Page 78 of See You at the Sunset

A small hand rubbed circles on her back, and she heard the whisper of Mimi next to her. “It’ll be okay.”

Jia tried to regain her composure. She didn’t want Mimi worried about her. “It will be.”

Jia refilled her mom’s tea and joined them all in the living room. She sat in the uncomfortable chair that she and Mimi had agreed they’d donate and replace. Jia just hadn’t gotten around to it, along with the number of other things she was supposed to have done to help Mimi this summer.

“Um, as you know, I was just in New York—”

“Jia, how many times do I have to tell you not to start a sentence with the wordum? It makes you sound uninformed,” her mom said.

Jia had no idea how many times she’d been told this. Likely in the thousands by this point. She’d been hearing about all the words that made her sound uninformed, uneducated, unsophisticated, and just plain unworthy since she was a kid.

“What happened with your lawsuit against the Bakerson’s Group?” her dad asked.

“What, a Google Alert didn’t come through yet?”

“Jia.” Her father’s tone had an edge of warning to it, and Jia stopped herself. She wanted to ask them why they were here. She wanted to beg them to let her live her life. She wanted to ask them to leave so she could go and check in on Dennis. “We shouldn’t be surprised that you’re here, and yet I had hoped that maybe, for once, you would have listened to us and gone straight to Florida.”

“We’re actually not here to speak to you, Jia. We’re here to discuss some business with your grandmother.” Her mother only ever referred to her mother-in-law as Mimi or as Jia’s grandmother.

“Jia is welcome to stay and listen. It affects the whole family, I’d say.” Mimi’s words caused a wave of fear and concern to run through Jia.

“Grandma?”

“Oh no, I’m fine, honey. Don’t you worry. You know that. Strong as an ox,” Mimi said, winking at Jia. Jia released all the air she held in her lungs with relief. “But your parents here thought they’d stop by, having flown all the way across the country from Florida, ourfavoriteplace in the whole world—” Mimi’s voice was laced with the sarcasm Jia loved “—to tell me it’s time to sell my house and move. And get this, darling,” Mimi said, laying it on thick. She placed a hand on Jia’s knee and leaned in for a dramatic effect. “They’ve already secured a real estate agent to help me.”

“What?” Jia’s parents were overprotective and overbearing, but they’d never actually overstepped. Until now. “That’s not cool. Mom, Dad... this is Mimi’s house. And you don’t get to tell her what to do with it. What are you thinking? This is seriously too far.”

There was a knock on the door. It wasn’t the rhythmed signal of a neighbor. No, it was the knock of an outsider. All heads turned to the front entrance.

Jia got up to see who it could be. And when she opened the door, she wished she could say she was surprised.

“Hey, Jia. Good to see you. I was asked to come by.”

And there, waiting to come in... was the snake, Matthew Singleton.

“What are you doing here?” Jia asked. “Mom, Dad, did you contact Matthew behind Mimi’s back?”

“It was actually Mr. Singleton who contacted us. Apparently the market is prime right now. And since Mimi is not getting any younger, we thought it would be more comfortable for her to move to Florida with us. It will be good for you both. On top of it being a good financial decision,” her mother explained.

Jia’s stomach dropped. She was used to her parents trying to control her life, but they’d never really taken the choice out of her hands... yet. But it seemed that was exactly what they were doing with Mimi right now. “How could you do this? Absolutely not. Mimi, you don’t want this, do you?”

“I do not want this, Jia, no,” Mimi answered. Her voice was strong and certain.

“Oh, Jia. Don’t be so dramatic. It’s business, and it makes sense. You know the people here need more help than they’ve got. Many of them are selling their homes, making some money, and living in assisted-living facilities where they get the support they need. Where nurses can help them eat and move around and keep them occupied. It’s a good decision.” Her dad sounded like he was the expert of those at Sunset Hills, when he had no idea what the residents here were like, what they were capable of.

“Is that how you think of me?” Mimi asked. Jia grabbed Mimi’s hand and held it tight. Her grandmother was vibrant and full of life and able to take care of herself. “Someone on the verge of death who needs some extra help just to get by each day?”

“Mother, you’re eighty-five years old. You should not be driving, forced to take care of yourself, responsible for things like medication and health care. We can sell your place andmove you to a group home in Florida. We’ll be close and can monitor the staff taking care of you.”

It was all the proof Jia needed that her mother had no idea what she was talking about. Everyone knew that among the people at The Sunset, after a certain age, you never gave the exact number. Mimi was “in her eighties,” not “eight-five.” Jia wouldn’t allow her parents to put some judgment and an expiration date on her grandmother just based on age.

“Absolutely not,” Jia said. She would not let them do this. Did they have the power to make Mimi do this against her will? How had Matthew gotten so many residents to sell their homes already? Jia didn’t know the legalities of everything behind all this. And she was no match for her parents’ brilliant legal minds. They’d find loopholes in everything.

She’d made a mess of everything. She couldn’t protect Mimi. She’d pushed Dennis too hard, and he got hurt. And she couldn’t protect the others from Matthew coming in and pushing some of the residents out of their homes.

“Okay, emotions are running high, and clearly there’s more discussion to be had. Why don’t you guys discuss it all as a family, and I’ll come back tomorrow to talk details for putting the house on the market,” Matthew said. He reached out and shook Jia’s father’s hand and leaned in to give his mother a kiss on the cheek. He turned his body toward Mimi and Jia on the couch, but they both dropped their heads, unwilling to even look at him.

“I can’t believe you’d do this,” Jia said to her parents, tears in her eyes. She’d lived her whole life feeling like she’d disappointed them. Today, her heart broke as she realized they had disappointed her.