Page 19 of See You at the Sunset

“Granddad, I’m gonna make a quick trip to the community center and the office to get all your passes straightaway. Don’t want to start your time here off on the wrong foot,” he said.

“No rush, Hank. We can do it later.”

“I’m fine just getting it over with now,” he assured him.

“Okay, but when you get back, let’s go do something fun, just you and me. We gotta make up for lost time. I don’t get you for very long this summer, and I want to make the most of the time we’ve got,” his granddad said.

It struck Henry hard, the words. Unlikely meant to have the ominous undertone Henry took away from them, but they still hit like a ton of bricks. He didn’t want to think about one day not having his grandfather around in his life. That would leave him with no one.

“Sounds great. I’ll be right back, and then we can decide what we want to do today. We should plan to hit up the grocery store and stock your fridge, though. And we can restart the meal-kit delivery service you had at the old house.”

His grandfather nodded as he walked to his lounge chair and took a seat. He pointed the remote toward the TV and settled in. He’d be good for a bit.

Henry grabbed his keys and checked the thermostat on his way out. Seventy-six degrees. His granddad had a habit of trying to lower it to sixty-eight. Maybe in other climates, but out here in the desert that would eventually blow the entire HVAC system.

Okay, he’d only be gone thirty minutes, tops. Everything was in order. There were so many things to constantly be worried about. Did his granddad think of any of these things when he was on his own? Would he need help once Henry got him settled and left to go back to New York? Dennis insisted he could take care of himself. And he wasn’t technically sick, at least not enough for palliative care. Henry might look into getting a private nurse for him a couple times a week. Dennis would hate that, though.

“I’ll be back in a few. Call me if you need anything.”

His granddad leveled him with a stare just short of rolling his eyes. Okay, so maybe he was being a little ridiculous. But as far as Henry was concerned, he could be a little overprotective, overbearing even, while he was here in the flesh. So he would be. He smiled at his grandfather, both in apology and appeasement, and walked out, locking the door behind him.

He was immediately met with a wall of intense, dry heat. It took him a second to ensure he wasn’t in fact in any danger. He was tempted to jump in his car, crank the AC, and drive the four blocks down to the community center. It wouldn’t be unheard of. But Henry liked a challenge, as long as he wasn’t unsafe about it. It was still early enough, the sun not at its peak.

He started walking, already feeling the cotton of his chinos stick to the sweat on his legs and begin to weigh him down almost like armor. He replayed the things he needed to do today in his head.

Check in with the office so they knew his grandfather had moved in.

Get a parking pass.

Register himself as an underage visitor.

Going over the things he needed to do helped settle Henry. Focus him.

When he arrived at the community center, there was a group of older residents with white hair gathered around the entrance. Henry stopped and waited as one of them tried to use their key card to let them all in.

“Step aside, Walter. I’ll use mine.”

“Mine works just fine.”

“Well, clearly it doesn’t or we wouldn’t be melting out here in the sun. Move it.”

“The sun isn’t even at its highest point yet, you wuss. If you can’t stand the heat—”

“Get outta the desert,” the group said in unison. The old men laughed and wheezed and slapped each other on the back.

Henry stood wondering if there was an entry doorbell he could ring to have someone open the door for them. He didn’t have a key card for his granddad yet—he added that to his mental checklist—and he didn’t want to be standing out here much longer.

He heard the beep of the lock and the click of the door unlatching.

“See, you old goat? Told you mine works just fine,” the man named Walter said.

The group ahead of him walked in and straight to one of the card tables set up along one side of the room.

There was a large central room and multiple rooms branching off it. Henry saw a small gym inside one of them with some free weights on the floor. He made a mental note to ask if he could use the facilities while he was a registered visitor here.

Another room had a Ping-Pong table and still another had rows of tables with sewing machines on them. And a farther room was filled with bookshelves and leather chairs.

It was all a little dated, yet impressive nonetheless. They hadsomething for everyone. Well, at least those residents that were younger than his granddad.