“Says the woman who works nights and weekends.”

“No comment. And I won’t be working this weekend—or doing much else.”

“You know, at this rate that date of ours is never going to happen.”

“Trust me, it’ll happen. I’m nothing if not persistent about priorities. Our date qualifies.” A rustle came over the line, like she’d turned over in bed or was getting up.

“Lay low until the worst passes, okay?”

“I couldn’t lift a scalpel today if my life depended on it. I canceled the autopsies I had scheduled for the rest of the week and told the coroners to put the bodies on ice. I should be able to get to them by Monday.”

“Don’t count on it. Besides, you could still be contagious.”

“Not a problem. In my line of work, I don’t have to worry about exposing my customers to germs.”

One side of his mouth quirked up. Despite being sick as a dog, Grace hadn’t lost her sense of humor.

“I’m smiling here.”

“I’m glad someone is.” A small groan came over the line. “I have to go. Vesuvius is about to erupt again. Talk to you soon.”

The line went dead.

His mouth flattened as he lowered the phone and pressed the off button. He knew exactly how she was feeling. Two hours into his own bout with the flu, dragging his body to the bathroom had required superhuman effort.

Maybe he ought to run over and—

Someone rapped on his door, and he swung toward it. “Come in.”

Eleanor peeked inside. “Am I interrupting a call?”

“No. I just hung up. The flu’s claimed another victim.”

“Dr. Reilly’s sick?” The woman tut-tutted. “Poor thing. And she doesn’t have any family close by to take care of her, either.”

No, but she had him—and despite their postponed date, he didn’t have to be a stranger during her recuperation.

But Eleanor didn’t need to know that.

“She seems very capable of taking care of herself.”

“Yes, she does.” Eleanor crossed to his desk. “But a bug like that can knock you flat, as you know. And it can be dangerous, even for younger people. I’ll say a prayer for a fast recovery.”

“I’m sure she’d appreciate that.”

“I meant to give you these earlier, but the mocha distracted me.” She handed him several message slips. “I passed on most of the calls to Deke, but there were a few I thought you’d want to address yourself.”

He flipped through them. “I’ll add them to my to-do list.”

“You should take it easy your first day back.”

Like that would happen.

“I’ll try.”

“You know . . . I never expected to say this, but you work harder than Sheriff Blake.”

High praise coming from a woman who’d idolized her former boss.

“I appreciate the compliment. He left big shoes to fill.”

She sniffed and adjusted the crisp cuff on her sleeve. “You’re doing fine.”

With that, she retreated, closing the door behind her.

How about that? Eleanor was finally accepting him and his new, more informal style.