17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Everything hurt.
The next morning, Simon felt like he’d been hit by a truck. And then said truck backed over him again and again.
When he looked in the bathroom mirror, he didn’t even recognize himself. He had two black eyes. And his nose, well, it was huge. And then there was a purplish, black bruise all over it.
And just to add a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster look to it, he had ugly stitches across the bridge of his nose as well as on his arm. There were scrapes down one side of his face. Ugh! What a mess.
He moved his right arm to reach for his toothbrush and pain flowed from his wrist to the tips of his fingers. He’d taken off the brace while he showered. If this is what a sprain felt like, he didn’t want to know what a broken bone felt like.
It took him longer than normal to finish his morning process. Dressed in a T-shirt and basketball shorts, he headed downstairs.
He was still on the stairs when there was a soft knock on the door.
He didn’t have to open the door to know it was Jenna.
A smile automatically pulled at the corners of his mouth.
Gus barreled down the steps, almost knocking Simon over in his hurry to get to the door.
Gus’s tail swished back and forth. It looked like his dog was crushing hard on Jenna. He wasn’t the only one.
Simon opened the door to find Jenna standing there with a big smile on her face and a covered plate in her hands.
Before he could say a word, she said, “Good morning. I saw you take Gus out this morning, so I knew you were up. Can I come in?”
“Uh, sure.” He couldn’t help but think that she was awfully bubbly and full of energy that morning.
He backed up and let her inside. She strode past him. A whiff of strawberries teased his nose. He followed her to the couch. When he caught up to her, he inhaled deeply. There was that fruity scent again.
When she turned around, her eyes momentarily widened. He took a quick step back.
She arched a brow. “Does the food smell that good?”
Food? What food? His gaze moved to the covered dish in her hands. And then he nodded. It was apparently the right response because the smile returned to her face.
“I just feel guilty for leaving you when you, uh...” Her voice trailed off as she stared at his face. “That must really hurt.”
“It looks worse than it feels.” It wasn’t quite the truth, but there was nothing she could do. “Go to work. My food is getting cold.”
“Oh, yeah.” She hesitated. “Okay. I’ll check in later.”
And then she was out the door with a sweet scent of strawberry trailing behind her. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. There was definitely something special about her.
He uncovered the plate. She’d prepared him pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage links. His stomach rumbled its approval. It was very sweet of her. Whoever won her heart was going to be a very lucky man.
The work day seemed to go on forever.
Jenna just wanted to clock out for the day and go home to check on Simon and Gus. Even though she’d delivered a burger and fries at lunchtime and taken Gus out for a walk, she didn’t have time to sit down and talk to Simon. She felt bad for dashing back out the door.
But this evening, they could have a quiet meal. Perhaps they’d have dinner out on the deck, if he was feeling up to it. She picked up some shrimp and scallops as well as tomatoes, zucchini, and mushrooms to make kebabs. With a bed of rice, it would be a delicious summertime meal.
Jenna was almost done for the day. There was one more customer in her checkout lane. She put a “lane closed” sign at the end of the rotator belt.
And then she turned a smile to her last customer, Agnes Dewey. “Find everything you needed?”
The woman frowned, but then again, that was her normal expression. “You were out of orzo.”
“I’m sorry. Do you want me to have someone check the back?” She reached for the intercom.
Agnes shook her head. “I’ll come back another time. So, I hear you have a new boyfriend.”
Jenna proceeded to check out Agnes’s items. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Agnes’s dark brows rose. “That’s not what I heard.”
The woman was more inclined to believe the gossip she’d heard than believe the person the gossip was about. Interesting. I guess it just went to prove that people believed what they wanted to.
Jenna rang up a couple of cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. “Is there anything else?”
“No. So, this guy, he’s your neighbor, right?”
Jenna wasn’t sure where she was going with this conversation. “Yes, I have a new neighbor, and he’s very nice. But he isn’t my boyfriend.”
“You’re what? A Capricorn, right?” When Jenna nodded, Agnes said, “I read your horoscope this morning. It said Capricorn needs to put up their defenses. Someone close to them will betray them.”
Jenna resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
She didn’t believe in horoscopes. But everyone on the island knew Agnes was always throwing around these fictitious predictions.
Jenna figured that it was the woman’s way of interacting with the community.
The only problem was that her predictions were usually bleak.
Jenna’s first thought was of her brother. Would Neil back out of hearing her proposal, even if she won trivia night?
She didn’t believe it. Neil always kept his word—just like their father had done.
As she handed Agnes her change, she dismissed the horoscope. “Thank you. And I hope you have a good day.”
Agnes frowned, took her money, and pushed her cart out of the market. She was off to rain on someone else’s day.
The horoscope was just a bunch of nonsense. Jenna refused to put any credence into it. Besides, she had other things to think about.
Twenty minutes later, it was time for her to go home. She needed to check in on her neighbor and his dog. She couldn’t wait.
With a smile on her face and bag of groceries hanging from her arm, she headed out the door. She’d noticed that her siblings had given her some strange looks, like what was she smiling about, but they didn’t ask any questions, and she didn’t offer any explanations.
It was far too early in their relationship to try to explain what was going on between her and Simon.
Or maybe that was just her excuse because she wasn’t ready to share her feelings yet with anyone.
It felt special, more so than any of her prior relationships.
If she kept it all between just the two of them, it would be protected. At least that was what she hoped.
When she arrived home, she rushed into her place and changed clothes. It was a little early for dinner. She headed next door to see how her patient was doing.
