An Informal Introduction (Informal Romance Book 3)

by Heather Gray

  One man remained stone-faced. The other answered, “Use the intercom.”

  Caleb pressed the button to reach the reception desk inside the unit.

  “Can I help you?” The tinny and disjointed question spoke to the need for an upgrade in the communication system.

  “I’m here for Lily Ziminski.”

  The suited men tensed.

  “Uh.” The person on the other end of the intercom hesitated. “I can’t let you in.”

  “If she’s not busy, can you ask her to come to the door?”

  “Sir, I’m afraid we’re going to have to ask you to leave.” The same man as before spoke, but they both stepped forward.

  “Why?” Caleb fisted his hands and stopped shy of demanding they answer. “Is Lily all right?”

  “Sir, you need to leave now.”

  “What’s going on here?”

  The men next placed their hands on their holstered service weapons, and Caleb tasted the bitterness of defeat. He pivoted with near military precision and marched back down the hall.

  He paused in the waiting room and brought Lily’s number up on his phone before tapping the Call button. Voicemail picked up, which came as no surprise. “Hey, there. I stopped by the hospital, but ICU’s under lockdown. Call and tell me you’re okay.” He ran a hand through his hair before adding, “I’d like to hear your voice.”

  Caleb was not a man used to being thwarted. Irritation with nowhere to go fueled his steps as he returned to the parking garage. It didn’t help that he found a man leaning against his truck. A fed, by the look of him. “Are you lost?”

  The man stood to his full impressive height and held out his hand. “Agent Whitehall, Secret Service.”

  How’d the guy know which vehicle was his, let alone find it with such speed? “Y’all aren’t doing a very good job of making friends around here.”

  The agent dropped his hand and eyed Caleb’s uniform. “You state police?”

  He ignored the question. “What can I do for you?”

  Agent Whitehall crossed his arms and leaned back against the truck. “I’m the agent in charge. Those men turned you away on my orders. I happened to be in the general vicinity of the nurse you wanted to speak to when I gave the order. She didn’t appreciate how I handled the situation.”

  Caleb relaxed and smiled for the first time since arriving at the hospital.

  “I was sent to deliver a message.”

  Caleb restrained his mirth, but it didn’t come easy. “The high and mighty Secret Service agent demoted to errand boy?”

  “You’re pushing it. I can take the message with me and walk away.”

  “You won’t do that.” Caleb watched Whitehall for weakness. Either the man didn’t have any, or he was good at hiding them. “You do that, and you’ll have to tell Lily you didn’t deliver it.”

  A chink showed in the armor. The agent almost smiled. “She’s off at seven then driving home, but she has to turn in early. If you can call between eight and nine, she’ll be able to talk. Otherwise try again tomorrow night.”

  Caleb nodded. “Is everything okay on the unit?”

  “Your nurse is fine. That’s all you need to know.”

  “The Taylor shooting?”

  Whitehall pushed himself away from the truck and began the walk back to the hospital. He tossed his parting words carelessly over his shoulder. “You should leave now or you’ll be late to work, Trooper Graham.”

  The sky was dark, but the road he was on remained bright with street lights. Caleb couldn’t get away from Sebastian, but it was time to call Lily, so he pulled over and gave his co-pilot the radar gun.

  She came on the line after first ring. “Sorry about earlier.”

  “No problem. I only have a minute, but I wanted to hear your voice.”

  “I’ll be working the next three or four days straight, maybe longer.”

  “You’re not avoiding me, now, are you, darling?” He meant it as a joke, but Lily’s hesitancy made him sit up straighter. “Are you?”

  She sighed. “It’s been a long day and I’m tired, which can make me blunt.”

  “I can handle blunt.” Sure, he could handle it. But would he want to this time? The tone of her voice made him think not.

  “I’m not avoiding you, but part of me is glad for some time apart.”

  Sebastian started chattering about a car speeding two miles over the limit.

  “Someone’s with you?”

  “The captain has me working with someone, one of her recent hires. Can you at least tell me why?” Caleb was so sure about the desire of his heart, but did he possess enough certainty for both of them?

