Page 65 of The Vegas Lie
Ozzie slapped the air. “I know what it means, son. I don’t like medication.”
“I remember.”
“The body wasn’t made for medication.”
“Nor was it made for forty-hour workweeks, but how many of us are doing that? It’s about adaptation. Helping you live as optimally as possible in your current circumstances. Remember what you told me? About wanting to reconnect with your kids? Meet your grandchildren? How important is that goal to you?”
Ozzie’s head fell. “My kids don’t want to see me.”
“I’m an adult, and I still miss my mother and father.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“You’re a good boy.”
Lucas laughed. “Not always.”
“If I do what you’re asking,” tears filled Ozzie’s eyes, his throat bobbing, “I might be able to live longer?”
“Yes. These changes can help lower your mortality risk. You told me that you don’t like being confined. You don’t like walls. If you like how you live, the least I can do is find a way to help you do so safely.”
The tears spilled onto his cheeks. “Lucas, why are you helping me?”
Lucas patted him on the shoulder. “Because you need the help, and I can provide it. Plus, I’m a nice guy. If you ask my wife, she might say differently, but I stand by what I said.”
Ozzie laughed.
“There’s a program that can help with the smokingandthe alcohol. I can refer you, but it’s not free. If you go, I’ll cover the cost myself.”
Ozzie waved away the offer. “No.”
“Osman, come on. I want you to get better, and smoking and drinking, combined with your health history, drastically increases your risk of death.”
Ozzie snorted.
Lucas folded his arms over his chest, and a two-minute silent stand-off followed.
“Where is the program?”
They finished the visit, and he walked him to the door where Janet waited. Most of their more disadvantaged patients were compliant despite their situations—mental health, physical capabilities, lifestyle—but had it been legal to tag Ozzie to keep track of him, he would have done so at their first visit.
Ozzie and Janet started down the hall. Raina walked toward them from the other side, and Lucas watched, his body partially hidden by the exam room doorway.
It wasn’t fair to compare Raina to Emmaline, and it wasn’t like Emmaline had all bad traits and no good qualities, but he couldn’t help it. When he wasn’t looking, he wanted to see who Raina was.
Who she became.
Ozzie said something that made her laugh and nod while playing with the ring on her finger.
“You could say it was,” she said.
He didn’t hear what Ozzie replied, but Raina laughed again and gently gripped Ozzie’s wrist. Then they continued in opposite directions, Raina tossing, “I’ll be sure to” over her shoulder.
Lucas dipped inside the exam room and went to the computer in the corner, typing up notes he prayed resembled the English alphabet when someone else looked them over.
Raina’s face appeared in the doorway. “A man named Ozzie told me to tell you that I’m much too beautiful to be your wife.”