Jess was a Bitch Ch. 08

"Yeah," Travis whispers back. "So, do I." He stands up and stretches. "If you guys want to jump in the water, it might help you relax, I'll stand guard over the phones. When you come back, I'll jump in. We can take turns."

"Dude, you go. You're already up and I'm too comfortable to move," Jon tells him.

"Yeah," Jess agrees. "Go on. Bring me back a seashell for good luck."

Travis smiles at her. "Will do."

"I'm glad he doesn't hate me," Jon whispers after Travis is out of ear shot.

"Why would he hate you? You mean over the deal the other day? That was me, not him. I wish you wouldn't let that keep bothering you."

"I'm trying, honest. It's just that he seems so cool and I feel like a total spaz."

"Fine, you're a spaz, if that makes you happy. Keep in mind, I don't care if you're a spaz, if that helps."

"That helps a lot."

"I wish they'd call. I hate this."

"Me, too." He squeezes her with one arm and she rests her cheek back on his chest.

Travis makes his way back up the beach. "Look, I found you a lucky seashell, alright." He hands what looks like two shells to Jess, who sits up to take them from him. He hands her a seashell that is broken in half. She runs a finger over the edge. It's smooth. The shell fragments are polished. She looks at Travis and hands the pieces to Jon.

Travis smiles. "I know, right? What are the odds two halves of the same shell would still be together? Especially, since it's clear the shell was broken a long time ago."

Jon puts the two pieces together. They fit perfectly. "Travis, these are way cool, bro. You sure you don't want to keep them?"

Travis shakes his head. "I am not the one, or rather, we are not the ones who need them." He nods towards the water. "Go on. You'll feel better. Go."

Jess and Jon walk hand and hand toward the water.

***

"Anything?"

They only dove through the surf, dunked their heads and then hurried back to the cabana but Jess is sure they've missed the call from their mom.

Travis shakes his head. Before he can speak. His phone rings.

"Hello, Caitlin? Hi, babe. Yeah, they're right here." He holds the phone out to Jess, who happens to be the closest. "It's Caitlin."

"Caitlin, what's going on? Can I talk to mom?"

"Not right now, Jess. Slow up and I'll fill you in."

"Okay, I'm going to put you on speaker, so Jon can hear."

"Okay. Ready?"

"Yeah, Caitlin. It's Jon, go on."

"Your mom is okay but she clearly has a bad infection, how bad is what we're trying to sort out. They've sent her for a CT scan. That's not perfect but if it shows collections of fluid or air, deeper below the skin, that's very serious. It would require surgical debridement."

"What's that? What's debridement?"

"Removal of dead tissue, skin or the fascia, the connective tissue under it."

"Oh, Jesus," Jon moans.

"I'm not saying she has that or will need that. If the CT looks okay, that doesn't totally exclude a more serious, deeper infection, from developing, even though she's getting antibiotics. Her blood pressure is good. Her white blood cell count is high, meaning her body is not exhausted yet trying to fight this thing. Those are all good signs. On the chance she might, might, need surgery, after the CT they want to send her on to a tertiary care hospital in Cancun."

"What? Cancun?"

"Yes, Jess. If I had to bet, I'd bet she won't need surgery but if she does she'd need it fast. The time to get to a place where that could be done, if needed, is now not later. It's a precaution but I agree it's a sensible one."

"Where's dad? Should we fly her to the US? Back to Dallas or Houston?" Jon demands.

"No, I don't think so. For one thing, that would take too long. She'd still need to get to Cancun, get a flight, or even an air ambulance. Second, the doctors here are very well trained. The hospital is well equipped and the one in Cancun is even better. She'll get excellent care. Your dad is with your mom. They weren't going to let him go back to the CT scanner but he made it clear that he was going with your unless they had him arrested. He's back there, wearing lead 'cause of the X-rays, holding her free hand."

Jon nods, thinking, way to go dad.

"Okay, Caitlin. Can we talk to her when she gets back from the CT thingy?"

"Maybe. I'll do my best. Trav, baby, I love you. I'm going to hang up now and save the battery."

"Love you, too, babe."

"Thanks."

"Give mom a kiss."

"Will do. Talk soon. Bye."

Jon sits on one of the chairs and puts his head in his hands. "Cancun, fuck, it must be worse than she's telling us. Surgery? Fuck."

"Nope," Travis tells him, laying down the phone and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Caitlin is not one to try to scare you but she hates not being honest with patients and families. If she says it's a precaution, that's what it is, a precaution."

