Jess was a Bitch Ch. 09

"No." Gloria does her best to maintain a straight face but the look of surprise on Caitlin's face is too comical. She chuckles. "Of course, Dr. Schmidt and permission to do so is granted henceforth."

James doesn't roll his eyes, another sign he's still angry.

The woman who returns to the patio is no longer Dr. Schmidt; Caitlin is back. She carries one of the spare pillows from the bed. She pulls a chair away from the table, its back facing James' right side, and drapes the pillow over the back. "I'm improvising here but I think we can make this work. James, swing around and rest your arms on the back of the chair and your head on your arms."

"Caitlin, this is not necessary. Please sit down, have some coffee or juice."

"Mr. Vandermach?"

James' head jerks around at the tone of command. Gloria's face lights up in a smile. She loves this young woman.

"Turn your chair around and rest your arms over the back of the chair." He's not wearing a shirt, so she's spared that battle. "Warm oil would be better," she tells him, squirting the resort's brand of body lotion into the palm of her hand. "But beggars can't be choosers."

"I wasn't aware I was begging, Dr. Vandermach, other than to be left alone." Gloria chuckles at her husband's grouchy tone. The chuckle turns to a laugh when Caitlin rolls her eyes. She rubs her hands together and then rubs them across the top of his shoulders and the sides of his neck. She holds her hands out to Gloria, palm up. "Gloria?" She nods toward the lotion and Gloria obliges. After warming the lotion between her hands, she applies it his sides before moving back to his neck.

She spends long minutes, rubbing and kneading the muscles of his neck. Her thumbs work the area on the back of his head where the muscles insert. She moves to his shoulders. He is no longer complaining. By the time she's finished with his neck, most of his anger is gone. His mind is filled with the smell of the lotion, the feel of her hands, the sound her clothes make as she shifts position. His children, their troubles and their antics fade, drawn somehow by the power in her hands. She moves the chair he's leaning on forward a bit and he's lying more horizontal. She works the muscles of his back, the trapezius, paraspinous, all the way down to his low back before she steps back.

"I'm afraid that's the best I can do without a table."

James doesn't move.

"Dear lord, you've killed my husband," Gloria drawls.

James raises up and stretches before turning to Caitlin. "I apologize if I was being a jerk earlier."

"Pfft." Caitlin waves a hand at him and turns to his wife. "Are we still doing a ladies' day at the other resort?"

"Oh, I don't think so. Really? I look like the victim of a terrorists bombing."

"One who has taken the time to put on eyeliner and mascara?" Caitlin teases her. She laughs when Gloria sticks her tongue out at her. "Today probably wouldn't work anyway. I saw Jess and Jon at the bar, having breakfast. They weren't sure what they were doing today but I got the impression they might head out to do a little exploring."

"I'm at a loss as well," Gloria confesses. "I didn't bother with a cabana today. We have the patio. I'll probably sit here and people watch, read, nap."

"Well, if you get too bored, Travis and I will just be hanging out as well. We have a patio big enough for all of us, a hot tub, not that you can use it," she glances at Gloria. "What I said earlier was true, especially the part about friends. This is not a ploy to get you into bed, just to hang out."

"Thanks for the offer. We may take you up on it," James tells her.

"Think about it." She rises and gathers up her supplies. "I'll see you in twelve hours, regardless," she tells Gloria, using her doctor voice.

They watch her leave, walking down the beachfront path toward the end of the resort complex. "She really is a remarkable woman," James observes.

"She is," Gloria admits. "I wish Jon was a few years older and she was single. What a lovely daughter-in-law she'd make." She glances at her husband. "Although that would make satisfying your carnal desires problematic."

"Not in this family, apparently," he snorts before looking at his wife. "I don't believe I'm the only one with carnal desires, my love."

"Good lord, I hope we never get so old not to have carnal desires. I don't care where you get your appetite as long as you come home for supper, James."

***

"Is this where mom and dad went with Travis and Caitlin?"

"No, that was a clothing optional resort," Jon answers. "This is a lifestyle resort."

"What? Like a swinger's club? But Jon, I don't want to do anything like that. It was a disaster last time."

"We don't have to do anything with anyone else. We can sunbath nude but if we want to fuck, we can fuck. They have a room for that."

