Page 39 of See You at the Sunset

It was hilarious.

And as Jia made her way back up to the front of the room next to Henry, giving him his own look of encouragement, Henry couldn’t help it.

He smiled.

Jia watched as the left corner of Henry’s mouth crept up slightly, despite him trying to hold it back. About as close to a smile as she’d seen from him to date.

And goddamn if it wasn’t the sexiest thing she’d seen. She felt that smile down to her toes. She remembered one other time she’d encountered that same level of attraction for this man.

If he kept that up, Jia was going to be in some serious trouble. Nothing good could come from a smile that sexy.

15

Jia had accomplished more in the two weeks she’d been at The Sunset than she had probably in her last three jobs combined. And this was just for fun. Not for money. Not for title. But because she loved seeing people get the respect they deserved and have the opportunity to live their lives with joy.

Unfortunately, her parents did not see this as success.

“What’s the status of the job search?” her dad asked on the phone. Her parents had basically taken turns calling or FaceTiming her every few days to nag.

“It’s coming along. It’s only been a couple weeks. Things don’t move that quickly in this market,” she said. “I still have two weeks left to find something. Please don’t nag me in the meantime. You’re killing the vibe.”

“Jia...” her dad warned. “I knew we shouldn’t have let you go out and stay with your grandmother while your life is in flux. The two of you encourage each other to behave like there isn’t a care in the world except having fun.”

“Well, let’s be honest, Dad. That’s exactly how Mimi should be living. She’s eighty! She deserves it.”

“She could be doing whatever she’s doing in Palm Springs out here in Florida.”

“Mimi doesn’t want to move to Florida,” Jia reminded him. And neither did she. But she knew better than to bring this up again. Not when she still had two weeks to get them off her back. “And just to remind you, I’m twenty-seven years old. I can come stay with my grandmother without your permission if I want to.” There, she’d put her foot down.

“You are unemployed with no means to take care of yourself, Jia. When that situation changes for you, your mother and I will be less involved in the details of your well-being.”

Damn, he was good at shutting her down.

“Fine. But listen, Dad, I gotta run. Important business going on here that I need to attend to.”

His exasperated sigh made it clear to Jia better than any words could that he was not in the mood for her whimsy.

“Tell Mom I said hi. Love you.” She ended the call.

Her parents weren’t terrible. They were just... a lot. From the time she was in the womb and gave her momthe hardest time of her lifeto them always trying to pick up the pieces from Jia’s mistakes, Jia just couldn’t shake the feeling that all she did was disappoint them. And it made it really hard to feel good about herself.

If only they could have some patience and try to understand who Jia was and what she was hoping for for her life.

Maybe Jia didn’t even know. But she was starting to get a better sense.

She’d left New York broke and broken. At least she thought she was.

But here, with her grandmother, with her new friends, with her community, she was building something and, in turn, was building someone within herself. Here, Jia could be her true self, a person filled with joy and wanting what was best for others, and no one had a problem with that. Go figure.

The community center felt like her blank canvas, the residents her paint colors. Since she’d been here, she’d more than tripled the amount of things available to the seniors. A once-quiet, semi-sleepy neighborhood now buzzed with life between the hours of seven and four.

She didn’t know what the end game would be after her month-long stay, but a secret part of her never wanted to leave. And how ridiculous was that—a twentysomething happily living among seniors in a retirement community?

These were the thoughts running through Jia’s mind as she lounged in her favorite chair by the four-feet marker of the Sunset Hills community pool. It was a quiet day.

The aqua aerobics class had finished about an hour ago, and though Jia hadn’t been there today, she could tell by the robust gathering of people around the coffee machine that it had been well attended. The residents loved the new instructor she’d found who had been working part-time at the Froyo shop downtown. She was a licensed lifeguard, a dancer, and had amazing energy. How perfect was that?

The stragglers who walked laps in the pool either after class or on their own were also finishing up, leaving only Jared walking up and down lane one and his chocolate Lab Clementine swimming next to him in lane two.