Jon stands up. "We should get dressed, start driving to Cancun. It takes an hour, hour and a half, to get there."

"Where would you go? We don't know which hospital yet. I know there's more than one. I'm happy to drive you but let's hang on a bit, wait until we have a better idea of what's going on. What if get on the road and lose the cell signal or something?"

"Sure, fine, okay but I want to go get cleaned up." Jess nods in agreement.

"Sounds like a plan," Travis agrees. "Should I wait for your call? Do you want to come to our suite?" He smiles at Jon. "No one needs to get naked or anything this time, not that there was last time neither but... oh, shit you know what I mean," he mutters, smile fading as he realizes his attempt to lighten the mood is not likely to be successful.

"Cool. Sure. We'll be over in a few," Jon mutters back, oblivious.

Travis sees him drop the shell fragments into the pocket of his trunks.

***

When they arrive, Travis has the door open. They knock and call, "hello" as he rounds the kitchen island.

"Caitlin called. Your mom is going to be transferred to Galenia. Hotels this time of year are tight but her dad pulled some strings and got two suites not too far away."

"Her dad?"

Travis looks at Jess. "Yeah, he's a real estate guy. His company owns a couple resorts in Mexico." He looks at them quizzically. "He owns this one, as a matter of fact."

"No shit?"

"No shit, Jon." He smiles. "You guys packed?" They nod. "Good, the car should be here in fifteen-twenty minutes. It's a long drive I suggest we have a drink and get some snacks. The car should have booze."

"You mean a limo?"

Travis shrugs. "Caitlin already has one on the way. Force of nature, remember?"

"Fuck," Jon whispers.

***

Nervous exhaustion kicks in and Jess and Jon sleep most of the way to Cancun. Travis sips a couple of the airplane-sized bottles of scotch from the limo's bar and watches them sleep. He wishes them luck several times.

***

"Mommy!" Jess cries and runs toward the bed, careful to approach the arm not supported by several pillows. "Are you okay?"

"Shush, don't be such a big baby. I'm fine." Gloria's remonstration lacks something in the way of authority, given the tears on her cheeks. She kisses her daughter's cheek. "Okay, baby girl. Let me give your brother a hug." Jess steps aside, wiping her cheeks. Jon leans in for a hug and kiss, not trusting himself to say a word. Jess moves around the bed to hug her father and Caitlin.

Jon is putting an arm around his dad and the other around Caitlin when the doctor comes in.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Molina, one of the infectious disease attendings." His English is almost accent free. "I'm ninety-percent sure your mother will be fine with only antibiotics. Her CT scan looks good. There is only one small area that might be necrotic, uh dead, that may need to be removed but even that may yet be fine." He nods at Caitlin. "If not for Dr. Schmidt, things could have been far worse. The cultures won't be back for a day or so but the Gram stain shows what we call a "gram negative rod". I agree with Dr. Schmidt that your mother has a skin infection from a saltwater bacteria called, Vibrio vulnificus, it's a cousin to the bacteria that causes cholera. Like cholera, it's most commonly acquire through the gut, through contaminated seafood but it can cause skin infections, very often extremely serious infection called necrotizing fasciitis."

"You mean like the 'flesh eating' bacteria you hear about on the news?"

"Yes, that's usually a bacteria called streptococcus but yes, the results are similar. Like that disease, Vibrio vulnificus is an infection that moves incredibly fast. Patients can get sick, and even with treatment be dead in a day."

Jess' face goes pale.

"Dr. Molina, honey, you're frightening my children," Gloria observes softly.

"My apologies. I was simply trying to make them aware of the gravity of the situation. In this case, the infection was recognized for what it was almost immediately and treated almost immediately. I think we have it under control and I'm cautiously optimistic no debridement with be needed. Again, not to scare you, but when the infection reaches the stage of needing surgical intervention, especially in an area like this, the shoulder, where amputation is problematic, at least half of the patients die." He turns to Gloria. "You, madam, or a very fortunate woman."

"Thank you, doctor. I am, in many ways. May I give you a hug?"

"Of course." He accepts her one arm hug. When he straightens, he looks at Caitlin. "She knows I'm still going to bill her, right?" At the look on everyone's faces, excepting Caitlin and Gloria, he begins to laugh.

"Dr. Molina, you and I are going to get along just fine," Gloria tells him with a smile. "Are you married?"

