Page 62 of See You at the Sunset

Henry rushed to his laptop set up on the kitchen table and logged in. A message had been forwarded to him from his boss.

Subject: FW: What do I do with this?

It was from none other than Edison Wainwright, Jia’s old boss.

Wainwright had been served papers. He was being sued for unlawful termination and a hostile work environment. The company was included in the lawsuit.

“Okay, I’m reviewing it all now. I’ll get back to you when I know more. I’m on it,” he told his boss.

“I don’t need you bothering me with this over the weekend. Just take care of it, Henry. Jesus fucking Christ.” And with that, he’d hung up. Missing were the effusiveWell dones. Nosonat the end. Just an order to get it done.

Henry looked at the clock: 3:36. Dennis would be home any minute. And it was after close of business out in New York on a Friday.

The Henry of a couple weeks ago would have canceled all plans and immediately pored over every word of the documentation and then gone back to review everything in the employee files and his own personal Cover Your Ass file. He’d have answers for any question lobbed his way and a strategy set for how to move forward, taking no prisoners, and would be prepared to update his boss first thing Monday morning. He would have gone over it all again and again, singularly focused on it the entire weekend.

But Henry already knew what he’d find deeper in the lawsuit and in the files. He’d looked them over before, hadn’t he? He had turned a blind eye to things that had been brought up and subsequently swept under the rug. And though he was confident he could figure out how to keep the company protected and get the lawsuit taken care of, he felt an unfamiliar turning in his stomach about it.

Dennis had bragged to everyone at The Sunset about his grandson the lawyer.

Mimi had patted him on the back time every time she saw him, greeting him like he was her favorite person.

Jia trusted him and looked at him like he was worth falling for. And he had fallen too, as much as he tried to deny it. Shit, and she had come to ask him for help today, to offer support to good people who needed and deserved it, and he’d refused.

There were people here who believed in him. Not like his boss did, to just get something taken care of. The people here believed he’d do the right thing.

He looked back at the email chain from his boss, from Edison Wainwright, from the law offices of Harris, Mars, and Leighton. He wasn’t surprised by what he saw there. He just didn’t know what to do. Was this the kind of lawyer Henry had worked his ass off to become? He closed his eyes, releasing a deep breath.

Henry wasn’t so sure if he would do the right thing.

But he didn’t want to think about this now. He didn’thaveto think about this now. He’d tackle it tomorrow.

Tonight, he was going to focus on Jia and making their date an amazing one. Because Jia deserved it. And in the back of his mind, Henry knew, circumstances being as they were, with the world working against them, that this could very well be their only date.

Henry took one last look at the email, took one closer look at the names of those on the claim, Stephanie Novak, Taylor Ann Graff, and Jia Chung. He wouldn’t tell anyone at Bakerson’s this—he wasn’t bound to disclose this feeling. But damn if he wasn’t proud seeing Jia’s name there on the documentation. He’d hoped it would be.

Henry closed his laptop and went to change for his date. They had one more night and he was gonna make the most of it.

“Watching a man cook me dinner is possibly the sexiest thing ever,” Jia said. She came up behind Henry and peeked around him to see what he was working on.

Henry liked cooking. Following recipes with clear directions and an immediate payoff satisfied his brain.

Jia’s arms wrapped around Henry’s waist, and he turned to face her. She was affectionate in ways he usually found uncomfortable. But with Jia, it felt nice. He took a quick glance at the timer on the pasta. He had seven minutes. The sauce he was putting together could wait a few. He was going to take advantage of every opportunity tonight to be with Jia in every way.

He bent and wrapped his own arms under her ass and lifted her up to sit on the kitchen island. “This is brand-new. Mimi always wanted an island,” Jia said. The words came out breathy and made Henry feel feral.

“Well then, we’ve got to christen it, don’t you think?”

Jia nodded feverishly. Henry laughed. “Oh, and, Jia? No more talk about Mimi. Or Dennis. Or Gladys or Betty or Gordon, for that matter. Let’s let the young folks have some fun tonight, okay?”

Jia pouted. “But what about Ernie? He planted new rosebushes and got—”

Henry crashed his lips against hers, swallowing whatever Jia was about to say about Ernie’s rosebushes. She smiled against his mouth and pressed herself harder against him.

Henry pulled back for one sec to check the timer.

“I’m sorry, am I not holding your attention, sir?” she said playfully.

“The pasta,” he explained.