”
She nodded like she knew exactly what I meant.
“There are coastal paths all around there, and I used to enjoy walking them to try and walk off the stresses of the job. During one walk I discovered an old rowing boat that seemed to have just been abandoned in the marshes. I was hungry, so I climbed in and took out a snack and sat there under the sun, eating my protein bar. Anyway, it was windy because it’s the coast and it’s Norfolk, so I decided to lie down in this boat to escape the wind. And I just lay there, thinking about . . . everything. And nothing. I watched the different shapes of the clouds pass overhead and wished I’d paid more attention in geography—there are so many different clouds. I listened to the sounds of the sea, the wind through the reeds and the grasses, the gulls, the seals in the distance. It was almost like some kind of de-stressing chamber. I got up hours later and felt . . . amazing. Ever since, going to Norfolk has been like pressing a reset button, if you know what I mean.”