"Si, madam."

"Just as well, I'm awfully fond of my husband over there."

Dr. Molina smiles at her before turning to her family. "I know you've been worried about your mother but she really needs her rest. I'd very much prefer you tell her you love her and then let her sleep."

"May I spend the night?" James asks.

Dr. Molina nods. "I will ask the staff to find you, how do you say, a fold-out bed. I'm afraid that's the best I can do."

"That will be more than sufficient, doctor. Thank you." The men exchange nods and Dr. Molina leaves them alone.

"Can we see it?" Jess asks stepping closer to her mom's bed.

"Always the curious one, eh? Fine by me but don't throw up on the bed," Gloria tells her daughter with a roll of her eyes.

"Here, let me, if you insist." Caitlin steps forward and eases the tape up on one corner of the bandage. James has seen it and neither Jon or Travis care to. Jess hisses. The skin around the tattoo is red and stretched to the point of appearing shiny. In a few places, thick yellow pus oozes from cracks in the skin. "That dark area is the spot that worries me, worries Molina," Caitlin tells her pointing. "They may need to remove that area."

"Don't worry mother, the spot she's pointing to is below the bird. You might have a big hole on the back of your shoulder but your bird will be fine."

"Oh, how nice. And how about this bird, dear?" Gloria flips her daughter off and Jess begins to laugh, then cry again. "I was so scared, mommy," she whispers.

"Well, fortunately for me and my family, I'm an excellent judge of people, which is why I immediately warmed to Dr. Schmidt over there." Gloria is smiling but her face grows serious. "Caitlin, honey, I kid too much. Thank you, honey, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you."

"Mrs. Vandermach, you are quite welcome. Like I said, I can't have one of my newest favorite people out of commission, now can I?"

***

"I was so afraid today," Jess whispers into Jon's hair. He's lying along her side, head on her chest.

"So, was I. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there to help me."

"I do. You'd have been fine. You're tougher than you think, Jon."

"I don't want to be tough, Jess. I don't want to have to be tough; I hate it."

She answers by kissing the top of his head. He tilts his face to her. Her lips are soft, yet he draws strength from them. She urges him on top of her. He cups her face and she untangles his mop of hair as they kiss. He kisses his way to her breasts and she sighs as his lips find one of her nipples. She wiggles, moving her legs apart. He pulls his hips back. Her hand finds him; she guides him home.

In the suite's other bedroom, separated by the sitting area and small kitchen, Caitlin sits astride her husband, feeling him soften inside her as she tells him again, how much she loves him.

***

Gloria is sitting up eating breakfast when they arrive. Her arm is still propped on pillows. Caitlin washes her hands and then peels back the dressing.

"How is it looking?"

They turn as Dr. Molina enters the room.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be involving myself," Caitlin tells him, stepping back.

"No harm, Dr. Schmidt, it's hard to let go of a case." He completely removes the bandage. Jess steps closer, to her it looks a hundred times better already. The skin is still red but not as tight and not as shiny. The dark place has a tinge of pink to it. "Nice," he says nodding. "Much better, much. How's the pain?"

"That's better as well," Gloria replies. "I only needed Advil once since last night."

"Good."

"So, can I go?"

Molina looks at her shaking his head. "No, you may not go, or at least I would not advise it. You need several more days of IV antibiotics."

"What about a PICC line? If she had a PICC line, I could give her the antibiotics."

"True," he mutters, turning to address Caitlin.

"What's a PICC line, Dr. Molina," James asks.

"It's basically a long IV that goes in the arm. It can be used for much longer periods than a regular IV." He turns to Caitlin. "We could do that, I suppose, but she should be watched, here, at least another day." Caitlin is nodding in agreement. "We could have the line placed today, make sure it's working well, make sure the labs are okay and maybe discharge her tomorrow. I was planning on 10 days of antibiotics."

"Uh, we're only here another week, a week from today in fact." Gloria points out.

"You can finish at home, or stay a few days longer," Caitlin offers.

"We'd have to see if the resort has a room available," James says, looking at his wife. "I can take more time or even work from here but we'd need a place to stay."

"Don't worry about that," Caitlin tells them. "I can work something out."

James looks confused. "Her dad owns the resort," Jon whispers but not softly enough. Everyone turns to stare at her. She blushes. "I'm sorry," Jon offers but she waves off her apology. "Nothing to be sorry about. In situations like this, it helps to have a rich father." Everyone finds something else to look at.