"You mean in front of others?"

"Isn't that what we've been talking about?"

"Yeah, but talking is one thing, Jon. Are you sure?"

"No, not really. We don't have to. You know that. We can go in, see what it's all about, just lounge around, maybe fool around, maybe not. Or we can go back. I'm cool with whatever." He looks at her and grins. "Besides, we're way too early. Most of these weirdos probably just went to bed." He pats the back of the scooter. "Hop on. We have time to explore a little."

They drive to the small shopping area and park.

"What's your favorite animal, Jess?"

"Tiger," she answers immediately. Jess realizes he's heading to the tattoo shop and pulls him back. "No, nope, not now. You can't swim remember?" He resists her pulls for a moment then nods. They wander into a small art gallery and browse. "Your stuff is as good, better, than most of this," she whispers. He shrugs. Meandering down the short street, they find a beachfront restaurant with umbrellas and lounge chairs for rent. "Want to see if they have anything open?"

"Sure, Jess." Jon approaches the hostess. She smiles and nods. She takes their money. They may take any open umbrella and chairs they wish. She advises them to hurry. The cruise ship crowd will be here soon. They get settled and though it's still an hour before noon order a bucket of beers. They're each on their second beer with the cruise ship folks arrive.

"Did you wear your Speedo?" Jess asks, giggling. Jon shakes his head. It does seem to be the suit of choice among the new arrivals. Most of them are a bit over-weight.

"You know, fuck it," he tells his sister. "Good for them. So, they don't have perfect bodies. Screw it."

Jess' face falls, not because he disagrees with her but because he's right and that makes her feel like a bitch for making fun. She lifts her beer bottle high. "To wearing, or not wearing, whatever the hell you want." He taps the neck of his beer bottle against hers. They drain the bottles and reach for a third. He picks up the now empty, other than ice water, bucket. "I'll be right back. The bar is gonna get packed as soon as people get settled. You want anything to eat?" Personally, he thinks it would be a good idea; he's feeling a bit buzzed but she shakes her head. The bar is already getting crowded. He hears German, maybe Swedish, and some Russian. He gets another bucket of six Pacificos and goes ahead and orders some nachos, cringing inside at ordering the damn things in Mexico. The already tired looking bartender gives him a plastic flamingo with a number to hang off the edge of their umbrella.

He notices many of the female new arrivals are topless. He's not overly surprised to find Jess topless when he returns.

***

"So, they were going at it again?"

"Apparently," Caitlin answers, leaning back in the hot tub. "He didn't go into details but James was fucking pissed."

"I'm surprised. He seems so laid back. Gloria, I can see." Travis smiles. "She's a lot like you."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Good, it was meant as one." He reaches behind him and picks up a glass of wine and takes a sip. "Why are we in a hot tub? In Mexico and it's hot."

"Don't look at me," Jess giggles. "It was your idea."

"That's not how I remember it. You want to get out?"

Caitlin answers by climbing out. Travis follows her. They're not wearing suits, so that's exactly when James and Gloria come around the corner. Gloria knocks on the wooden post supporting the pergola at the same moment she spots them off to the side, getting out of the hot tub. "Did we catch you at a bad time?"

"Not at all, other than catching us foolishly sitting in a hot tub when the air is nearly as hot as the tub. We're just getting out; in case you hadn't noticed."

James is impressed that Travis does not appear taken aback by being caught naked, then he realizes there's no reason why he should be; they were all naked yesterday.

Travis sits down in one of two chairs already draped with towels. "Join us?" He gestures to the empty chairs.

"If you're sure we aren't intruding," James replies.

"Nope. Sit," Caitlin answers for her husband. "I was just going to go get something to munch on." She finishes drying off with a towel and slips her feet into flip flops.

"I'll give you a hand," Gloria says moving to follow her inside.

"Wonderful," Caitlin smiles. "James, beer? Wine? Water?"

"Whatever you're having will be fine."

"Travis, open another bottle of that pinot gris, would you?"

"Coming up."

"Well, I'm not going to sit her looking like the only slug in the group," James announces. "What can I do to help?"

"Come lend moral support and help carry stuff out. How's that?"