  “I can’t think straight when I’m around you.”

  A smile shaped his mouth. “That’s not so bad, is it?”

  If she agreed, she wasn’t about to tell him so. “I’m used to thinking things through, to being clear-headed. I forget myself with you, though, and that makes me question the wisdom of spending too much time together.”

  Sebastian’s chatter went up an octave as he clocked a car at seventeen over the limit.

  Your presence is requested in the town of silence.

  That was what his dad used to say.

  “I have to run, Lily. You can have your space these next few days, but know one thing. I’m going to spend every waking minute wishing I was with you. Now go get yourself some rest. G’night, sweetheart.”

  The siren came to life right before Caleb disconnected the call, startling Lily into dropping her phone.

  Drat and double drat. Whether he realized it or not, Caleb had made sure he would be all she thought about for the next several days. How had she ended up in such a mess? Not that he was a mess. In fact, he was kind of… perfect. How could anyone be that charming, good-looking, smart, and funny? It shouldn’t be legal.

  In fact, they needed a new division in the state police, an entire team dedicated to arresting people who have too much sex appeal. With all the distraction they caused, they were a public menace! Of course, there’d be only one person on their Most Wanted list…

  Lily retrieved her phone from the floor and set it on her nightstand before crawling under the covers. Tomorrow would be on her doorstep in a blink.

  The way her luck had been going, she would probably spend every minute between now and her morning alarm dreaming about Caleb, too. Triple drat!

  Agent Whitehall, shadows under his eyes, sat in a chair in Mr. Taylor’s room. Lily ambled in and greeted him with a bright, “Good morning!”

  He scowled.

  “You were here all night. You can’t be very effective if you don’t sleep.”

  The scowl deepened. “He had a restless night. Somebody needed to stay here with him.”

  She could point out that his night nurse had been in to check on him every fifteen minutes, but given the growl in his voice, she decided against it. “I thought his dad arrived.”

  “He’s taken a room at the south end of the hospital campus. He went back there a couple hours ago.” Agent Whitehall stretched and cracked his knuckles. “You should see him this afternoon.”

  Lily checked Mr. Taylor’s vital signs and recorded the numbers. “He used to be a senator, but he resigned to run for president, right?”

  The Secret Service agent inclined his head.

  “Once a person is no longer a senator, do you still refer to him by title? Should I call him Senator Taylor or Mr. Taylor?”

  The scowl eased a shade. “He prefers mister.”

  Lily pulled on the Velcro to release the automated blood pressure cuff. “Mr. Taylor, I’m going to move this to your other arm so we can give this one a break.” As she snugged the cuff into place, she looked at Agent Whitehall. “I understand his blood pressure was up and down quite a bit during the night.”

  Whitehall nodded. “The doctors don’t have a clue why.”

  “I’m just talking here, so you can tell me to mind my own business if you want, but it seems like you know Mr.
Taylor pretty well. I’d heard he didn’t get Secret Service protection until after the shooting.”

  Before Agent Whitehall could answer, Lily glanced up at the monitor while reaching for her patient’s wrist. There was a fluctuation in his heart rate.

  “Is something wrong?”

  She spared the agent a quick look. “Nothing that I can tell. He might be waking up, though. Was he conscious at all during the night?” Lily had already been briefed by the night nurse. The question was a habit more than anything else. Loved ones needed to feel like a part of the medical care, too, and whatever the relationship between Agent Whitehall and Mr. Taylor, it was more than the met-yesterday-for-the-first-time variety.

  The doctors, making rounds, had been three doors down at her last check. They’d be arriving soon enough. No need to go chasing them.

  “Mr. Taylor, can you hear me?”

  The agent jumped up from his seat and drew close to the bed. “Taylor! Taylor, you in there? It’s Whitehall. I got your twenty. No worries here, but man, you have got to wake up.”

  The fingers on the patient’s right hand moved, and Agent Whitehall grabbed them in what looked to be a bone-crunching grip. “I’m right here. You’re safe.”

