“I know, right?” Bo said. “That’s what I keep telling him. He’s obviously an awesome project manager. I think we need to do something special to celebrate.”
“Great idea. What did you have in mind?” Harvey asked, taking his beer and perching on one of the stools at the island bench.
“I was thinking about a weekend away. Somewhere quiet and secluded,” Bo said. “Maybe a house on the beach—”
“With a hot tub,” Ravi added.
Bo chuckled. “Yes. And a huge bed.”
“I think that can be arranged,” Harvey said. “I’ve got a friend with a house at Pearl Beach. I’ll give him a call and see when it’s free.”
“That’d be awesome.” Ravi passed a beer to Bo. “Here you go. I’m going to get started on dinner. Why don’t you sit down? You must be exhausted after being on your feet all day. I have no idea how you do it.”
Bo sat next to Harvey. “I think I’m so busy that I don’t have much time to think about how tired I am. I notice it more once I stop running around.”
“Well, enough running around for you today. Relax and enjoy your beer,” Harvey said, standing behind him and placing his hands on Bo’s shoulders.
Bo moaned as Harvey began massaging away the tension, strong thumbs pressing into the tight muscles running up along his shoulders to his neck, sending shivers of pleasure through him. “Oh God, that feels so good.”
“You work too hard,” Rav said as he piled the makings for a salad on the benchtop. “With all the overtime, how many hours have you put in this week?”
Bo waved him away. “Not that many, but they’re so short-staffed, it’s hard to say no. If I wasn’t there then the patients would suffer plus my colleagues would have to work doubly as hard.”
“Still, you need to look after yourself,” Ravi said. He took the lettuce and started tearing it into shreds and dropping the pieces into a large salad bowl.
“I’m okay. It’s Harvey we need to worry about—all those late nights can’t be good now that he’s getting old—Hey!” He laughed as Harvey whacked him on the arm.
“Enough from you, you cheeky bugger,” Harvey said. “This old man has a lot of life in him yet. Anyway, what are we having for dinner, Rav?”
“An Asian chicken salad I saw on TikTok. It looked amazing.”
“What can I do to help?” Harvey asked walking around the island to peer at Ravi’s food preparations.
“Hey! What about my massage?” Bo feigned indignation.
“You’ll live.” Harvey laughed as he nudged Ravi. “Can I do something?”
“Sure. How about you grate the carrot while I get the chicken ready.”
Bo reached across for the chopping board and dragged it to him, along with a knife and the cabbage, leaving Harvey to grab another one. “You just want this shredded, Rav?”
“That’d be great.”
“So tell us about your trip—”
“Hey, guys. Anyone home?” They all turned at the sound of Parker calling out from the front hall.
“In the kitchen,” Harvey called back.
Soon Parker joined them, six pack in hand, and a quick hug for each of them. “I hope you don’t mind me calling in unannounced. Rafe came home this afternoon with a headache so he’d gone to bed early. I’m not sure what you did with him while you guys were away, but you’ve returned him to me broken.” He chuckled.
“Not my fault he can’t keep up.” Harvey shrugged. “But seriously, is he okay? He was fine on the flight home.”
“I’m sure he’ll be right as rain after a good night’s sleep.”
“Make sure he drinks lots of water,” Bo suggested, “he could be dehydrated from the flight. And speaking of dehydrated, do you want a beer?”
“Absolutely.” Parker passed over the six pack to Harvey. “What are you guys doing?”
