They threw me out the day they caught us.
Now I'm Dr. Jones, so far removed from who I used to be, it seems like a bad dream. I tell myself nothing can touch me. Until I see the residency roster at Alpine University Hospital.
There's only two incoming neurosurgery residents each year. This year it's Landon Jones--and Evie Rutherford.
EXCERPT
Denver, Colorado
Summer 2017
There’s this moment, as I step into the conference room behind Evie, when I feel light and weightless. Like a patient during surgery, hovering somewhere near the ceiling. Then I see the face of one of our chief residents, Dr. Dorothy Eilert, and I’m back on solid ground.
She nods at me.
I nod back.
I stand near the back of the small room while the more experienced neurosurgery residents greet the four of us newbies. I stand there, still and calm, while Dr. Eilert goes over some logistics, introduces each of us.
In med school, I learned how to bullshit with the best of them. The art of sounding sure when I don’t know shit. What kind of smile makes me look sincere and empathetic, even when I’ve got a killer headache. How to live off stale bagels and caffeinated gum—while sleeping an hour every other day on a cot sized for a nine-year-old. I can talk to patients with tact, swallow criticism with grace, and keep my ego in a little box I only open when I really need to push myself. Surgeons aren’t supposed to be human. We must be more than.
So I smile when Eilert introduces me. I stand four feet behind Evie, and while Eilert and other chief speak, I keep my jaw relaxed, my face relaxed, so only I know that I want to strip her crisp, white coat off, push her up against the wall, grab her by the pony-tail, and fuck her until she cries—for me. I want to hear her moan, whimper, and beg—for me.
She stands there, playing with her pony-tail as she listens to Eilert, rubbing an itch near her collar, breathing, her heart beating, and the sight of it is so audacious. I can’t stop looking. Even when my gaze is pointed downward, my attention stream is aimed at her: at Evie—in the room with me.
I tell myself my racing pulse is nothing but adrenaline, fired off because of what my senses process. My reaction to her is scientific. Predictable. Meaningless. There’s no such thing as serendipity. There’s no such thing as fate or soul mates. Everything I’ve learned in school—in life—has taught me that.
Evie is nothing but a memory, dancing out in front of me.
I can keep focused.
I didn't know what to expect when I started this book. I thought it was just some YA story. I had to read the blurb again to make sure I had the right book. So glad I stayed with it. Evie and Landon's story is forbidden, sweet, emotional, heartbreaking and hopeful. It makes you believe that TRUE LOVE is everlasting and will ALWAYS win out. How sappy is that! So not me, but I know a good story when I read it.
I liked that it was told in dual POV, this made the connection to both characters easy. Some of you may need a tissue or two but you won't regret reading this beautiful story. Although it had a good ending, me being me, I would have liked a little more.
.99c
(at time of post)
Comments
Post a Comment