Page 42 of See You at the Sunset

“Hey, there! You’re overdressed for the party,” Jia said, walking up beside him. She had on a pink one-piece bathing suit with one of those frilly skirts that hid her bottom half. She also had on a swim cap with white and yellow flowers decorating it and a pair of oversized sunglasses that old Hollywood types wore. She looked like she’d walked off the pages ofVogue’s retro catalog.

Henry looked down at her toenails, painted a cheerful yellow. And then over to his deck shoes and socks and khaki chinos. He was overdressed. But this wasn’t his party.

“Dennis wasn’t home when I got back from errands, and I don’t know why, but I came over here to see if I could find him. But he’s not—”

“He’s right there,” she said. She pointed toward the deep end of the pool where a diving board hovered over the water. Thereat the end of it stood his granddad. He wore long swim trunks pulled up high past his belly, drawstring tied tight, and a white undershirt tucked inside.

“What’s he doing?” Henry said. He stood in shock as he watched the old man walk until his toes hung over the edge of the board. He didn’t even look down into the water. He looked straight ahead as if to the horizon. And then he bent his knees and jumped, pulling himself into a tight grip. Henry panicked the moment he saw the movement. His grandfather did not like the water. He was terrified of it. And he did not know how to swim.

“Cannonball!” Dennis screamed just as he hit the water. The crowd whooped and hollered in delight.

“He doesn’t know how to swim!” Henry cried. Without hesitation, he moved to jump into the pool, but Jia grabbed his arm.

“Henry, wait,” she said, laughing. “Don’t go jumping in with all your clothes on. The pool is only five feet deep. And Dennis is a great swimmer.”

He looked over to see his grandfather emerge, a huge smile on his face. And he dog-paddled his way over to the edge of the pool.

His entire life his granddad didn’t know how to swim. He never came close to the water when Henry came to visit him as a kid. He always sat off to the side and watched him play in the pool. There was trauma. From a previous life. From wartime and the navy. And that was all Henry knew about it.

“Mimi told me he’s been taking swim lessons for months, even before moving over here. They’d been opening the pool up to other seniors in and out of the community. Isn’t it cool when you can learn something new at any age? I can’t believethe HOA thought of possibly closing the pool for a random desert garden. No way. Anyways, I hear his grandson loves to swim and play around, and he’d always wished he could join him.” Jia’s voice lowered, softer, kinder. “So he made sure to learn while he still could.” She nudged him with her elbow.

Henry swallowed back the emotion. He didn’t want to hear about what little time left his grandfather might have. And when his granddad had asked him to teach him how to swim years ago, Henry had said he was too busy. And eventually just stopped coming to visit altogether because Henry’s life trajectory didn’t include extended trips to the desert anymore.

It was too much. And not something he wanted to work out here with an audience, especially not in front of Jia.

He nodded once in her direction, and before his granddad could see him, he turned to leave. He’d sneak away and just pretend he didn’t know until Dennis chose to share the information with him.

But as he turned to leave, he slipped on a flip-flop that was left at the side of the pool. His arms windmilled as he tried to regain his balance. He grabbed on to the only thing he could reach.

And as gravity took him in the opposite direction, he took Jia with him. Straight into the pool—boat shoes, socks, khakis and all—and dragging her into the water as well.

Holding on to each other, the two dropped all the way to the bottom of the five-foot pool. Henry opened his eyes, and Jia was smiling, bubbles escaping from the sides of her mouth. He watched one travel to the waterline. But they both just floated under the water, staring at each other.

Time stood still. It was surprisingly quiet under the water. And looking into the sparkle of Jia’s eyes, he was mesmerized.Their bodies floated closer to each other until their faces were almost touching. Though his eyes were stinging from the chlorine, he didn’t want to shut them. He wanted to keep looking at her. He wanted, frankly, to do more than just look at her.

But when it was clear that each of them was going to run out of air soon enough, she gave him a wink, planted her feet at the bottom of the pool, and launched herself up, leaving Henry two seconds behind her.

Residents were gathered along every edge of the pool looking down at them until they emerged.

He heard his grandfather’s voice. “Hank, are you okay? What the heck are you doing swimming with all your clothes on, and even your shoes? If you wanted to borrow swim trunks, I have an extra pair.”

“Oh, did I leave my flip-flops right there by the edge of the pool for someone to trip over?” Betty said. Henry swore he saw her wink at Mimi.

“Jia, honey, you saved him! You saved Hank from drowning,” someone said.

“You owe her a fancy thank-you dinner or something, I’d say,” another neighbor suggested.

Cheers erupted from the crowd as Jia gracefully pulled herself up and out of the pool and people gathered around her. She did a tiny curtsy and a bow. “He was fine on his own. You know I just like to be dramatic,” she said. She looked back over her shoulder at Henry, as he, very much less graceful, pulled his clothing-weighted body out of the pool. One of the women brought him a towel and quickly removed his shoes and socks.

“I’m fine, really, no harm at all,” he said as he pulled away, uncomfortable with the attention.

“Hank, you sure you’re okay?” His granddad was standing over him.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he assured him.

“Did you catch my cannonball? Mitchell told me it was at least a nine point five. I think I might win the competition,” he said, proudly beaming.

Henry, though uncomfortable dripping in all his clothes, couldn’t help but smile. “It was pretty impressive, Granddad. Probably the best one I’ve ever seen. Who knew you had it in you?”