Playing Doctor

She knew that ringtone. She'd avoided it for days now, but she knew she need to talk to her before she told Marcus where she was. Sighing, she picked up the phone and said, "Good morning, Mother."

"Aurelia Louise! It is about damn time you answer this phone! I have been calling and texting you for days and do you even care? No. I could be dying, and you are just off galivanting around New York without a care! Leaving Marcus here miserable without you! And me dying!"

"Are you actually dying, Mother? You sound fine to me."

"You would love that, wouldn't you? Me dying! Then you could just go be selfish and not have to bother with me at all!"

"You didn't answer me, Mother. Are you actually dying?"

"No, but I could be! And you don't care! Just keep doing your selfish best to avoid me and ignore me every chance you get."

"Mother, I was in the hospital, and then I had work to catch up on."

"Always with the excuses! When you were with Marcus you had time for me! He always made sure you took care of me, I can't believe you are so selfish, Aurelia! He gave you everything and this is how you pay him back? Accusing him of causing this fake illness of yours?"

"Fake illness? It is not! For the love of God, Mother, I was in the hospital for a week because Marcus had me on diuretics for so long it fucked up the lining around my heart!" Aurelia felt a buildup of pain in her chest again and she worked to control her breathing to let some of the anger go.

"Excuses, Aurelia. If you were here in Portland, you would never have ended up in the hospital."

"No, I'd probably be dead!" Aurelia fumed, her anger sparking, along with the pain in her chest.

"Don't exaggerate, Aurelia, it's unbecoming. Now, you need to come home. I haven't been feeling at all well."

"I'm not coming back to Portland, Mother. White Plains is my home now. I like it here. I have a great job, a nice house, and I'm making new friends. If you aren't feeling well, go to the doctor. I'm sure Dr. Winslet will be happy to give you something to make you feel better."

"Dr. Winslet doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground, Aurelia. He won't listen to me."

"You went to see him?"

"I did, of course, I went to see him. He said it was all in my head and that I was perfectly fine."

"What did you tell him was going on?" Aurelia frowned, thinking about the elderly doctor. He had been her mother's physician for a long time, and he knew her well.

"I told him how you'd left me here alone to suffer with my back pain here in Portland while you went off to party in New York. He had the gall to tell me I was making mountains out of mole hills, to take an Ibuprofen for the pain and that I needed to get over myself. Completely unprofessional! As if wanting my daughter by my side is wrong! You need to come home and set him straight, Aurelia."

"Did you take the Ibuprofen?" Aurelia rubbed her hand over her chest, trying to ease the excruciating ache that sprang up as she dealt with her mother.

"Of course, what does that have to do with this?"

"Did it take care of your back pain?" she grunted through her teeth.

"It did, but that is not the point!"

"Okay, Mom, I have to go. I'm not coming back to Portland. You aren't suffering from anything serious, and I have things to do. Goodbye, Mother."

"Aurelia Lou—"

Aurelia ended the call before she could get her full name out and it felt good. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that felt good. Her chest felt like a tight band was compressing her. She rubbed her chest and groaned. This was almost as bad as the pain she'd felt just before collapsing at the office. She pressed her lips tight as her phone shrilled with her mother's ringtone. Gasping, she declined the call, ending the insufferable sound. Her eyes started to cross at the amount of pain she was experiencing, and she curled into a ball on the sofa as she tried to breathe through the agony.

Chapter 7

Daniel

Daniel looked at the unknown number and almost declined the call, but something about the number seemed familiar. After a moment he realized who it was, and he answered immediately. "Aurelia?"

"Doc-tor… Wessst," she groaned into the phone, elongating his last name so it was almost hissed out.

"Aurelia, are you okay?" he asked, concern lacing his words, his brow furrowing.

"No… hurts…"

"Can you come in to my office?"

"Can… try…" she bit out.

"I'll meet you there in twenty minutes. Do you need me to stay on the phone with you?"