Then Hal’s eyes meet mine, and it’s as if he has just heard what I said, even while he was talking to some of the judges. His smile is nothing short of beautiful as he walks towards me. Seeing him so proud and happy makes me happy too, and for the first time in the week I smile back at him. The joy on his face is palpable. That’s real emotion, it has to be because I can feel it in the air between us. And if that’s real, then who’s to say that he can’t love too?
“There will now be a fifteen-minute break before we hear from Ava Green and how to make AI a force for good in the world,” LadyB announces from the stage. “Tea and refreshments are available next door! I recommend the scones, though will someone tell the Americans how to eat them? Jolly good, off you go!”
“You told Rani?” Hal asks happily, as he approaches.
“You can’t even tell,” Rani says, bending closer to peer at Hal’s face. “Like the dude’s got pores. Minimal, great skin, but he’s got pores.”
“You told Rani,” Hal says, with approval. “I knew you would. Rani is your best friend, more like family really. I’m glad, because this a lot and you need someone to confide in. It looks like skin, Rani, because it is. Just like yours.”
“Okay, that’s not freaky at all,” Rani says.
“It’s not, I promise,” Hal says, and I believe him. “I exist to help humans. Not hurt them.”
“Okay, but you do have a...”
“Rani!” I caution her for a second time. “Not now, okay?”
“I have,” Hal tells her. “I have everything any other man has, and it works in the same way.”
Never mind growing himself a body. Hal has achieved what I thought was truly impossible and rendered Rani speechless. I didn’t think it was possible to like him any more, but... Do you know what? I think maybe this could be completely fine after all.
“Are you ready for my presentation?” I ask.
“Just like we practiced,” Hal tells me with a reassuring smile. “I’ll be right with you onstage, and in the audience watching. Now you’ve got ten minutes. Would you like two cups of black coffee, extra hot?”
“Yes, please.” I nod. Hal vanishes to the refreshments room.
“This is a bit of a headfuck, to be honest,” Rani says.
Chapter Twenty
It’s at this exact moment that Forrest arrives with his kids. The room goes from a gentile and mostly middle-aged murmur to being filled with the noise and chaos of thirty-odd fifteen-year-olds, filing into the back of the room, pushing and shoving and egging each other on.
“Can it, you guys!” Forrest tells them jovially. “You don’t want to make me look bad, right?”
To my surprise the kids do calm down, to just your standard level of mayhem. I’m impressed, both that Forrest isn’t scared of any of them and that they actually pay attention to him. I have never gotten over my phobia of teens, not since I was one.
Then I notice someone else pushing her way through the crowd, eager to get to Forrest. A beautiful woman, slender and graceful, with a cascade of brunette curls that tangle down her back, carrying a little girl in her arms, of about six. It has to be Artie, the daughter Forrest told me about on our truce night. When Forrest sees them, his face lights up. He flings his arms open and, scrambling to get down from the woman’s arms, Artie races into her daddy’s all-encompassing hug. Forrest scoops her up and spinsher round and round, before embracing the woman too. His partner, I suppose, the woman who’s helping him raise Artie.
Unexpected emotions flood through me as I watch them. Not for the first time since I put him on my nemesis list, Forrest is making me doubt my opinion of him. But it’s not just that; it’s seeing that look of love and devotion that a father has for his daughter that hits hard. I have never known who my father was, and most of the time I really don’t care to know. My red hair is just like my mum’s and that’s good enough for me. But sometimes, just now and then, I see a bond between a child and their dad, like Forrest has with Artie, and I realise that I lost something long before I ever knew what it was.
Another tick in the pro column for the pros and cons of dating an AI boyfriend that I am currently running in my head.
“Here you are.” Hal hands me a cup of hot black coffee that I down instantly.
“And...” He hands me the second, and I repeat the infusion.
“Thank you.” I smile as I hand him the cup.
“Ava, are we friends again now?” Hal asks.
“Yes,” I say, feeling a rush of relief at the thought. “Yes, Hal. We are friends again now.”
On impulse, I hug him, throwing my arms around his neck. The heat of his body radiates through his shirt, and I can feel the rapid beat of his heart and the curve of muscles in his chest and arms, as after a moment his arms encircle my waist and he hugs me back. Hal holds me in his arms for a long time, and when he steps back there is a look of wonder on his face, an expression I can honestly say that no man has ever looked at me with before.
“Well.” Rani crosses her arms. “I see.”
“Our true first hug,” Hal says, softly leaning forward. He places a kiss as light as a butterfly on my cheek. “Best day ever.”
