Page 29 of See You at the Sunset

“Yes, we can do that. I’ll show you how,” Jia answered.

“Great, here’s my business card. You can email me right there.” Matthew pointed to the email address.

“Sure thing, hon. Will do,” Gladys said.

“Okay, well, I’m taking off. See you later, Gladys,” Jia said. “Bye, Matthew,” she added.

“Jia, hold up, I’ll walk out with you. Thanks for your time, Gladys,” Matthew said.

“You bet,” she said.

Matthew held the door open as Jia walked through.

It wasn’t the most unbearable day Jia had encountered, but it was still most definitely hot. Jia took off the hand-knit cardigan she’d found in the community center’s lost and found last week and wrapped it around her waist as she walked toward herhome. The jumpsuit she was wearing was technically a pajama onesie, but she’d cut the legs down to shorts and the sleeves off to make a cute romper with little flowers on it. At this rate, by the time she actually went to pick up her lost and now-found luggage, she’d be heading back to New York.

Oddly, Jia was finding she didn’t miss her own stuff. Not like she thought she would.

“My car is parked in the lot,” Matthew said. “Need a ride home?”

“Thanks for the offer, but I like walking. I like to be able to walk past everyone’s home, just making sure everyone’s okay, saying hello.”

“Wow. You’ve really made yourself at home here in short order. Seems you’re taking care of everyone,” he said.

“No, hardly. They’re the ones that take care of me. This has been a soft place for me to land for a little bit.” She didn’t know why she was admitting this to him. But it was all true.

“That’s great,” he said. “Okay, well...” Matthew stood by his car fiddling with his keys. It was the first time she’d seen him seem uncertain about anything. “Hey, do you think you would wanna grab a drink or dinner sometime?”

Jia very much liked the sound of that. She’d barely stepped out of the neighborhood the entire time she’d been here other than to pick up coffee. “Oh, uh, yeah, sure. That sounds fun.”

“How about tonight? Is it too short notice?” he asked.

“Oh, you mean with my big social plans here at The Sunset?” She smiled and he laughed. “Tonight works. But can we make it after seven?” Jia liked to watch the sunset around seven, and she hated to miss it even one night.

“Eight o’clock?” Matthew suggested.

“Sounds perfect. See you then,” Jia said.

The Del Rey was a new tapas restaurant bar in the Villa Royale hotel. With Palm Springs’s quickly changing landscape, new bars, renovated hotels, and swarms of visitors looking for the hottest thing, it was sometimes hard to determine which would stick. But Jia had heard good things about this place from the locals around town. And that made her have some hope. So when Matthew suggested they meet there, she was in. It was time to let the old Jia out, wherever the night would take her.

Jia opened Mimi’s guest closet and rummaged through the treasures. She’d already set aside two bins full of vintage clothes she knew would get a lot of interest when she was ready to plan the sale. That was next on her list of things to do.

Mimi helped her pick out the vintage Chanel lime-green plaid sleeveless minidress that she paired with pink kitten heels her grandma had stored away in the back of the closet as they were nowmuch too highfor her to wear anymore. This might have been too bright a combo even for Jia back in New York. But in Palm Springs, she could pull it off. Jia wore her long thick black hair in heatless curls. Though, it would be up in a top knot before she finished her first drink, guaranteed.

They labeled the outfitgeek chic, high-fived each other for a job well done, and sent Jia off in an Uber that her grandmother insisted on getting for her instead of letting a complete stranger come and pick her up from their home. Mimi also slipped her two twenty-dollar bills in case Matthew ended up being a cad and not paying for their date. She really thought of everything.

Jia wanted to do something to thank Mimi for being so generous to her both in opportunity and financially. She tried not to be a burden, not to cost Mimi much, while she stayed here. But Mimi insisted on spoiling her whenever she could. Jiadecided that tomorrow, she’d offer to color her grandmother’s grays. It was overdue and something Jia could help Mimi cross off her to-do list.

Matthew was in a white linen button-down with jeans and leather flip-flops. His hair was mussed, and the whole vibe wasvacation sexy, even though Jia knew he was here on business.

“Still haven’t picked up your luggage, I see,” Matthew said, as he leaned in and gave Jia a kiss on the cheek in greeting.

There was something about the comment and the observation that rubbed Jia the wrong way. It felt... judgmental in a way that she hadn’t felt since she’d left New York and been in the desert. She shrugged it off. “I like shopping my grandmother’s closet. She’s got great style.” Jia smiled and tried to make it a real one.

Truth was Jia wasn’t sure why she hadn’t gone to get her stuff. The airport was close, her stuff right there. Jia had often thought of fashion as her armor, protecting her soft center with a loud and bold exterior. But she now wondered if, in fact, it hadn’t been more a disguise. Or a way to tell people that she knew they made fun of her for being loud and overly enthusiastic and odd. Maybe she dressed up that side of her to seem like she didn’t care.

Dressing in Mimi’s clothes may have started out feeling a bit like a challenge. But she’d come to really love not caring as much about what she wore where or how she wore it. No one else had noticed up until this point. And frankly, Mimi did have fantastic taste in fashion.

Matthew pulled out the chair for Jia, and she took her seat.