“To me!” he says. “I was saying that to me! I’d had second thoughts about wearing it, because who wears a Renaissance-style silk shirt to that kind of event, right? But I wanted to honour Gem. So I wore it. And it was a big mistake. Look, I know I was rude and grumpy, and that was out of order. But I was tellingmyselfthat I was stupid, Ava, not you.”
“Oh,” I say, and then after another second, “Well.”
A familiar queasy feeling, the kind I get when I have completelymisunderstood a situation, is forming in my gut. But Rani was there too, and she heard what I heard. We both had it all wrong.
“The wine was cold,” Forrest says, “my shirt was ruined, and I was really nervous. It never occurred to me that you’d think I was talking to you!”
“A lot of people have called me stupid a lot of times,” I tell him. “It’s a word that brings up most of the difficult times in my life. I react hard to it.”
“I don’t know how anyone could ever call you stupid,” Forrest says. “But I do know that I am really sorry to have caused you that pain.”
He offers me a conciliatory smile, as I continue to frown at him.
“It’s going to take me a minute to change gears,” I say. “It’s hard to explain, but imagine if that had been Megan that had walked into you and accidentally got some fizzy orange on you. Imagine that she heard you call her stupid, and it stayed with her for days, weeks, maybe even forever. And every time she heard those words in her head, she’d feel like a failure all over again. And that casual hurt might mean she never tries. She never goes to Denmark. She never believes she is worth anything. Because if a kid hears that enough times, they start to believe it. I know I did.”
Forrest’s face falls.
“Ava...”
“There you are.” Hal arrives with a plate laden with sandwiches in one hand and an ice bucket containing soda in the other. “How brilliant. This is the perfect spot for lunch. Hello, Forrest. Will you be joining us?”
“I won’t.” Forrest looks from Hal to me. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Hal sets the plate down on the ledge in the wall and smiles at me.
“I cut the crusts off, just how you like them. And I made sure there is no tomato in any of them. I know that squishy cold tomato gives you the ick.”
“Thanks, Hal,” I say, suddenly famished and relieved that Forrest has gone.
“Anything for you, Ava,” he says. “Always. So, will you come out for dinner with me tonight? I found an Italian restaurant that is famous for its generosity with Parmesan.”
I know Hal set out to make himself the perfect man for me, but reader, I think maybe he succeeded.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“You are going out to dinner with the robot?” Rani asks, sitting on the end of my bed as I rifle through the collections of outfits she has supplied me with.
“Yes,” I say, drawing out a mint green ball gown that comes down to my ankles. “You realise you didn’t bring any smart casual clothes, like something I can wear out to dinner that is cool and sexy, and not giving off unemployed royalty vibes.”
“Well, we didn’t have dinner with a robot on the itinerary until now.” Rani thinks for a moment. “Does he eat food?”
“Yes, because he’s not a robot, he’s a...” I try to avoid the word “replicant.”
“Replicant,” Rani says.
“No, he’s a bioengineered miracle,” I say, feeling an interesting urge to defend him. “And he’s kind of cute.”
“You fancy a robot?” Rani muses. “I did not see this coming. And yet, on the other hand, it is very you.”
“Very me to find a tall, muscular, intelligent, square-jawed blond attractive? Sue me.” I laugh. “Have you seen his thighs?”
Getting off the bed, Rani bumps me out of the way with a swing of her hips and dives deeper into the rack of dresses.
“I’m sure there’s a natty little sixties cocktail dress in here... ah-ha!” She pulls out a promising black minidress, shot through with silver thread and finished with a nice cowl neckline. “So, he’s like a sort of high-end sex doll...” Rani muses as she holds the dress up against me. “Yes, this is perfect. Sets off your porcelain skin and makes the most of your long legs. Sorted.” She throws the dress on the bed.
“No, Rani, Hal is not like a sex doll at all.” I go and pick the dress up and stand in front of a long mirror. “Sex dolls are... They don’t have thoughts or feelings and they... Anyway, this is too short. It was made for a shorter person. That skirt will only just about cover my backside.”
“Exactly!” Rani exclaims, before adding, “Though we don’t want Hal to overheat on your first date. Although I am very curious to know how robot sex works.”