"Okay, then, we have a plan, yes? I'll peek in on you later this afternoon. Good-bye."

James watches him leave, wondering how even quiet physicians manage to make a magisterial exit. He would have been shocked to know that he makes the same impression when he leaves a room as Dr. Molina does.

They chat and quickly become bored. Boredom is the salient feature of visiting someone in the hospital. It is universal and unavoidable. Jon offers to take his dad to their suite so he can get cleaned up. Jon tells everyone he needs to run an errand after that. They make plans to meet for lunch back in Gloria's room. Travis and Caitlin beg off lunch. While his dad showers, Jon talks with the concierge and gets the name of a place that might meet his needs. He hollers to his father that he's taking off and he'll see him at lunch.

Lunch is followed by more awkward silence. It gets so irritating that Gloria finally chases everyone away, including James. She's tired of being in the hospital, even a nice one. She's almost convinced herself that a little Bacitracin would do the trick. She manages to work in a nap, even with being taken downstairs to have the PICC line placed. By suppertime, she's anxious to see her family again.

***

The following morning, Gloria is instructed on how to shower with her PICC line. James and the kids are instructed on how to clean and dress her shoulder and the PICC line. They will pick up the supplies Dr. Molina ordered at pharmacy near the hospital. The Vandermachs will ride back in a van, not a limo. Dr. Molina had pulled Caitlin aside and suggested a less flashy mode of transportation. Kidnappings were on the rise and he was afraid word might have gotten out about the rich Americans. It took him a moment to make her understand he was as worried about her as he was his patient and her family. She thought he was being overly concerned but, to be safe, she called the head of security for her father's company, who immediately flipped out. When Caitlin informed Gloria and her family, complaining the whole thing was silly they simply stared at her. She returned the stare until Gloria pointed to her shoulder and raised her eyebrows. Caitlin conceded that caution was rarely foolish and stopped fussing. In her heart, she hoped it was her father flipping out over her safety and not just his security manager.

That was how it came to be that after picking up the antibiotics, they drove to a parking garage and switched cars. A security worker would return the Vandermach's rental. Caitlin and Travis got in the backseat of a nondescript Ford with two casually dressed but very large men. As for the Vandermachs, they were picked up by a limo, driven around the city for thirty minutes before transferring to a typical shuttle van, along with several other 'tourists' who despite assorted tee shirts, Hawaiian shirts, and flip-flops looked very intimidating. They would never know if all the caution was misplaced, arriving back at the resort without incident.

Caitlin was waiting. She got Gloria's antibiotics running and then changed her dressings. Caitlin was tired, and having to continually wave away Gloria's repeated thanks began to irritate her. Everyone was happy to get back to their own room.

***

After napping, they all convene under the two cabanas.

"How awful, having to spend another three or four days here," Gloria observes, voice laden with sarcasm.

"I hope it's okay but we extended the suite for another week. Daddy has some bigwig friend coming in for a month after that. I did get a second room for a week. It's not as nice as your rooms. It's on the front side of the building with a single queen bed. Trav and I can..."

"You will under absolutely no circumstances do any such thing," Gloria snaps before she can finish.

"As usual, my wife is right, we'll take that room." James adds, emphasizing his point with a single sharp nod of his head.

"But if you take the suite, you and Gloria and Jess and Jon, you can all be together," Caitlin complains.

"Uh, about that, I need to get back. I only asked for two weeks off," Jon says, glancing at his sister.

"I'm sure they'd understand, Jon," his father offers.

"Yeah, but I don't want to leave them hangin'. Besides, I can use the money."

"Jess?" Her mom looks at her carefully.

"Let me check with work. It's not like I'm indispensable." She looks at Caitlin. "Is there a hide-a-bed in the suite?" Caitlin nods. "Fine, we don't need the extra room, that is if you guys are okay with me crashing on the couch."

"Fine by me. It'd be easier to have your folks in the second bedroom, much handier for hooking up her IVs, etc. You okay with that, Trav?"

"Sounds good to me." He takes a drink of his beer.

"Shoot, I need to talk with the airline. Jess, can you let me know soon if you're going back with Jon or staying with us?"

"Sure, dad. I'll call them in the morning." She reaches for her beer, sitting on one of the tables. She picks it up but doesn't drink. She stares at the table, then bends to look under it. "Oh no, the shell. I forgot the shell! Do you have it, Jon?"