Page 40 of The Beachside Rental

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.

On the short drive home, Jenna replayed the events of the evening.Once her siblings got over teasing her about Simon supposedly being her boyfriend, the evening had gone pretty well.In fact, if she was perfectly honest with herself, she’d enjoyed having Simon there with her.

He was a lot of fun to be around, and her family seemed to really like him—even if they weren’t dating.Maybe she’d bring him around more often.It might be what was needed to convince him to stick around Bluestar permanently.Because the one thing she did know was that when his six-month lease was up, she wanted him and Gus to stay.

“I’m sorry if my family got to be a bit much at dinner,” she said.

“They were fine.I had a good time.Thank you for inviting me.”

The winds continued to blow as the pending storm grew closer.A plastic bag was all puffed up from the wind and looked like some sort of kite.It went sailing through the air in front of the cart.It reminded her that she still had work to do back at the duplex.

“It’s a good thing everyone left early,” Jenna said.“I still have some more stuff to do before the storm.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

Simon sent her a knowing smile.“No, you don’t.”

When she pulled up to a stop sign, she looked at him.“Why do you keep saying that?”

They were only seconds away from the duplex by then.“You’ll see.”

There was still a smile on his face, as though he knew something she didn’t know.And she didn’t like being left in the dark.What was he up to?

She pulled up behind his cart.“We should move our carts into town for the duration of the storm.It’ll help protect them from the winds and debris.”