  “How’s our patient doing today?” Dr. Jordan stood in the doorway.

  “He’s working on waking up.”

  Dr. Jordan triggered the wall-mounted can of hand sanitizing foam as he strode into the room and slid the door closed behind him. After rubbing a liberal amount of the sanitizer into his hands, he plucked two vinyl gloves out of the box marked large and tugged them onto his still-moist hands.

  Lily moved out of the way as the intensivist approached the bed. “Mr. Taylor, can you hear me? My name is Dr. Jordan. Blink if you can hear me.”

  They all watched the patient’s eyes. No movement. Her attention was split between patient and monitor.

  “Stimuli?” The doctor’s demanding voice grated on her nerves.

  Did Whitehall’s turn-bones-to-dust grip on the patient’s hand count? “No, sir. He started showing signs of waking, and you were already on your way, so I thought it best to wait.”

  Dr. Jordan barely acknowledged her. “If there’s no change, give him a bath in thirty minutes to prod him along.”

  Lily grunted her agreement as the doctor left the room.

  Dr. Jordan no sooner stepped over the threshold than Agent Whitehall muttered, “I liked last night’s doctor better.”

  She bit back her first thought. How to be diplomatic? “Personality and skills don’t always match up. Mr. Taylor is in excellent hands, I can assure you.” It was true. Dr. Jordan was an exceptional doctor, even if his bedside manner tended to be off-putting.

  A sudden spike on the monitor caught Lily’s eye. She frowned at Whitehall. “Is it possible your friend here could be awake but choosing not to let us know?”

  The agent shrugged.

  Most patients instinctively panicked when they woke to an ET tube in their throat. That was what she’d been waiting for, but no panic was forthcoming. Yet the increased heart rate would indicate… “Has Mr. Taylor ever been badly wounded before?”

  Whitehall gave her a stone-faced look. “Why?”

  “His heart rate says he’s awake, but his response says he’s not. Most people wouldn’t be able to pull that off unless they were used to medical equipment and knew what to expect.”

  Lily, whose eyes had been on the monitor, glanced down and found Mr. Taylor watching her. She smiled at him. “Hi, there. Were you hiding from the doctor?”

  The slightest nod was her answer.

  She patted his hand. “He needs to be informed so we can see about getting your ET tube out, okay?”

  Another nod.

  The doctors had only moved down two doors as they continued with rounds. Lily poked her head out the door and signaled one of the residents. “He’s awake. Can you tell Dr. Jordan?”

  That was never going to be quite good enough, though. The resident came into the room, said a few words to Mr. Taylor, listened to his heart with a stethoscope, and checked his capillary refill rate before going on her way to inform Dr. Jordan.

  “What was that all about?” Whitehall’s disgruntled question was aimed at Lily.

  “We’re a teaching hospital.” The man’s stare made her want to apologize. “The intensivist is sort of like the professor, and the residents are the students. They all want to impress him.”

  In the following hours, Mr. Taylor was relieved of his ET tube and catheter and allowed to walk around the room a bit. At the moment, he was off his feet and sitting up in bed awaiting his lunch of soft foods and liquids.

  “Mm-mm. I hope they have lime gelatin for me.”

  Lily raised an eyebrow. “You actually like that stuff?”

  “When I was in the service, it seemed like that was the only kind they ever served in the mess hall. It started out as something I dreaded seeing and, wouldn’t you know it, it ended up as a comfort food.”

  The tray arrived, filled with broth, cooked wheat cereal, juice, and orange gelatin.

  “Too bad.” The patient’s words came with a relaxed, down-to-earth ease. Not political polish like Lily expected.

  He lifted his spoon and stirred the still-steaming cereal. “Whitehall, you need to catch some shuteye.”

  “I’m on the job.”

  “Agents are stationed in the hall and at the entry to the ICU. I’m pretty sure I’m safe here. I need you at your best for when they transfer me out of here. Get some sleep.”

