Page 59 of See You at the Sunset

“Like I said, honey, men love pies. Now, I’ve got Knitting Club tonight at Mary Beth’s house. She said she got some new mattress for her guest bedroom, and she’s not sure it’s very comfortable. Maybe her granddaughter won’t like it when she visits for Christmas. So I agreed to test it out. Gonna give it a practicerun and spend the night in it tonight. Don’t worry, Mary Beth promised to buy me coffee from the cart tomorrow morning as a thank-you. So don’t expect me home until well after nine tomorrow. Hate to leave you...alonelike this, but you know how I am. Gotta help a friend in need.”

“Uh-huh,” Jia said. She wrapped her arms around her grandmother and hugged her tight. “Thanks, Mimi. I love you,” she whispered into her ear.

“Be safe and have fun... by yourself,” she said. “Unless you want to have a friend over for your own slumber party.” She winked at Jia and walked out of the kitchen.

Jia was giddy with excitement. She could have sex with Henry tonight in a bed. They wouldn’t have to go park somewhere for privacy and worry about gear shifts or cops finding them. What a relief.

She placed the pie in the Tupperware container and walked out to deliver it to him—them—Dennis and Henry.

Outside she saw Harold walking his dog, Chewbacca. As the dog did his business, Harold took a stick with pincher tongs at the bottom and picked up the waste off the ground, without having to bend all the way over. One press of a button and the waste emptied into a bag attached to a hook separate from the tongs. Cool.

“Hey there, how’s it going?” Jia asked as she crossed the street to greet her neighbor. Jia balanced the Tupperware in one hand as she bent to pet the head of the little pupper with the other. “That’s a cool contraption you’ve got there. I bet a lot of people in the neighborhood would love something like that. Where’d you get it?” Jia asked.

“Oh, I don’t think it’s for sale anywhere. It’s one of a kind. Henry made it for me,” he said.

“What?”

“Yeah, he said he’d heard it was rough for me to pick up after my dog and he’d felt so bad giving me a hard time about it. He made this and asked me if it worked okay. We tried it right then and there, and it was perfect. Look, the poop even drops straight into the bag. I just have to reach out and grab it, tie it up, and I can throw it away at home. Pretty cool, right?”

“Henry... he made that for you?” Jia’s heart felt ten times too big for her chest. He’d made it... to help someone who wasn’t able to do what needed to be done. She swallowed. She was going to take such good care of that man tonight, he had no idea.

“He did. Good boy, that one. I hope I’ll get to see him before he leaves. Or before I do.”

The comment struck Jia. She’d hadn’t even thought about how Henry was only here for a couple weeks. She wondered if they’d see each other when the two of them were back in New York. Was she overthinking all of this?

But also...

“What do you mean before you do?” she asked.

“Oh, well, looks like I might be selling my place,” he said.

“Why’s that?” It used to be that people only sold their homes here if they were going into assisted living. And Harold was nowhere needing that kind of support. He was perfectly capable of living here with the support of the community. She really hoped it wasn’t what she thought it might be... that someone might be behind this, encouraging Harold to leave before he was ready.

“Well, some real estate guy reached out to my family and suggested it might be time for me to move. Told them he couldget them a lot of money for my place and that, since I wasn’t getting any younger, it might be the time to move me to the assisted-living place down the way,” Harold explained. His shoulders dropped, and his voice sounded resigned.

“What?” Jia was livid. “WHO? Who is this guy?”

“Oh, some slick guy named Matt, or something like that. He seems to be reaching out to a lot of other families too. Like he knew which ones of us were getting a bit older or whose families weren’t like you and Mimi, if you know what I mean.”

Matt? Airport Matt? Date at the Del Rey Matt? “Was the name Matthew Singleton?” she asked.

“Yes, yes, that sounds like the name. Do you know him? If you do, Jia, maybe you can ask him to talk to my family again and maybe have them change their minds. They don’t listen to what I want. And honestly, I’m getting a little sad at the thought of moving. How will I get my steps in if I don’t have Zumba class or Walking Club? Plus some of those other places don’t accept dogs. Where will Chewbacca go?” Harold’s voice began to shake with the emotion.

Jia wrapped her arms around the smaller, bent man. “Harold, don’t you worry about anything just yet, okay? I’m not gonna let anyone make decisions for you that you’re not agreeing with. We’ll figure this out.” She gave him a squeeze, and he squeezed back. Plenty of strength left in him.

“Thanks, Jia. You’re the best,” Harold said.

“Okay, I gotta run. But remember, don’t make any decisions and don’t let your family pressure you into anything until we talk again, okay? I need to check on some stuff first.”

“Sure, sure, Jia. I trust you. I probably trust you more than I do my own kids, I hate to say.” Harold’s smile was a sad one, and Jia’s heart broke a little. She wasn’t sure what she could do,but she wasn’t going to let any of her people go down without a fight.

Jia gave him one last squeeze on the arm and jogged toward Dennis’s place. She did not like the sound of all of this. It couldn’t be legal, could it? Forcing older people to sell their homes? She needed Henry’s professional opinion on all of this.

They would discuss it over pie.

“Hi.” Henry’s hair was tussled and his smile sleepy. Jia wanted to jump him right there in the doorway. Privacy and propriety be damned.

“Napping during the day, Mr. Shin? You look very relaxed. Very unlike you,” she teased. Truth be told, she loved that Henry was relaxing. He could use the rest.