11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
This wasn’t a date.
And they weren’t teenagers.
And yet, Simon felt that way as they pulled into the driveway of Jenna’s family home. He hadn’t been this nervous about meeting someone’s family since picking up his date for the high school prom.
He couldn’t help but wonder if her family would like him. He’d already met Neil, and he couldn’t decide if her brother offered him this dinner invitation because he liked him or not.
Simon noticed a number of people working in the yard. They glanced in their direction, but then went back to work.
“Who are all of these people?” he asked.
“My family,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Wait. Exactly how many siblings do you have?”
“Five.”
“Five?” He failed to hide the surprise in his tone.
She let out a laugh. “I take it you don’t have a big family.”
“No. I’m an only child.”
“Ah... Now I understand your surprise. When I was growing up, there were a number of times that I longed to be an only child.”
“And I wanted a brother. Guess it’s true that people always want whatever they don’t have.”
“There were times when it wasn’t so bad having a bunch of siblings.” She lowered her voice. “But don’t tell them that.” She got out of the cart. “Come on.”
He got out and walked over next to her. “Where do we start?”
She glanced around. “I don’t know. Let me talk to my brother.”
He followed her toward the garage, which he found amusing that there was a garage on an island that didn’t allow cars. He glanced to the backyard. It didn’t look like there was anything left that might blow around.
“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Jenna said to a guy that looked a lot like Neil. “Things were so busy at the store. What can I do?”
The guy shook his head. “Nothing. It’s done.”
Jenna frowned. “You did it all yourself?”
The guy shook his head again. “Neil phoned and let me know how busy you all were at the market. I called Darby and she gave me a hand. Honestly, there wasn’t that much to do.”
“Oh. Okay. Thanks.” She glanced over at Simon. Her eyes momentarily widened as though she’d forgotten he was standing there. “Simon, this is my brother Caleb.” She looked at her brother. “Caleb, this is my neighbor Simon.”
Her brother’s brows rose. “Neighbor, huh? That’s not how I heard it.”
Simon noticed the color that bloomed in Jenna’s cheeks. Part of him wanted to read something into her reaction, but the other part warned him that it was best just to leave it alone.
Jenna narrowed her gaze in on her brother. “What did you hear?” Then she shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” She turned and walked away. “Let’s go inside.”
He glanced over at Caleb, who shrugged. “We better get in there before all of the pizza is eaten.”
“Sounds good to me.” Simon turned and followed Jenna into the house.
It was a spacious kitchen with gray, light green, and some white. The large windows made the space feel light and airy. His gaze immediately went to the large oak kitchen table with eight chairs. Wow! He couldn’t even imagine being a part of such a large family.
With the five siblings, Jenna’s mother and himself, the kitchen felt small. People bumped into each other as they tried to move through the room. They didn’t think a thing about rubbing elbows with each other, seeing as they’d been doing it all of their lives.
Jenna’s face filled with color as she introduced him to her mother, Neil and Caleb—whom he’d previously met—as well as Myra and Darby. Mia explain that her other sister Lily was still in New York City pursuing her artistic endeavors.
For Simon, the whole experience was something new. His home life had been quiet. Whereas there was noise and a bit of pandemonium in the Adams’s household, there had been silence and distance in the Bennet home.
The pizza boxes were stacked on the kitchen island alongside a giant bowl of tossed salad. Next to that were a multitude of salad dressing bottles.
Once people got their food, they moved to the kitchen. Simon was the last to get his food. It wasn’t a big deal as whoever had ordered the pizza had gotten a lot more than was needed.
He grabbed a couple slices of the supreme pizza and placed them on his paper plate. He scooped some salad into his disposable bowl before adding ranch dressing.
When he went to sit down, he noticed Jenna was flanked by her sisters Darby and Myra. That left one seat at the end of the table and one seat across from her.
When he went to sit down across from Jenna, Myra said, “Here.” She stood. “Sit next to your girlfriend.”
His mouth sagged. He didn’t expect her to say that loud enough for the whole family to hear. And they’d all heard her because a silence fell over the table. He knew he should say something, but he was at a loss of what to say.
His gaze moved to Jenna. After all, this was her family.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Jenna said firmly.
Those were the words that he was expecting to hear, but what he hadn’t expected was for those words to stab at his chest. What did that mean? Did he want her to be his girlfriend?
The thought stuck in his mind. He’d thought he was done with having relationships—of putting himself out there and being disappointed. But there was something different about Jenna.
