“It won’t.” He drew her in and held her close. “You can do this. And if you need a helping hand, you can count on us to back you up.”
***
Jessica chugged a glass of water laced with probiotics and then slumped back against the kitchen counter. She’d started treatment last week, and it was taking its toll. Now, on top of the aches, pains, and fatigue caused by the Lyme disease, she also felt nauseous from the antibiotics. And she was about to bring Mark over for Thanksgiving dinner at her parents’ house.
Not quite “meet the parents,” but it would be the first time he’d seen her parents since Jessica and Mark were teenagers. And they might not welcome him with open arms. Her mom had been lukewarm at best when Jessica filled her in about her relationship with Mark. Her dad hadn’t had anything at all to say on the subject. He was a lot like Mark in some ways. They were both men of few words, both Army veterans.
Surely Mark could win him over, and her mother too. Her parents were reasonable people. Once they’d spent some time with him, they would see what Jessica saw: a good, honorable man who screwed up when he was a teenager but had more than made up for it since.
But what if they didn’t?
There was a knock at the door. She put her empty glass in the sink and walked to answer it. Mark stood there in jeans and a blue Henley shirt, and if she didn’t know better, she could swear he actually looked nervous. She pulled him in for a kiss. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself.” He wrapped his arms around her as he kissed her back.
“You ready for this?” she asked.
“I haven’t been to a family dinner since…well, since the last time your parents had me over for dinner.”
“That’s a long time.” It made her unspeakably sad that he hadn’t sat around the dinner table with a family—any family—in over ten years. No wonder he had trouble sharing himself with her. He’d been on his own for so very long. She honestly couldn’t even imagine what that was like.
The thought of going through life, especially all the crap she’d been through the last few months, without her family behind her, supporting her? It made her want to wrap her arms around Mark and never let him go.
“You ready?” he asked.
She walked to the kitchen for the apple pie she’d baked earlier and then grabbed her purse from the table beside the door.
“How are you feeling?” he asked as they walked to his SUV.
“Tired. Gross. Same old.” She scrunched up her nose. She was as tired of feeling this way as she was of answering questions about how she felt.
“I read a few articles online. You know some people go years before they get diagnosed? Yours was only a few months. I think there’s a good chance that you’ll be feeling much better by the time you finish these antibiotics.”
He’d researched Lyme disease online for her? She was so screwed where he was concerned. Yep, she was totally done for. “I hope so.”
“And I still think you should get started on the spa expansion. We’ll back you up if you need it, and if youarestill feeling lousy for a while, don’t you think it would be better to have this project to keep your mind off things? By the time the cabins are finished, you should be as good as new and ready to jump in full force.”
“But Mark…I may not ever be as good as new,” she said quietly. Because she’d done her research too, and there was a lot that doctors still didn’t understand about treating and curing Lyme disease. Chronic Lyme disease was a thing, and it could affect people for the rest of their lives. There could be complications—serious complications—with her heart, her immune system…the possibilities were endless, and overwhelming.
“I know that.” He reached over and took her hand. “And I’m here with you, no matter what.”
“Thank you.” She tried not to read too much into his words, but still, it made everything less scary having him at her side. “It feels good to have a diagnosis though. No more wondering. The not knowing was driving me crazy.”
He smiled. “It was driving me crazy too.”
He turned into her parents’ driveway, pulling in behind Brennan’s car.
Jessica sucked in a breath. Okay, even she was a little bit nervous about the evening ahead. “Let’s do this.”
He nodded as he shut off the engine and stepped out of the SUV. She picked up her pie and followed him out. He walked around the front to meet her, taking her hand in his as they walked toward the front door together.
Her mom pulled it open as they reached the front porch. “There you are! How are you feeling? Are the antibiotics making you sick? Let me get you inside and have a good look at you.”
“Oh boy,” she muttered under her breath.
Mark gave her hand a squeeze.
“I’m okay, Mom. Taking lots of probiotics like you suggested. It’s not so bad.”
