Page 68 of See You at the Sunset

“Listen, Jia, whatever happens...” He wasn’t sure how to finish his thought.

They’d survive being on opposites sides of a lawsuit and be okay? She’d move to Florida and they’d date long distance while he stayed in New York? They’d both give up everything and live in a commune upstate, and to hell with the rest of the world?

Neither of them had answers about what was next.

“Whatever happens... happens,” she said.

He wanted to say more. He had the words at the tip of his tongue. A confession of feelings he’d never had toward anyone before. Emotions that excited but terrified him. But he wouldn’t, couldn’t let them out.

He just nodded in agreement. “Whatever happens happens.”

27

If Jia thought her walk out of the Bakerson’s Group offices was a walk of shame, she clearly didn’t know how awful it would be to be walking back in.

She didn’t notice back then how sterile the offices were. No color. No life. No soul. Did everyone always dress this bland? Did everyone always look this miserable? Maybe she hadn’t realized how she never quite belonged here because she’d never actually experienced what it felt like to fit in anywhere... until she’d made her way to The Sunset.

It was quiet, too quiet, and the click of her kitten heels felt too loud in the space. A tingle crept up Jia’s spine like she wanted to turn around and run out of this place. But she wouldn’t. She was here for the others. And she was here for herself.

Jia had stopped by Lizzy and Darcy’s new apartment to pick up an outfit to wear to the meeting. The emerald-green sheath dress with a ruffle hem was hers. When she put it on, it felt too tight. Too stiff. Foreign. But it was the most appropriate outfitshe had for something like this. At least she hoped so. She’d been in Mimi’s clothes for a month now and had grown to love the freedom to still wear bright colors and patterns, fits that weren’t trying to impress anyone except herself.

A head peeked out of the main conference room, and Jia recognized the face of their attorney, Helena Wimberley, a woman she had Zoomed with along with Stephanie Novak and Taylor Ann Graff about the lawsuit. Helena had been very detailed and matter-of-fact about what they had ahead of them. It was a wrongful termination suit by the three women who had all been in the same position at the company, worked for the same man, and been terminated in ways that all felt off, never once being shown proof of their errors.

There were questionable ways about the way they’d been treated at the company as well. But the attorney decided to not take that route, since those things—creepy comments and looks and general discomfort from their skeevy boss—were harder to prove. If this didn’t say everything about how broken the system was, Jia didn’t know what would.

Jia had hesitated in agreeing to the lawsuit. She wasn’t sure she wanted to participate. Was this something she was willing to fight for? There were times Jia would fight the world, like for the residents of The Sunset. But she found it harder to fight for herself. It was only when the lawyer made it clear that they were stronger as three plaintiffs than alone, that the other women were counting on her, that she agreed.

There was also the Henry factor.

Jia had been surprised to find that, as the one whose signature was on the termination paperwork, Henry was also listed on the lawsuit. And it was what gave Jia the most pause of all.

But Henry, in his own follow-the-rules way, had basicallyencouraged her to do this, to do what was right for her. Knowing Henry supported her in this meant so much to her. She just hoped it didn’t come at a cost to him.

Jia wasn’t doing this to get her job back. She wasn’t even doing it for any kind of justice or a settlement. She was doing it to be heard. She wanted her voice and the truth to be known.

Jia entered the room and took a seat next to Taylor Ann. She’d never met either of the two others before their phone calls, before their Zoom meeting. But she’d felt a kindred connection to them. She squeezed her hand and smiled over her to Stephanie as well. They were in this together.

Jia wasn’t sure whatthiswas or all that it would entail. But Mimi also encouraged her to do it for all the other girls that would get hired after her. Those that might not have a safe place to land like she had at Sunset Hills. That was what eventually sealed the deal for Jia to take part in the complaint.

Jia’s hands shook, and she found it hard to swallow for some reason. She crossed her leg and uncrossed it because her foot wouldn’t stop moving. Truth be told, she was terrified. Terrified of coming back to this office that had always made her feel inadequate. Terrified of facing her boss who always made her feel stupid and like a piece of meat. And maybe what she was most terrified of was seeing Henry.

She didn’t want any of this to blow back on him.

But from what her lawyer had told her, as the one signing the termination contracts, both Henry and Genevieve Gordon could be liable and it was standard to include these roles in wrongful termination suits. But Helena Wimberley had pretty much guaranteed they wouldn’t end up even getting that far. The risk of going to trial for the company was too great for them to not at least try to reach a settlement. And that was the goal.

For Jia, she hoped for redemption.

The team from Bakerson’s Group entered the conference room. A man Jia didn’t recognize came in first, holding a bunch of files under his arm. He immediately shook hands with Jia’s attorney and ignored the rest of them. He was followed by Steven Sword, the general counsel for Bakerson’s Group, Edison Wainwright, the accused, and behind them all, taking a seat directly across from Jia at the long mahogany conference table, was Henry.

Henry’s expression was stern, his face shuttered. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen this version of him. She barely recognized him. Was this the mask he put on every day when coming to work?

He gave nothing away, and Jia reminded herself that she expected this. She knew he was great at his job. And this was Henry doing just that. His job. Hadn’t she been on this side before? The recipient of Henry’s no-nonsense, just-the-facts way of looking at life? When he’d first arrived at Sunset Hills? When they’d butted heads all along the way? When he’d signed his name to her termination paperwork?

But that was before. Jia knew a different side of Henry now. And she just couldn’t, wouldn’t believe he was out for blood.

And then she saw it, the smallest tick in his jaw, a sign that this was hard for him or maybe even that he wished he wasn’t here going against her. That was what she hoped it meant.

A part of her wanted to cry... for him. For this impossible position he was in.