Page 12 of See You at the Sunset

There it was. His granddad would use any excuse to try to get Henry out to the desert to visit him. And it was happening less and less frequently as he got busier at work. The pangs ofguilt began to creep up into his chest. He let out a sigh while opening his laptop and signing in to take a look at his calendar.

It wasn’t a bad time to go. Summers were slow at work and in the city as a whole. But Henry was not a take-time-off kind of guy. Still, now that he had the two junior attorneys working for him, he could leave for a week or two or just check in remotely as needed. All the other executives were gone for the summer; he could sneak away for a few. Not that he was an executive... yet. But it was coming.

Shit, maybe he shouldn’t go.

This was the problem with having responsibilities for anyone other than yourself. Demands on your time, along with priorities for your attention got muddier.

But the desert always helped Henry relax for some reason. Henry rubbed his chest and then reached up to massage the crick out of his shoulder. It could be good to get away.

“Okay, let me check my schedule. I can probably sneak in a few days, maybe a week...”

“See if you can ask for two. By the time you fly out here a whole day will be lost, same as when you go back. You’ll need at least two weeks, Hank. I got a lot of stuff to move.”

Greedy ol’ man. Henry smiled at his lack of subtlety.

“Fine. I’ll see what I can do. It is kinda slow around here. I’ll let you know. And Granddad, don’t take any calls from the slick guy until you hear from me tomorrow. I’ll be the one talking to this guy from now on.”

“Sir, yes sir,” his grandpa said as he always did when Henry tried to tell him what to do. “I knew my successful lawyer grandson would come to the rescue.”

Henry let out a huff. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Looking forward to it, Hank.”

Henry looked down at his calendar as he hung up the call. A few recurring meetings that he could move around. Everyone else’s calendars blocked off for the Hamptons likely. Henry had overheard Bakerson telling Wainwright and Sword tosteer clearfor a few weeks. It was an odd thing to say. He’d really hoped it had nothing to do with the recent employee terminations.

He shook his head. Nope, not his business. He did as he was told, and he made sure it was on the up-and-up.

Henry shot off a quick email to his boss knowing he’d get the Out of Office message. And then he emailed his team asking for quick updates on their projects. If he was going to get out of town, he’d need to make sure everything was in place for him to do so. If nothing else, he’d be reachable remotely at any time.

They were competent and capable. Things should be fine.

Guess he was heading out west to the desert. It was like a string tied in the tightest bow was yanked and suddenly unraveled. Henry felt like he could finally breathe. So he did.

He took a deep breath, let it out, and opened up the weather app on his phone to see exactly how hot it would be.

5

Jia’s memories of her grandmother’s home in the Sunset Hills retirement community were of hot-as-Hades summer days where barefoot on the pavement was not an option and plenty of eggs could be found in driveways frying due to curiosity and childish experiments.

Off-seasonwas what they called the months at the height of the summer, where locals fled, tourism dropped off, and the rules of Sunset Hills were loosened. The neighborhood was for people fifty-five years or older. But in the summers, at least while Jia was growing up, kids came and visited grand- and great-grandparents for months at a time. No one questioned it, and no one complained. The summers came, and with it, so did the kids. At least those who could handle the extreme weather.

Jia loved extremes.

The extremes were where she thrived. She always had. She never complained about hundred-and-fifteen-degree temps.Instead, she spent her days creating synchronized swimming routines with her cousin Somi in the nearly empty pool of Sunset Hills. She even encouraged her grandmother to wade into the pool and participate as well. By the time she had her neighbors Betty, Mildred, and Edith joining, she’d created an entire synchronized swimming team and choreographed a routine for them all.

If nothing else, they had the cutest swim caps.

Jia loved those summers. She loved interacting with the residents. She loved hearing their stories about life and heartstrings, about families, about war. She didn’t love that each summer, a familiar name was no longer with them. Edith had passed when Jia graduated high school. Mimi had told her of a few others since, but Jia took Edith’s loss hard.

Maybe that was why Jia hadn’t been back in so long.

As the plane began its decent into the Palm Springs airport, Jia hung on the best memories of The Sunset. She felt hopeful for the first time in days. Maybe even longer if she were being honest with herself. The desert might not have all the answers she was looking for, but it would buy her some time. And that, in this moment, was the greatest gift of all.

Jia was hit with the heat the moment she stepped off the plane onto the stairs of the jet bridge leading down to the ground. She took in a deep breath of the dry desert air, tied her hair back into a knot, and descended into the past.

That was how it always felt when she came here.

The Palm Springs airport was small and dated, fewer than twenty gates total. But like most of the city, that was part of the charm. There was only one direct flight from New York to Palm Springs each day. Jia was lucky there was even one onthis day as the air traffic significantly slowed down during the off-season.