Page 18 of See You at the Sunset

“I was gonna ask about making a community events calendar.You know, since there are a bunch of new activities happening, and it might be nice having something visual to help people keep them straight.”

“I don’t think you need any permission for that. But if you need money to fund any of it, we’ll have to ask the HOA. We’ve got a pretty good budget to do stuff. No one’s tapped into it for a while now. But everyone’s abuzz talking ’bout the things you’ve been up to. It’s ’bout damn time. Thought we were all dead in the water once Ruth left us.”

Ruth had been one of the residents of Sunset Hills and the de facto community manager of sorts. Jia had heard from the others that once Ruth had passed, no one had taken up the charge to keep planning things. It was like they all wanted to do stuff but didn’t know how to get it done. Jia’s heart ached, considering that the residents here had gone for however long without any activities to feed their bodies and their minds and their souls. She wanted to change that if she could. As long as she was here, she might as well be of some use.

Jia wasn’t normally a go-getter; you could ask her former employers. But few things motivated her more than getting a chance to see people happy.

“Oh gosh. They’re just some small weekly get-togethers for the residents. Nothing needs any funding.”

“Well, based on how much everyone’s been talking about that book club—” Gladys gave an exaggerated wink before continuing “—I have a feeling you’re gonna have a lot of interest on your hands for whatever you cook up.”

“I hope it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” Jia said. “Can I use the computer and the copier to print up the calendars to distribute? Oh, and can I post one here at the community center?”

“No problem. All yours. Watch the desk for me while I go and make my tuna sandwich at home, will ya?”

“Sure thing. Hey, do you have garlic powder?”

“I do. Do you need some?” Gladys asked.

“Nope. But if you sprinkle a little bit on that tuna sandwich, it adds a nice little punch,” Jia suggested.

“Oooh. I’ll give that a try. It should be slow while I’m gone. Just hang out for a bit,” Gladys said. “The guys will be coming in to play bridge. If they cause a ruckus, threaten to kick them out with a loud voice so they can hear you. That should settle them down.”

Jia smiled and nodded and sat down at Gladys’s desk to get to working on the calendar.

It was currently quiet in the community center, so Jia got up and decided to walk around and check out what was available, get some ideas of what she could do to reach more of the residents.

From what she noticed with Mimi, she was in good health, but aging was hard. It was hard on her joints, her lungs, and her attention span. Jia just wanted to help stimulate their minds, muscles, and need for community. It was a no-brainer. It just took someone willing and with the time to organize.

And that was exactly what Jia had right now. Time.

The exercise room was spacious and clean. There were no machines, which felt like the right call with the potential safety hazards. But there were some mats and free weights. Maybe Jia could organize some group movement classes. She’d taught Zumba back in New York for a few months. It was low impact and a lot of fun. She made a mental note to do some research about modifications of the dance moves for people with limitedmobility. She wanted to know what some of the nuances would be for teaching an older class. She could also check in with Mimi and some of the neighbors about their favorite tunes and songs they’d loved from their past. She could imagine at least ten people showing up for something like this. A retro Zumba class might just be a hit here.

Jia inspected some of the other rooms. There was a craft room and a library, a large kitchen, and changing rooms for the pool area. So much to work with. Jia’s mind was working double time with all the possibilities.

She hadn’t felt this energized in a long time.

She would get to know the demographic of the neighbors and see what kinds of things interested them, what they liked to do for fun. Jia might have had trouble keeping a stuffy corporate job, but fun—fun she knew how to do.

Jia went back to the office, sat down at the desk, and took some notes from her tour of the community center. Once the good stuff was done, she decided to tackle the harder things on her to-do list. She took a deep breath and did the one thing she really did not want to do: logged into her email.Please let there be a reply to one of my job applications. Please please please.

When the inbox loaded, there were a few spam messages, a message from Lizzy letting Jia know that they’d be getting some money back from their security deposit (yay!), a note from Bakerson’s Group letting her know they’d removed twelve dollars from her final paycheck for the box she forgot to return (shit!), and a formal-looking message from a fancy legal name which had to be fake. Jia deleted it along with the other spam. That was it. No job offers. No possibilities.

She had three weeks left in her deal with her mother. Florida was looking more and more like an inevitability. Jia closedher eyes and tried to mentally push back the darkness that crept up on her. Okay, enough wallowing, she thought to herself. Get to work.

Jia spent the next ten minutes looking at job postings online. But her attention span kept shrinking the more she tried. Her shoulders felt heavy with discouragement. Every job opening seemed to be looking for the same person: organized, strong attention to detail, self-starter. But these weren’t words that people ever used to describe Jia. Overwhelmed, she closed out of the search. Maybe she could find an Etsy witch to help direct her to the right opportunity. At this point, that could very well be her only hope.

8

By the time Henry had unpacked the kitchen and the main bedroom, his granddad had fallen asleep on his lounger, the sun was setting, and the community office was closed. He hated parking the rental car here overnight without a permit, but hopefully if anyone asked, they’d give them a pass, since they were just moving in.

Henry spent the rest of the night checking work emails and had finally gone to sleep himself around ten. The night had been so quiet, all lights were out up and down the street before the sun even seemed to set. When he’d looked out his window at night, only one light from the house across the way was on. Every other house on the block was darkened other than front-porch lights.

He slept hard. Harder than he’d slept in as long as he could remember.

He was up early, but his grandfather was already sitting at the kitchen table, mug in hand.

Henry looked at the counter to find a jar of Folgers instant coffee out, the Keurig he’d bought as his first housewarming gift left untouched. He didn’t want his granddad heating up water in a kettle next to any kind of open flame. He made a mental note to look into changing out the stove from gas to electric, despite it looking pretty new.