Page 4 of See You at the Sunset

Jia hailed the first taxi that approached, got in, feeling the glorious ache of just having had remarkable sex, and smiled. It wasn’t until she’d gotten home, cleaned up, and into her pajamas that she realized she had never even gotten his name.

1

Jia held the belief that pretty much everything could be solved with a kind smile and a great pair of shoes. So, with a deep breath, she grabbed the handle of the door, pulled it open with all the confidence she could muster, and stood slowly scanning the contents of her carefully and thoughtfully curated closet.

This was Jia’s happy place. Bright colors, bold patterns, and every piece with a story of how it was obtained. For most of her adult life, once she’d been able to finally be out on her own, she had barely made enough money to get by. But she was an expert bargain hunter and practiced patience as a virtue, knowing exactly what pieces she was eyeing, and waiting for just the right opportunity to grab it at a steal.

Her mother bristled at Jia’s loud wardrobe. And surprisingly, she found herself standing out with her often flashier clothes, even from those walking the streets of New York, despite its reputation for being a style mecca.

For as long as she could remember, the one thing Jia insistedon in life was that her clothes would match her personality. So much of society wanted to silence and tamp down someone like her. Her clothes were her own way of fighting back, refusing to be put in a box.

Jia felt her best in pizzazz.

And she needed it today.

Some of yesterday’s confidence and claiming had worn off along with the buzz of smooth alcohol and great sex, replaced this morning with a bit of nerves and uncertainty. What if it wasn’t good news after all? She shook her head as if the physical manifestation ofnocould will away any bad juju.

She needed to knock it out of the park today. Jia scanned the options and knew as soon as her eyes landed on her red platform sandals with yellow polka dots. These were happy shoes. Good news shoes. Reason-to-celebrate-no-matter-what shoes.

She paired the sandals with a simple white sundress so as not to distract the conversation and a yellow bauble statement necklace for just a pop of color. Jia had long gotten over the fact that she was often the only one wearing bright colors and patterns in this world. They were her armor, her confidence booster, her connection to herself. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. “You’ve got this,” she said softly. “Nothing to worry about.”

She would not invite the anxiety. Whatever was in store for her, whatever news she was going to receive, good news (likely!) or bad (possibly?), she’d take it in stride.

She didn’t think about the mere two hundred and forty-six dollars in her bank account, nor the rent that was due the following week, nor the inevitable look of disappointment on her parents’ faces punctuated with the deep sigh andNot again, Jia.

She willed herself to believe that today was going to be agreat day. She tried to muster some of the confidence she had last night and grabbed her stuff as she left for the train. Smile on, shoes buckled, ready to take over the world.

“I’m sorry, Jia, but we’re going to have to let you go.”

Jia stared into the eyes of Genevieve Gordon, human resources manager, as she processed the words. She liked Genevieve. She had great style—understated and classy. She told her so just this morning as she arrived at the HR office at two minutes past ten, two mugs of steaming hot coffee in hand. It was why she was late. Jia had unloaded the dishwasher in the employee kitchen so that there would be mugs available for everyone as they came to work that day. Then she’d prepared Gen’s coffee as she’d often noticed she liked it, black with one Splenda. Jia had hers nice and sweet, two creams, three sugars.

She’d walked in, commented on Gen’s black shift dress with the dropped waist, how the fit was impeccable and, paired with the small gold hoops, timeless. And when Gen struggled to smile in return, Jia knew it was not going to be good news. Genuine compliments usually made people smile bigger.

She’d barely taken a seat before Gen dropped the bomb.

The words took her by surprise.

“Oh” was all she could think to say in response. Jia brought her coffee mug to her lips and took a sip. What an odd time to drink your coffee, she thought to herself, as she brought the mug back down. What was the right reaction to news like this?

Jia should know. She’d been fired before. But she never did it the right way. She always went home and thought of ten things she could have said or asked or done in the moment. But, like all the other times, her mind was currently blank.

Her thoughts went back to two hundred and forty-six dollarsin the bank, rent due, and aNot again, Jiawaiting for her back home.

She realized that the silence had lasted longer than appropriate. “Sorry, I was just... thinking,” she said.

“Look, Jia, um, there have been some issues with your performance,” Genevieve’s voice sounded almost apologetic. Jia felt bad that Gen had to be the one to tell her.

Gen wouldn’t lift her eyes. She just stared down at the papers in front of her and continued. “Ultimately, you weren’t meeting the standards of the job. So we’ll be terminating your employment immediately. You’ll find a box on your desk to borrow. Return it by Friday at five o’clock or twelve dollars will be subtracted from your final paycheck. Please leave your laptop and key card on your desk. All access to the systems has been revoked. Do you have any questions?”

Whoa. That was a lot.

Did Jia have any questions?

Had she done something wrong? Where was her performance lacking? Those boxes cost twelve dollars? She had to leave right away?

All good questions to ask at that moment. But she couldn’t get herself to say anything. She didn’t want to make Genevieve uncomfortable.

“Nope, not a one!” The answer was too loud. Too forced. Too upbeat. Not at all appropriate for this moment.