Page 55 of The Beachside Rental

Now all she had to do was get him inside.They’d patch him up.And then they’d head home.Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.She remembered hearing her grandmother using the saying when she was a kid.

Except as she walked Simon into the ER, she was floored by the number of people in the waiting area.Did that many people get injured during the storm?

They stood in line at the registration window.There were three people in front of them.At this rate, they’d be spending the rest of the day at the hospital.But it wasn’t like they had a choice.Simon was pretty banged up.He needed to see a doctor.

After Simon gave the woman behind the glass window all of the pertinent information, she asked, “And what brings you in today?”

“I have a bloody nose,” Simon said as though it were no big deal.

Jenna decided to elaborate for him.“He fell and hit his head.He might have a concussion.”

All the while the woman typed the information into the computer system.When she was done, she told them to have a seat and someone would be with them.

They turned around and looked for two seats together.She didn’t see any.And then an older woman with kind eyes made the people next to her slide down one seat.She patted the chair next to her as she smiled at them.

They took a seat with Jenna sitting next to the woman.She looked familiar but Jenna couldn’t put a name to the face.

It took her a bit of time, but then it finally came to her.The woman’s name was Joyce Greenfield.She used to work at the Island Market when Jenna was a child.And so, while Simon leaned his head back to help with the bleeding, Jenna chatted with Joyce, who was there with a friend.

One by one the patients were called back.Jenna felt odd being there without her phone, but with the power outage and the battery being dead, it was nothing more than a paper weight.

When Simon’s phone started to go off, he grimaced as he reached into his pocket for it.He looked at the name on the screen and then handed it to her.

Surprised, she looked at the screen, which had her brother’s name.“How do you have Neil’s phone number in your phone?”

“He gave it to me at dinner the other day.”

Interesting.But she didn’t have time to give it much thought.She pressed the phone to her ear.“Hello.”

“Jenna?”

“Yeah.Simon isn’t up to talking now.”That was an understatement.His nose was swollen and bruised along with his two black eyes and a couple of deep gashes, one across the bridge of his nose and the other on his arm.

“Sorry to bother you,” Neil said.“I just wanted to see how he was doing.”

“Okay.There are a lot of people here today, with all sorts of injuries so he hasn’t seen a doctor yet.”

“Well, we’re still cleaning up things here.The power company said it’s going to be at least another few hours until they can get the power back on.I suppose that’s better than a few days.”

“Definitely.Thank you all for helping out.I...uh, we appreciate it.And how’s Gus?”

“He’s following Myra around.He won’t let her out of his sight.”

Jenna nodded.“He had a traumatic night with the storm.”

“Anything you guys need?”

“There’s one more thing...”

She asked if they would be willing to move Simon’s porch and deck furniture back outside.After Neil agreed, she thanked him again for the help and made him promise he’d tell the others.

When she ended the call, Simon asked, “How’s Gus?”

“Apparently he has a crush on my sister.It appears they are inseparable.”

“That’s good.I think.”

And then Jenna leaned back in the chair and stared up at the television screen, which was mounted in the corner of the large room.There was no volume but close captioning was on.