Skinny Dipping

The Hospital

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Chapter 21

The hospital became Sophie's home from home. It wasn't long until both Sophie and Gloria were on first name terms with the various doctors treating Roger. Sophie's dad had had a heart attack and he was still in recovery.

The upside, if there could be one, came in the form of hunky medics. Throughout her father's recovery, they diligently alleviated Sophie's worries. The practitioner's clean scrubs provoked memories. A whiff of bleach or detergent reminded her of chlorine. She couldn't help but think of Matthew, for he always smelt like chlorine. He'd fit right in at a hospital, especially with his experience helping people. Being a swimming coach, he probably already knew cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, or in abbreviated medical terms, CPR. Of course he would, since he was into saving lives and all that. Although, Sophie didn't suppose doctor's had the same type of passion with water or sea creatures. And Matthew did have a particular interest in wanting to be a dolphin.

Nurses strode around the hospital. If they heard her chatting on her mobile phone discussing something frivolous like a dolphin, then they'd probably confiscate it, so when she received messages from work saying Matthew had rung, she didn't call him back. In fact, they hadn't spoken since New Year's. With the hospital's limited mobile phone reception making the line crackle, phone calls really were almost impossible. It was difficult to prioritise much else other than focus on her dad and his recovery.

Sophie was overwhelmed juggling her time to support her father and of course her responsibilities back at the office. Whenever she was at Clarks, Bradley constantly shouted at her, urging her to exceed his expectations. To avoid his constant reprimands, Sophie had to do one thing she had never quite done, trust her colleagues to step up. Although Sophie didn't dare trust Kelly – that would be naive.

Sophie made small incremental steps forward in the process of delegation. Being at the hospital, she wasn't doing all-nighters. She couldn't. She trusted Jessica completely to do exactly what her job title read, administrative support. This meant Jessica was able to help a little bit when Sophie was missing in action, at the hospital. Jessica was also able to help arrange the wrap party for the Silver account; since the campaign was running to schedule.

Matthew had called Sophie's office a few times. He'd left her messages. Sophie either saw them at the most inconvenient time, when the janitor's vacuum was hoovering next to her late in the evening, or when Bradley was chastising her. By the time Sophie noticed the messages, it was too late to call and she would often just send him an email back.

Matthew hadn't called her personal mobile phone. Sophie didn't want to appear desperate. When Sophie's father was released from hospital, she was determined to find some normality.

One month had passed without actually speaking to or seeing Matthew. If she left it any longer Sophie feared she'd lose her nerve to drop by the pool casually. So Sophie arranged a swimming lesson, just like before. There was nothing wrong with using a swimming lesson as an excuse.

In the pool, Matthew behaved exactly the same as he'd done before. He was friendly and supportive. There was one distinct difference. He seemed more distant, like he'd erected an invisible boundary between them.

In the pool Sophie tried to ignore the disappointment stabbing at her chest. Matthew had just instructed Sophie to complete two full laps with a kickboard.