  Whitehall glared but got up and strode over to the dry erase board. After writing a phone number on it, he wheeled on Lily. “This is my cell. You call if anything comes up. Anything at all.”

  She nodded, and he slipped out the door.

  Mr. Taylor nodded toward the vacant doorway. “A guy couldn’t ask for a more loyal friend.”

  Lily examined her patient, but professionalism prevented her from asking the prying question on her mind. “He stayed up with you all night, kept your dad company. I wasn’t here, but I heard about it.”

  “We go way back. The kind of friends that stick together even when one of you gets political.”

  Lily didn’t say anything, and he took a bite of his cereal. “Most people have questions for me.”

  “I know everything I need to. Unless your pain level has changed. Has it?”

  Mr. Taylor shook his head. “Either you’re uninterested in politics, or you’re voting for someone else.”

  Lily nudged his tray a little closer. “Don’t neglect the most important meal of the day.” Once he continued eating, she decided to humor him and answer his unspoken question. “Strange as it might be around these parts, I don’t eat, sleep, and breathe politics. I follow enough to know who I want to vote for, but I don’t obsess over it.”

  He started to laugh, then winced and put a hand to his side where they’d removed the bullet. “Someday, when I do marry, it’ll be to someone who couldn’t care less about politics. I don’t suppose you’re available?” An overdone wink accompanied his words.

  Lily shook her head. “Finish your lunch like a good boy, and I’ll find you at least a dozen eligible nurses interested in taking you up on that offer.”

  “Let me guess. All over the age of sixty or younger than twenty-five?”

  “Something like that.” She grinned at him. “Now, eat. I’ll be at the desk right outside your door doing some paperwork. You can call for me or press the button if you need anything.” Lily pointed to the wired controller that she’d placed within his reach.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He offered her a two-fingered salute.

  The day moved on without incident. The senior Mr. Taylor and Agent Whitehall came to an understanding. The patient’s dad would spend the nights in the hospital room while the other slept, and during the day they would reverse.

  Lily’s shift finished on time that night. “Mr. Taylor appears to be on the mend,” she told the night nurse. “He�
��s in good spirits and has a healthy appetite.” No need to mention his affinity for green gelatin.

  As Lily left the hospital, her phone rang. “Hello?”

  “Hey, darling, how was your day?” Caleb’s voice was warm as molasses syrup.

  “It was ordinary, enjoyable even. How about yours?”

  His words were a low rumble, still heavy with sleep. “My day’s just getting started. How long until I can see you?”

  “At least a couple more days. I’m not sure exactly.”

  He sighed. “That sounds like forever.”

  A little pressure felt good, but too much and the weight became crushing. Caleb was on the sizzling side of that fine line, but she needed to get off the phone before he crossed over. “I’m about to enter the parking garage. I’ll lose the signal once I go in.”

  “Oh.” His disappointment slow-danced its way across the connection.

  She should go find a baby bear to kick while she was at it.

  “I guess I should let you go. I’ll call tomorrow.”

  Lily stopped walking and stood outside the garage’s entrance. “Don’t take it personally. I’m tired. I should be better company after some sleep.”

  Why couldn’t she make up her mind? She was drawn to him on every level, especially when he was within reach. Yet she had bursts of ambivalence that didn’t make sense, even to her.

  An epiphany came to her as she passed the guard booth. “Aha!”

  The uniformed man inside the small windowed structure eyed her suspiciously.

  Caleb had their future all planned out. Even if she wanted the same things as he did, she didn’t want him choosing them for her. Like when they’d fled the coyotes. He’d decided what they should do without asking her, and a part of her had resented that. Then she’d peered into his eyes and understood that everything he’d done had been to protect her, not to run roughshod over her, and she’d been okay again.

  When she was away from him, like the last few days, she balked at the way he seemed to have decided where they were going, the route they’d travel, and how long it would take to arrive. If Caleb was right in front of her, though, and she could peer into his eyes, she’d want the future she saw there as much as he wanted it. Maybe more. So which part of her brain made the most sense? Should she listen to the doubts that creeped up when they were apart? Or her certainty when they were together?