Summer With A French Surgeon. Margaret Barker
Читать онлайн книгу.
bar, returning with another bottle and some more glasses.
Dominic went round the table, topping up wine glasses. They all raised their glasses to cries of ‘Santé!’
‘Cheers!’ said Dominic, proud of his English.
‘Cheers!’ everybody repeated, laughing loudly.
Names were bandied about and she managed to put names to faces. Pierre, Christophe, Daniel, Jacques, Gerard and Paul were the most vociferous. Dominic seemed to have been elected leader of the group. Julia was secretly glad she’d got brothers who’d shown her how to join in when she found herself in all-male company.
‘This place was here when I was a child,’ she said, during an unusually quiet moment. ‘I used to sit outside and watch the sun going down with my parents and my brothers. It’s good to be back here.’
‘I should think it’s good to escape from the attentions of our grumpy old tutor,’ Dominic said. ‘I saw him deep in conversation with you. How did he come across on a one-to-one basis?’
‘To be honest, I don’t know what to make of him. All I hope is that he’s a good teacher.’
‘Oh, he’s a good teacher,’ Dominic said vehemently. ‘But he’s a hard taskmaster. Apparently, he went through a difficult divorce and he’s sorting out custody of his six-year-old son at the moment.’
‘How do you know?’ Pierre asked, screwing up his eyes against the glare of the setting sun.
Dominic grinned. ‘I came here a week early to get the feel of the place. Unlike Julia, I’ve never been to this part of France before. I was born in Marseilles. I chatted up one of the nurses—’
Loud guffaws around the table greeted this.
‘And found out a lot about Professor Grumpy. There’s a rumour that he’s going through a bad time at the moment, touchy about his divorce and tends to take it out on his students if they don’t come up to scratch. But he’s a brilliant surgeon and teacher, much admired by his colleagues.’
‘Well, that’s all I need to know,’ Julia said, putting her hand over her glass as Christophe came round with another bottle.
‘Ah, don’t be too complacent,’ Dominic told her. ‘It’s also rumoured that he doesn’t think women make good surgeons.’
All eyes were on her now. She found herself filled with dread. Not only was she desperate to make a good impression on her new teacher but she was battling with an insane attraction towards him. Could it be true he didn’t like women surgeons? So why had she been the only woman chosen for his exclusive course?
She looked out over the beach to the sand dunes at the corner of the bay, breathing slowly until the feeling of dread disappeared. She would cope. She would have to. She turned her head to look up at the magnificent hill behind them. She didn’t want negative thoughts to spoil the beautiful sunset that was casting a glow over the hills, just as she remembered from her childhood.
She glanced round the table. ‘My tutor in England told me I’m a good surgeon,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s what I want to do with my life. And I’m not going to let a grumpy tutor spoil my career plans.’
A cheer went round the table. She felt she’d been accepted, just as her brothers’ friends accepted her.
She stood up, smiling at her colleagues who had now become her friends. ‘I’ve really enjoyed myself but I must go.’
‘I’ll come with you, escort you back.’
‘No, you stay and have another drink, Dominic. It’s not far.’
He pulled a wry face, but let her go off by herself.
She walked quickly, pausing as she went round the corner to look up at the sun dipping behind the hills. It had almost disappeared but a pink and mauve colour was diffusing over the skyline. She remembered how she’d once thought it was a miracle that the sun could disappear behind the hills and reappear from the depths of the sea in the morning. Her father had explained about the earth being round and so on but she’d still thought it was a miracle. Still did!
She turned her head and looked out at the darkening sea. There were fireflies dancing on the black waves, illuminating the scene. It was truly romantic, though not if you were all alone surrounded by strolling couples and families taking their children home to bed. She reminded herself that this was the life she’d now chosen, to ensure that she pursued her chosen career to the height of her destiny.
A smile flitted across her lips as she told herself to lighten up. It was a bit early to be having grand thoughts about her destiny.
Oh, yes, she was going to enjoy her evening now that she’d calmed her wicked thoughts and got herself back on the journey that she’d set herself. There would be time enough for romance, marriage, babies and everything else she wouldn’t allow herself until she’d established her career.
CHAPTER TWO
ALMOST three weeks later Julia was sitting outside Bernard’s office, waiting for her turn to have a one-on-one meeting with him about her progress to date. She was studying the printed sheets that Bernard had handed out at the last tutorial. It was difficult to believe that the first month of their course was almost over. The days had flown by during which they’d all been bombarded with work assignments, essays to write on the theories behind various orthopaedic operations and actual operations to observe in Theatre.
Whilst in Theatre they had to make copious notes, all of which needed to be written up in their own time. The notes then had to be transformed into a coherent observation of the operation, including their own comments and criticisms. These were emailed to Bernard as soon as possible. In no time at all they received an assessment of their work with much criticism from him. She knew she wasn’t alone in being the recipient of his scathing comments.
They’d also undertaken sessions in the Urgences department, the French equivalent of Accident and Emergency, where they had to do minor operations and treatments on emergency cases, observed and assessed by the director of Urgences, Michel Devine. He in turn reported back to the twitchy Bernard.
When Dominic had told everybody that Bernard was reputed to be a hard taskmaster, he had been spot on! She’d been so naive three weeks ago. She hadn’t believed she would have to work under such pressure.
Just at that moment Dominic arrived in the corridor and plonked himself down beside her.
‘What time’s your endurance test?’
She frowned at him. ‘Shh. He’ll hear you.’
‘Don’t care if he does. I feel like walking out. It’s time he cut us some slack. We’re all qualified and experienced doctors, for heaven’s sake. Who does he think he is, treating us like—?’
The door opened. ‘Good morning, Julia. Dominic,’ their taskmaster said, glancing severely at Dominic.
Julia followed Bernard inside and sat down on the upright chair in front of the desk. She wasn’t afraid of him, she told herself as he went round to the other side and glanced at the screen of his computer. She reckoned all the information on her was there. Everything she’d ever done since aspiring to take on this arduous course.
He looked across the desk at her and at last there was eye contact with him. She couldn’t help the frisson of excitement that ran through her as she looked directly into those dark hazel eyes. Why was she being so perverse in finding herself attracted to this man who’d made the past three weeks such an endurance test for her?
‘How are you finding the course, Julia?’
No smile, just that piercing stare that was causing shivers to run down her spine. Shivers she couldn’t possibly analyse.
She took a deep breath. ‘It’s relentlessly tiring … but exceptionally interesting and frustrating at the same time.’
He