"Pathetic, that's how that is." James huffs, trying to look injured. "Carry stuff? Well, if that's all I'm good for."

It doesn't take long before they're sitting around the table. The wine is perfect for the warm day and they make short work of the cheese and papaya.

Gloria yawns so hard her body shudders.

"Come on lady, you need what I need," Caitlin tells her, standing. Gloria follows her to the other end of the patio. That corner of the patio is heavily shaded by potted plants hanging from the pergola. She pulls out a lounge chair, one with a pillow built into the pad. "I'm taking a nap and you are welcome to join me." Caitlin gives Gloria a huge smile. "I should warn you, Trav says I snore like a drunken sailor." She gives Gloria a conspiratorial look. "Someday I'm doing to ask him if he knows that because he's slept with a drunken sailor." She giggles at the look on Gloria's face then stretches out on one of the lounge chairs and pulls a pair of sunglasses off the top of her head and covers her eyes. Gloria does her best not to stare at Caitlin's delightfully pert and tanned breasts, with their sun darkened nipples, as she stretches out beside her.

Gloria decides Caitlin doesn't snore like a drunken sailor, a sailor sure, but not a drunken one. James is worse. She has no trouble falling asleep.

***

"So, what are we gonna do?" Jon frowns at the look that passes over Jess' face. "I don't mean long-term, I mean now, the rest of the week. I don't think I can fuck you quietly."

"Well, we could close the door," she tells him, shaking her head and chuckling.

"The walls aren't that thick."

"No, but we could actually try to be inconspicuous; we haven't exactly been trying hard to hide what we're doing."

He nods. "True, we haven't. So, what's the big deal when we go home?"

"Jon, I don't want to talk about this yet again, please. Besides, you're not stupid. No one knows us here. What they think doesn't matter to me. What the rest of the family thinks and our friends think does. Don't be a dope."

"Is Caitlin right? Are we exhibitionists?"

She shakes her head and tosses a squeezed-out lime quarter at him. It hits in the middle of his chest and falls into his lap. "My only answer is the same as I just gave you. Don't be a dope. Of course, we are. The only question is it the sort of low-level, back of the head, sort of kink most people have or is it a deeper need to actually act on it kind of kink." Her face twists into a frown. "Based on the past few days, I'm thinking it may be the act on it sorta kink. You know?" He nods and she continues. "I think maybe you were getting off more on the idea of us being watched or over-heard more than I was but I sure wasn't opposed to it."

"I wanted, want, people to know you're with me, that we're making each other so happy we have to scream." He takes a drink of his beer and plucks the lime out of his lap and lays it on the table. "I looked up that club on line. They have a room with couches and beds where people have sex, sometimes swapping but sometimes not, sometimes people just watch other people having sex."

"Is that something you want to do?"

Jon looks miserable. "I don't know. Maybe. Fuck. I mean, the idea excites me, a lot, but what if it ends up being a fucking disaster, some creepoid keeps hitting on you or, you know, I don't...Fuck."

"Jon, babe, it's not that hard. Don't make it such a big deal. If you want to check it out, let's do it. If it's clear it was a bad idea, we leave, laugh about it later. If we get into it, we show them how to fuck."

"It's not that easy," he protests.

"Yeah? Why not?" She looks perplexed. "What's so hard about it?"

"It just is, at least for me it is. I'm not like you; I can't not worry about shit. There's an entire fucking catalogue of the different ways it could be a disaster playing inside of my head, most of them ending up with you hating me for making you go there."

"First of all, you're not making me. I don't think you'd ever try to make me do something and if I really didn't want to do whatever the something is, you couldn't make me, even if you did try. The idea excites me mostly because it excites you. It's not something I have strong feelings about. But if we do it, there should be at least a chance you'll have fun. If all you'll do is worry about it and over-think it and not have any fun, then let's not." She takes his hand. "Jon, I love you, you know that, you have to trust in that. I don't mean to sound like my old bitchy self, but whether it's me or someone else, your tendency to always question and worry that you'll do something that will cause that person to go from loving you to hating you, is going to be a problem. Don't you see that? You have to trust that the person you love will tell you the truth and that's hard for someone to do if they're always afraid you'll misunderstand, take a simple difference as a sign that the relationship is over. Besides, how can a relationship work, ever, if you're not comfortable being who you are. If who you are is someone who gets off on fucking in front of other people, fine. You need to be with someone who is okay with that or gets off on it, too."

