CHAPTERNINETEEN
Ihave the results of your blood work. Please give my office a call at your earliest possible convenience.”
Jessica replayed the message from her doctor as fear ping-ponged around inside her. Was that a routine message or did it mean they’d found something? She’d already called and left a message, but as she was booked solid with clients all day, she and her doctor had been playing phone tag.
Which left Jessica a nervous wreck. A headache grew behind her eyes, and her left knee was still swollen and sore, not to mention the fatigue that constantly pressed over her, slowly smothering her with its pressure.
By five o’clock, she was about to jump out of her skin as she dialed Dr. Rimmel’s line again. This time, the receptionist put her on hold, and a moment later the doctor’s voice came over the line.
“Glad I finally caught you,” Dr. Rimmel said.
“Yes.” Jessica blew out a breath as her heart pounded and sweat slicked her palms. “This feels like more than a call to let me know the blood work didn’t turn up anything new.”
“You’re right,” Dr. Rimmel said. “I ran a few extra tests on a hunch, and one of them came back positive. You have Lyme disease, Jessica.”
“Lyme disease,” she repeated, sagging back in her chair. “Is that…is that good news or bad news?”
“Well, it’s hard to say. The good news is that we have a diagnosis, and we can begin treatment right away. I’ll need you to come into the office to go over all the details, and we’ll start you on a round of antibiotics to treat the infection. The bad news is that, as is often the case with Lyme disease because it’s so hard to diagnose, yours has gone untreated for several months. The infection has likely spread throughout your system, which means it won’t respond as well to treatment now as it would have if we’d begun antibiotics when you were first infected.”
Jessica took a slow, deep breath and blew it out. “What does that mean?”
“It means I want to run a few more tests when I get you back in here, try and see what we’re working with. Lyme disease is one of these Pandora’s box conditions. It can cause a wide variety of problems. You might be completely cured after your first round of antibiotics, or you may struggle with your current symptoms and even new, more serious symptoms for months or even years to come.”
And that didn’t sound like good news to Jessica. Not at all.
***
“Lyme disease?” Mark pulled her into his arms and held her tight. Jess had showed up at Off-the-Grid a few minutes ago, her eyes wide and haunted.
She nodded against his chest. “I did a little research on my laptop after I got off the phone with my doctor, and I don’t think I ever had the flu. I think that was the initial Lyme infection, which means I probably got bitten by a tick sometime in September, maybe even as far back as August. I never got a rash. You always think of the bull’s-eye rash with Lyme disease, but I guess it’s pretty common not to get the rash too. I didn’t know.”
This was what had been nagging at him in the back of his mind since he’d made the connection with her knee last week. “And your knee. That was joint pain from the Lyme disease?”
“Yes.”
“God, Jess, I’m sorry.” He held her tight as emotions battled inside him. Relief that she had a diagnosis, a real diagnosis, and fear that she still had a long road ahead of her. “Whatever happens, we’ll face it together. I am right here with you, every step of the way.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
They stood like that for a long time, holding on to each other as if their lives depended on it. He felt a surge of protectiveness so strong it almost swallowed him whole. He’d do anything for Jess, absolutely anything.
Finally, she pulled back and looked at him. “The antibiotics they’re going to put me on are supposed to be pretty brutal, and I don’t have any guarantee that I’ll feel better once they’re finished. I might be sick for a while. I might get even sicker than I am now.”
What was she saying? “If you think any of that changes the way I feel about you or the promises I made to you last night in that hot tub—”
“No, I know it doesn’t. And thank you for that.” She pressed her lips to his. “But the land…what if I’m in over my head taking on a spa expansion right now? Maybe I should just have you guys buy me out before things go any further.”
He was already shaking his head before she’d even finished speaking. “No. Don’t give up on your dreams because life’s thrown you a curveball. We’ll help you, Jess. Whatever you need. Ethan and I are good with our hands. We can help out, keep your construction costs down. And if you need us to cover mortgage payments for a few months until you’re back on your feet, you can pay us back once your new spa’s up and running.”
“I can’t ask you guys to do that,” she said, wiping a tear from her cheek.
“Jess, we’d do it for any business partner, but especially you.”
She pulled away, shaking her head. “I just don’t know what to think right now.”
“Which is why you shouldn’t make any rash decisions. You’ve been managing the expansion on top of your illness just fine up until now.”
“It’s just…I watched my parents go into debt after a bad investment. They had to take out a second mortgage on the house and max out their credit cards to make ends meet. It took them years to dig their way back out of debt. I don’t want that to happen to me.”