She knocked on the door, and just so he wouldn’t have to get up, she opened it a crack and called out, “Simon, it’s me. Can I come in?”
“Of course.” And then the door opened, and he was standing there, looking well, not quite handsome with all of that bruising and swelling on his face. Poor guy.
Gus was standing next to him with a happy glint in his eyes. His tail swished back and forth, as though happy to see her.
Her gaze returned to Simon. “Hi. You shouldn’t be up.”
“It was my face that took the brunt of the fall. The rest of me is fine.”
She arched a brow. “Except for your wrist and the other cuts and scrapes.”
Simon stepped away from the doorway and headed back toward the living room, where it looked like he had set up his makeshift office. His laptop was still open and resting on the coffee table.
Her gaze returned to him. “You’ve been working?”
He nodded. “At least trying.”
“But you’re supposed to be resting.”
“I tried, but I had an idea for the book and needed to write it down before I forgot it.”
“But your wrist—”
“Is fine. The brace helps. But it does make it really hard to type, so there’s been a lot of one-handed hunt-and-peck typing.”
She nodded in understanding. “Can I take Gus for a walk?”
That was all Gus needed to hear. He ran over to her and looked up at her with longing in his big brown eyes. She couldn’t help but smile. This dog had totally captured her heart.
As her gaze returned to Simon, she couldn’t help but think that Gus’s owner was sneaking his way into her heart too. But as soon as the thought came to her, she thought of her ex. After he’d cheated on her, she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t get involved with anyone for at least a year.
Her intent had been to focus on herself and figure out what she wanted to do with her life—should she stay on at the market? Or should she quit and find another path to follow?
It had only been two months since she’d caught Frank cheating on her.
She should have learned her lesson about being too trusting.
But every time she looked at Simon, her traitorous heart felt like it was going to beat its way out of her chest. What was it about this man that had her wanting to throw caution to the wind?
“Why don’t we both take him for a walk?” Simon grabbed Gus’s red leash.
She loved the thought of going for a stroll with him, but she hesitated. “Are you sure you’re up for it?”
He nodded. “Besides, my beautiful nurse will be with me. What could possibly go wrong?”
That was the thing, she didn’t want anything to go wrong. But she supposed a short walk in the sunshine might do him some good.
“Okay. And when we get back, I can grill us some dinner.”
Simon arched a brow. “Burgers?” When she shook her head, he guessed again. “Steak?”
“No. Kebabs. I hope that’s okay.”
“Sounds delicious. We better hurry.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m already getting hungry.”
She frowned. “Didn’t you like the lunch I brought you?”
“I loved it. But I haven’t had kebabs in a long time, so they sound particularly good.”
“I was thinking of making some tzatziki sauce to go with it.”
“Now you’re just being mean by making me wait,” he teased.
“So you don’t have to wait even longer, we better get going. Where would you like to walk? Into town? Or the beach? Although, I don’t know if it’s cleaned up after the storm.”
“I heard them working on the beach. Let’s go see what they accomplished.”
“Sounds good to me.”
He gestured for her to lead the way to the back door. “Shall we?”
As she walked past him, she couldn’t help but think that she could get used to this. Most definitely.
After they’d descended the steps, Gus pulled on his lead. He was anxious to run free. Jenna understood why Simon had him tethered, but she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the dog.
Simon reached over and attempted to take her hand in his own, but his brace made it awkward.
When she glanced at his arm, she noticed redness peeking out from the bandage over the stitches on his forearm. “Does that hurt?”
His brows scrunched together. “What?”
“Your stitches.”
He shrugged. “They’re fine.”
She noticed he didn’t really answer the question. “Are you following the doctor’s instructions?”
He glanced over at her and arched a brow. “Yes, Mom.”
“Hey. I’m just watching out for you. You don’t want it getting infected or anything.”
“Don’t worry. I’m doing everything he told me.” Simon stopped walking. When Gus backtracked to find out the problem, Simon said, “Okay, boy. I’m going to let you off your lead, but don’t run off. Okay?”
Gus stared at Simon. The dog’s head was cocked to the side, as though he listened to Simon. Jenna smiled. She wondered if Gus understood any of what Simon had said.
Soon the dog once more had his freedom, and he took off running down the beach like he was an energetic pup once more. Her fingers were laced with Simon’s. The sun warmed her face while the ocean breeze kept her comfortable.
“I read some more of your book last night.” She yawned. She noticed he didn’t say anything. It made her wonder why he wasn’t interested in her reading his book. Maybe he was worried she wouldn’t like it, so she said, “I really like it. I might have stayed up half the night reading it.”
He glanced her way. “Now, I know you’re making that up.”
“I’m not. I swear. It’s really good. No wonder they are making movies of your books.”
This time she noticed her words caused a splash of color on his cheeks. And she smiled.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it. But you don’t have to read it on my account. I know it’s not your type of book.”
“But it doesn’t hurt to try different genres. Who knows? It might become one of my favorite genres.”
A comfortable silence fell over them as they strolled along the newly cleaned beach. If she didn’t know there had been a big storm recently, she wouldn’t have guessed from the pristine condition of the beach.
“So, how is your presentation coming along?” He glanced over at her.
“I’ve been working on it when I have time. You had a good idea about including a visual component. This way it’s easier for me to explain it to Neil. I can show it to you before dinner.”
“I’d like that.”
So would she. Even though her mind cautioned her to be careful, her heart was already tumbling and falling hard for Simon.