Jon tries to smile. "I hear what you're saying and I get it, I really do, but I also can't pretend I'm not scared shitless I'll fuck this up. I've never had a relationship with anyone. I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing or supposed to be doing."

"Well, if I have any idea of what to do or not do it's only because the only relationship I've had was a horrible one. We're both figuring this out. You think everyone doesn't? Unless of course, you're someplace where only what the man wants matters."

"You think dad has cooled off? Should we head back?"

Jess understands he needs to change the subject, so she lets him. "I don't know. Once he redlines it takes him a while to settle down." Jess looks around. The place is packed. "Let's chance it, huh? If he's still pissed we can find a quieter spot than here to hang out on the beach. What about the other place, the club?"

"No." Jess hears the firmness in his voice and is pleased. "Maybe sometime, maybe before we leave but not today."

"Fine by me, babe. Take me home." She stands up. He's in awe of her breasts. Just standing there, fumbling with her top, the urge to grab her and kiss her and never let her go, is almost overwhelming. He feels his dick stir.

She holds her top to her chest and turns. "Hook me, would you, babe?"

He does. When he's done, he wraps his arms around her and kisses the top of her shoulder. She leans into his chest. "Maybe we should stop in our room first, before we find the parental units?" She murmurs, rubbing her butt, ever so slightly, against the front of his trunks.

***

"Good Lord, is that my wife?" James looks over his shoulder.

"No, that's my wife," Travis tell him, shaking his head. "She says she can't have sleep apnea but she sure sounds like she does. She snores like a drunken sailor."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I thought it was Gloria." James' face flushes and Travis laughs.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not offended. It's vaguely amusing, most of the time. Not so much at three in the morning when I can't sleep."

"What kind of law do you practice?"

"Immigration. I head up a non-profit that provides services in Immigration court. The vast majority of those people never have legal assistance and can sit for months, literally, in detention, without charge."

"Is that against the Constitution? Habeas corpus or something like that?"

"Well, some would argue that Constitutional guarantees do not apply to non-citizens. Besides, if you're barely literate in English and never see an attorney, how would you know?"

James nods. "What a mess. As a CFO, I obviously try to keep track of costs, including labor costs. I can't say that I've seen convincing evidence, one way or the other, on whether immigration, legal or illegal, forces wages down." He reaches for his glass of wine. "For our company, it's a moot point. The vast majority of immigrants we hire are professionals, engineers, etc. We pay them what we need to pay to get good people."

"I think, at the low end, it probably hurts wages," Travis offers. "Although, at the really low end, farm work for example, very few Americans are willing to do the work anyway." He takes a drink of his own wine. "I'm not opposed to secure borders, who is? I'm not sure a giant wall will do the trick. I also have a problem with people cutting in line. It's not fair to the people who waited years to immigrate legally, to suddenly confer legality or citizenship on someone who came here illegally. The problem is, I have no idea how to deport ten to twelve million people without setting up a police state and concentration camps. I think it's insane to send people back who have no memory of ever living anywhere else but here. If everyone hadn't lost their mind lately, that'd be an easy fix." He drains his glass. "So, if after that you're wondering why I do what I do, it's because I hate seeing people fucked over. I believe, for what it's worth, that we can, and should, afford everyone due process." He picks up the bottle. "More wine?"

James pushes the glass across the table. "Thank you."

"No problem, plenty more where this came from."

"The 'thank you' is not for the wine, well not, primarily, the wine. Thank you for giving me something to talk about and think about other than worry or be pissed at my children."

"Are you pissed at them in general or in particular?"

"I'm worried about them in general. I'm pissed because they seem to have lost all sense of common courtesy."

"How so?"

"With their antics, not for the obvious reason but as Gloria pointed out the other day, even if it were Jess and our son-in-law or Jon and his wife, the constant caterwauling coming from their room is just obnoxious and rude. I'm not so old, honestly, that I've forgotten what passion feels like but they're being ridiculous."

"I see your point but remember it's not just passion; it's newly discovered passion. They're drunk on it, not just passion but drunk on love as well, or so I believe."