"Stop." Sarah laughed. "I already told you not to worry about that. And of course, you have to go to the appointments. We want you better."
"Thank you, Sarah. I don't know how I got so lucky to have you as my boss, but I am so appreciative."
"As I said before, we're lucky to have you. Mark agrees. The work you did on the Salazar case alone was amazing. You saved him six hundred and fifty thousand dollars, trust me, both Salazar and Mark are grateful. In fact, you have a bonus coming in your next paycheck."
Aurelia's eyes widened. She hadn't expected a bonus for just doing her job. "Really?"
"Indeed. So please, just relax this weekend. Next week, you can review the files Melissa, James, and Laura were working on and see if you can find anything else on those cases. We'll not start you on anything new until after that. I don't want you stressed or worried, okay?"
"Okay, thanks, Sarah."
"My pleasure, doll. We'll see you on Monday."
Aurelia hung up just as they pulled into Kelly's driveway. "I'm getting a bonus."
"That's great." Kelly grinned. "Let's go celebrate. I'll grab Bella and then we'll get you settled, and I will cook dinner for you."
"You don't have to do that, Kel, seriously—"
Kelly frowned. "You are not going to eat frozen pizza again. I'm going to cook you a healthy meal."
Rolling her eyes, she giggled. "Eat one frozen pizza and it's the end of the world."
Kelly laughed. "If it were just the one, I wouldn't be worried about you! Now come on, I can hear Bella going crazy."
The yippy barks from behind the door were pretty loud, and as soon as the door was opened, Bella zipped out and ran right to Aurelia, jumping up against her legs to welcome her. Aurelia bent down and picked her up. "I missed you too, Bella, girl." She laughed as she cuddled the fluffy dog in her arms.
"I'll grab your bag; you got your keys?"
Aurelia nodded and pulled them from her purse once she put Bella down. "Hey, did Mrs. Henderson find her cat?"
"She did, Tansy was three streets over. A woman over there found her and thought she was a friendly stray. Took her to animal control, who discovered the microchip in her and called Mrs. Henderson."
"Good thing she was chipped then. Is Bella?"
Kelly joined her on the front stoop as Aurelia opened the door. "She is. I can't imagine what I'd do if I lost her somewhere."
They went into the kitchen, where Aurelia pulled a dog treat from the cookie jar and fed it to Bella. "There you go, baby."
Bella munched away on the treat and then curled up on the rug in front of the sink.
"Why don't you go relax on the couch and I'll get dinner started. I actually went to the store and filled your fridge before I came and picked you up."
"Kel, you didn't have to do that." Aurelia frowned.
"Yes, I did. The only thing in there that was any good was the mustard. I had to throw out everything else, it was all spoiled."
"I could have done that."
"Would you stop. You were in the hospital; you need to let me help you." Kelly put her hands on her hips and frowned. "You do so much for me all the time, now, go sit down and relax. Okay?"
Aurelia sighed. "Okay. It's just hard giving up control of my life again. You know?"
Kelly smiled. "I get it. And I promise it's temporary. Just until you are back to good health."
Chuckling, Aurelia grinned. "That could take a while, how about just for the next week, until I get through a few appointments?"
"Deal. Now, sit."
Aurelia did as she was told and took a seat at the kitchen table. Kelly frowned, but didn't tell her to go sit in the living room, thankfully.
"I'm going to do chicken alfredo and a salad." Kelly pulled things from the fridge and cabinets. "Now tell me all about this Dr. McHottie of yours."
Aurelia blushed. "He's not mine… I mean…"
"The way you're blushing, I can tell you like him." Kelly grinned looking over the top of the fridge door.
"He's so cute, I mean like Greek god handsome, I swear. And he is really nice, great bedside manner and everything."
As Kelly got things cooking, she asked, "Is he single?"
"I don't know. Maybe?" Aurelia frowned, thinking about it. "I didn't see a wedding ring, but, well I guess he could be married or engaged or seeing someone…"
"No ring means he's not off limits." Kelly glanced over her shoulder at her and grinned again.
"Yeah, but he's my doctor, so that makes him, unfortunately, off limits. I think there's a rule or something."
"Oh yeah. I think I remember hearing about that. Something about no fraternization with patients or something like that. That sucks."
"Big time." Aurelia nodded. "Cause I wouldn't mind getting to know him better." She felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she thought about the way he'd sat and chatted with her, his hand casually lying on hers in a comforting way that sent secret little thrills through her.