Page 22 of See You at the Sunset

“I’m not following you,” he replied.

“Do you even know where you’re going?”

“Yes, back to my grandfather’s house.” He wondered if he should take a detour so that she wouldn’t know where he lived. He wasn’t sure she was entirely safe.

When they got to the corner, she turned left, just as Henry did.

“I know jujitsu,” she said.

“I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“That’s what they all say.”

Henry threw his hands up in the air in frustration. If she was scared of him, why was she even talking to him? That didn’t feel like a good form of self-preservation. Plus, they’d seen each other fully naked. Seemed she’d trusted him just fine the other night.

“I choose the bear,” she suddenly shouted as he’d moved up behind her to pass her.

“Uh...”

A woman in a rocking chair in her screened-in porch craned her neck. “Sweetie, you okay?” she called.

“I’m fine. Thanks for checking, Myrtle.”

“Cute outfit,” Myrtle called back. “The lipstick suits you.”

“Thanks, it’s Mimi’s,” Gladys replied.

“Why are you wearing Mimi’s clothes?”

“Because the airline lost my luggage, and I haven’t heard from them yet.”

Well, that explained the wacky outfit. What was the explanation for the wacky personality?

Henry stepped off the sidewalk and picked up the pace as he crossed the street. He got to his granddad’s house ahead of her, but she was still in sight. Henry stopped, contemplating whether to give away that this was his destination. She was odd, but harmless, right?

She stopped at the house directly across the street, seemingly contemplating the same thing. She squinted her eyes at him and stared. They were in a standoff.

Who would move first?

“Do you live here?” he said. Henry felt a drip of sweat make its way down his back. He wouldn’t last out here in the heat much longer.

“None of your business,” she replied, wiping the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand. She looked at the house and then back at him and then up at the sky. She let out a frustrated growl. “It’s too hot for this,” she muttered. “Just so you know, we have a security system,” she yelled as she walked through the small fairy gate and into the well-kept house across the street from Henry’s granddad’s new home.

Henry shook his head and did the same.

9

Jia scanned the shelves looking for everything she’d need for the soiree this afternoon.

They were having a happy hour at three o’clock.

Honestly, as many late nights as she’d had in New York, there was something about how everything happened earlier out here that made her feel so relaxed. Sure, why not a happy hour at three? Then they could have dinner by five. Grandma would be in her pajamas by six, and Jia would face her favorite time of day, seven o’clock, just as the desert sun started to set over the mountains. The entire neighborhood tucked in, and it was just her outside staring at the sky as it changed colors from day to night.

She grabbed the bottle she was looking for, and a second one just in case.

“Malibu rum. Now I know you’re definitely here on vacation,” the deep voice said behind her.

She turned around to find the very handsome guy fromthe airport baggage claim, Matthew, there at the small grocery store.