As he walked around the table to sit next to her, she sent him a brief smile. It caused a fuzzy, warm sensation to grow in his chest.
“So, Simon, where are you from?” Neil asked.
“Nashville, Tennessee.”
“How long are you on the island for?” Caleb asked.
“I don’t know yet. I signed a six-month lease. So at least that long.” But he was starting to wonder if he should stay longer—long enough to explore the chemistry running between Jenna and himself.
The questions kept coming until Darby asked the hardest one to answer. “What do you do for a living? Or are you a trust fund kid?”
That last question made him smile. “Definitely not a trust fund kid. My father headed up the grounds crew at a local golf course, and my mother was a nurse. So, no golden spoon.”
“So, what do you do for a living?”
He swallowed hard. “I’m a writer.”
Silence fell over the table. He supposed they weren’t expecting that answer.
“Did you write anything we might know?” Myra asked.
He shook his head. “I doubt it.” Now it was time to change the subject. “Do all of you work at the market?”
Everyone started to talk at once. He had a feeling that happened often at this dinner table. And from what he could garner one—no, two—of the siblings worked elsewhere.
“You two make a cute couple,” Darby said.
“Darby.” Their mother had a warning tone in her voice.
Darby frowned at her mother. “What? I’m just saying they’re good together.”
“Darby, enough.” Their mother glared at her daughter.
“Fine. I’m just saying what the whole town is saying.” Darby’s voice faded away.
The whole town was talking about them? He didn’t know how to feel about that. It was their visit to the High Tide Pub. That must have been it.
“So, are you coming back for the next trivia night?” Neil got up to get another slice of pizza.
Simon pushed away his empty plate. “I, uh, hadn’t thought about it.”
“You should. Tony, that’s the mayor of the island, anyway, he should be back tomorrow. He’s my usual partner.” Neil returned to the table.
Simon wasn’t sure how to respond to him.
He glanced over at Jenna. Part of him wanted her to make up a reason they couldn’t go—that was safest because the more time he spent with her, the more the town would gossip about them.
But that wasn’t the only reason. The more time he spent with her, the more time he wanted to spend with her.
“I don’t have any plans.” Jenna arched a brow at him, as though letting him know it was up to him.
“I’m free.” The words flowed off his tongue before he could stop them.
“Good.” Neil glanced around the table. “Anyone else want to join in for some trivia fun?”
There were groans and no’s as well as the other Adams siblings shaking their heads.
“Fine,” Neil said. “You guys don’t know what you’re missing.” Then his gaze zeroed in on Mia. “What’s the bet to be?”
When she glanced at Simon, he said, “Leave me out of it. It should be between siblings.”
She gave him a little nod. Then she stared directly at her older brother. “Fine. If we win, you let me implement my plans for the frontend of the market.”
Neil shook his head. “No.”
Simon could immediately see the disappointment in Jenna’s eyes. He sensed how important this was to her. So, he decided to do what he could to help her.
Simon leaned over to Jenna, as though to whisper in her ear, but he purposely didn’t lower his voice. “He must be worried about losing to us.”
Neil’s brows furrowed while surprise shone in Jenna’s eyes.
That’s all Simon said. That’s all that needed to be said.
A silence fell over the table as the Adams siblings’ gazes volleyed between Jenna and Neil. Even their mother had a glint of curiosity in her eyes.
Simon just hoped Neil had enough ego to be prodded into giving Jenna this chance. And so the silence dragged on.
And just as Simon was beginning to think that it wasn’t going to work, Neil said, “Fine. If you win, we can have a five minute—”
“Ten minutes,” Jenna asserted.
Neil sighed, but at least he didn’t roll his eyes. “Fine. A ten-minute presentation. And if I win, you can cover for me on Thursday afternoon.”
“Thursday?” Jenna’s brows rose high on her forehead. “But that’s my day off.” When Neil nodded, she said, “How does ten minutes equate to a whole afternoon?”
“Take it or leave it.” Neil looked pretty sure of himself.
Now Jenna looked perplexed. Simon didn’t say a word. He let her weigh the pros and cons of it.
But it seemed that Neil had grown impatient. “Of course, if you think you’re going to lose...”
“You have yourself a bet,” Jenna said.
There was a collective sigh around the table.
Now Simon realized that the pressure was on him to do well at trivia on Thursday evening. He couldn’t let her down.
That was unexpected.