Page 54 of The Beachside Rental

Her brows scrunched together.“You don’t know?”

“Know what?”He swiped at the wetness around his mouth.His hand briefly touched his nose.“Ouch!”

“Don’t do that.”She frowned at him.“I think it might be broken.And you must have hit your head real hard.But don’t worry.You’re going to be okay.”

When he went to stand up, she placed a hand on his shoulder and pressed down.“Don’t move.”

“Jenna—” His complaint was interrupted when Neil came running out of the house.

He had the whole roll of paper towels in his hand.“Here.I think you’re going to need them all.”

“I think you’re right.”She took the paper towels from her brother and ripped off a couple.She wrapped them around his forearm.She grabbed some more towels and wiped off around Simon’s mouth.

When she tossed them aside, Simon saw that they were covered in blood.Oh.That wasn’t good.

She tore off a couple more sheets and held them under his nose.His hand touched hers as he tried to take the paper towels from her.If something good had to come from this, it was having her nurse him.He was already feeling a little better.

“I’ve got it.”He held the paper towels beneath his nose.

Just out of curiosity, he lowered the paper towels and saw they already had blood covering them.

“Put it back up there.”Jenna’s voice had a no-nonsense tone.Someday she’d make a good mother.And then he envisioned her with a baby in her arms.There would be a glow to her face, and her eyes would twinkle with happiness.The baby would have her good looks and his blue eyes.

The last thought startled him back to reality.What was he daydreaming about that for?He had no plans of getting married, much less having a family.

Jenna started wiping at his shirt.When he went to glance down, she firmly told him to sit still.

She glanced over at Neil.“He needs to go to the hospital.”

“How?Myra took off to get coffee in the cart.”Neil frowned.

“Call her.And if she isn’t available, we’ll have to ask one of the neighbors for a ride because both of our carts are still parked in town.”

Simon lowered the paper towel to tell her it was okay.He didn’t need to go to the hospital, but blood continued to drip from his nose.

This time Jenna didn’t say a word.Instead, she grabbed some fresh paper towels and ever so gently positioned them beneath his nose.Maybe he did have to go to the hospital after all.It’s not like he could get much done while holding paper towels to his nose.

His gaze moved to Gus, who was sitting next to Caleb.If a dog could look worried, he did.“But Gus—”

“Will be fine.”Jenna continued to try to clean him up.“I promise.”

He had a feeling there was nothing she could do to make him look presentable at this point.As his senses came back to him, he felt an ache in his wrist, burning pain in different places on his face, and twigs were poking him all over—including places that he’d rather not talk about.

Chapter Sixteen

Therewassomuchblood.

Jenna couldn’t believe how badly Simon was bleeding.If his nose wasn’t broken, she’d be shocked.And his arm had bled through the paper towels.

She’d had to get him to tilt his head back to try to slow the bleeding.Luckily, Myra pulled in with the coffees and more importantly the cart.

Her brothers maneuvered the cart into the yard and helped Simon into it.Jenna jumped into the driver’s seat.Myra shoved a coffee in her hand and told her that she was going to need it.Jenna didn’t argue.

And then they were off to the hospital.Of course, the drive wasn’t straight forward.There were downed trees and power lines to detour around.There were residents out in the street, helping with the cleanup.

They smiled and waved to her, but when their gaze moved to Simon with the blood soaked paper towel under his nose, the smiles faded from their faces.She knew the rumors would start first, and the questions would come second.The gossip mill liked to do it in that order.They could spin big tales, and only later would the truth be something much less shocking—most of the time the truth was boring.

It felt like forever until the hospital came into sight—even though it hadn’t been more than ten minutes.But every time she glanced over at Simon, there was even more blood coming out of him.It didn’t help matters that she was squeamish.