“I’d rather have plausible deniability,” Lee murmured.
Owen said, “And no offense, but Harvey would get the kick of a lifetime out of having his wedding officiated by Griffin Marsh.” He nudged my shoulder with his elbow. “You check it out, huh? What do you think, Lee? Could it work?”
“Maybe. Zhukov’s never been that hands-on with reports. He likes summaries.” Lee lowered his tone further. “Without spilling secrets, I’d say get ready to move on that ASAP. We may have a bed opening up down here in the next couple of weeks. If you’re married, I can insist Phoebe assigns you two in there, and then it’s a fait accompli. If we’re lucky, Zhukov will move on to his next victims and never know the difference. But.” Lee paused. “If hedoesfind out, he might go ballistic about fraud. Maybe even throw you out.”
“I could bring in the press,” I suggested. Hell, my media contacts should be good for something. “Lots of attention to the longtime couple being discriminated against by the evil, bigoted nursing home.”
Owen made a face. “There’s reasons I’d rather avoid publicity.” He took a slow breath. “But I want to be with Harvey. He’s sick and confused, even if it is the infection talking, and he’s going to be sleeping two floors away from me tonight. I say the gain is worth the risk. Let’s go for it.”
Lee grinned. “At least, it’ll be fun. But no one except us and Harvey can know it’s not the real deal. And, Owen, I’d wait to tell Harvey until he’s had a few days of antibiotics.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Owen clutched his walker and levered himself to his feet. “Now I’m going to go sit with my fiancé until the chair forces me to lie down.”
“I gave him a little something for comfort while we’re waiting on tomorrow’s labs,” Lee said. “He may doze off soon.”
“Thanks.” Owen pointed between us. “And you, Griffin, take your man out of here and make him do something fun. God knows he works too hard.” He shuffled off down the hall toward Harvey’s room.
I raised my eyebrow at Lee. “What do you say? Can I take you away from all this luxury?”
He hesitated, looking in the direction of his office, then sighed and nodded. “Anyone who wants to see those reports won’t be at work till Monday anyhow. I’ll come in tomorrow and check on Harvey’s labs and finish up. Tonight, I’m all yours.”
I hauled him up out of his chair and let the back of my hand linger on his hip for a moment. “I do like the sound of that. I’ve lots of things I want to do with you.”
“Mmm.” He swayed toward me, then released my fingers and stepped back. “Once we’re out of here. Your place?”
“Yep.”
“Let me just check on Mom.” He texted back and forth for a minute, then smiled. “She’s bringing our neighbor a casserole. Seems he’s under the weather.”
“And you’re smiling about that?”
“He’s a bit older than her and a sweet guy. He’s helped her out a few times. This is the first time I remember her returning the favor. Better living through chemistry.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. What matters is that Mom has something to keep her busy, and your apartment awaits. Come on.” Lee gestured toward the hall with his chin. “Let me grab my bag and we can head out.”
“What time did you tell her you’d be home?”
“I warned her not to wait up.” He grinned over his shoulder and strode out.
I tripped over my feet, thinking I’d like to see him smile like that with a lot fewer clothes on, and hurried after him.
Chapter 14
Lee
Vicki was on terminal hospice. That always cast a pall over Wellhaven’s nursing staff. Yeah, we were aware, going into geriatric nursing, that we were going to lose most of our patients. It never got easy, though, even with a patient like Vicki who’d been pretty much out of it and unable to communicate for months and who didn’t have a loving family grieving at her bedside to be supported.
Normally, I tried to do the as much of the care myself as I could and rotate the nursing staff, giving her main caregivers more time with the younger rehab patients and the easiest residents. This time, I had an added morale boost for my staff. We were planning a wedding.
Harvey had recovered well from his urinary infection and once he’d regained his sharpness, he’d embraced the idea enthusiastically. Owen pretty much wanted whatever Harvey wanted, and Kashira was running with the whole celebration as a party for Wellhaven. So we had folks putting up rainbow streamers, which—Look out!—sometimes meant grabbing the arm of a wobbly senior trying to reach a little too far while clutching a walker.
“That’s plenty high enough, Mr. Vincent,” I said, letting go of the man’s elbow.
“Rainbows,” he told me with a grin. “Wouldn’t see that in my day.” He tried to cop a feel on my ass.
I stepped out of range, pretending not to notice. “You’re doing a great job.”
