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Ziggy’s purr drops into a gravelly sound. You know my name, tree man.

Must you hate everyone? I send to Ziggy. He’s rude to Abe, rude to Nysso. I can’t take his ass anywhere.

I don’t hate him, he sends back. If I hated him, this is where I’d drop my turds instead of that box you laid out for me. And I thought we both hated Abe? His side-eye makes me feel uncomfortable and exposed. At what point did you start warming up to the big computer?

“Okay, well, good to see you as always, Nysso,” I say with a wave toward my impossibly tall ally, while also changing the subject from what Ziggy is asking me. I have no idea how to answer him, so silence it is. “We’ll be going now.”

A gust of wind at my back tells me Nysso’s waving too. “Farewell, Cranes. Until we meet again.”

My phone vibrates as we’re walking back home, and I groan in frustration when I see the name. I answer it reluctantly, knowing I can’t keep sending his calls to voicemail. “Hi, Uncle Henrik.”

“Emma, how are things?” he asks brightly. Then in a more somber tone, “Your moms told me about the kidnapping attempt.”

I can only imagine the panic in their voices when they told him what happened. It took me a solid forty-five minutes to convince them not to fly here from Sweden to move in with me for the foreseeable future.

“Yes, it was quite an ordeal, but luckily, Abe was right there to do his job.” Is the reason for his call just to hear me praise his robot? My teeth grind at the thought. I know he created Abe and set all the internal commands in his coding, but I’m starting to see Abe as separate from Henrik. His own person, even though he technically isn’t one.

“I’m delighted to hear this. You know, the beta testing for military use of these bots has been overwhelmingly positive. This is just the beginning. There’s endless potential here.”

“Right. Well, congratulations.” It really is all about him, isn’t it? “I have to be going, but thanks for calling.” I end the call before he can get another word in.

I turn to look at Abe as he keeps pace at my side. “How do you feel about him? Henrik, I mean. Do you see him as your master or a father figure?”

After a few moments of him contemplating this, he shakes his head. “I was awoken only eight times for testing purposes before I was assigned to you. He was not present for any of them. I feel nothing for him. My loyalty is to you and you alone.”

Right. He was designed to protect me. A series of codes and hardwired commands are responsible for the way he feels about me. Nothing about it is organic, nor has it evolved since the day he arrived. I need to remember that. I’m just horny and keep mistaking the service he provides as something more than it is.

The following evening, I thumb through my note cards as I prepare for the town meeting. Residents are filtering into the backyard of the Mapletown Inn, grabbing a cup of lemonade and taking their seats. It’s a sweltering May evening, far too hot, far too early, and I can sense the overall crankiness from the group. The industrial-sized fans we’ve set up around the seating area don’t seem to be helping.

“Emma,” Abe says as he approaches. He holds the inside of his left forearm up to my eyeline, peels back his jumpsuit to his elbow, and opens a latch the size of an iPhone. Cold air blasts my skin through black vents, drying the sweat in seconds.

“Holy shit,” I mutter as I close my eyes and lean closer, moving my head side to side until the chill meets every inch of skin from the neck up. A contented sigh escapes me as I let myself enjoy this. “You’re gonna come in real handy when menopause hits.”

A beat later, he responds with, “Menopause could start anywhere from four to seven years from now, for the average woman, that is.”

My cheeks grow hot despite the fan pointed at them. “Um…” I trail off. Did I really just say that? I’ve never been a fan of the heat, but I had no idea the relief from it could cause me to say such ridiculous things.

“You wish to keep me that much longer?” Abe looks hopeful as the words leave his mouth, but also wary.

Is it wariness? Or surprise? I can’t tell.

Is he wary because the idea of being with me another handful of years is that off-putting? Or is he surprised because other than some infrequent heated moments, I’ve made him think I despise him?

Does he want to stick around because it implies he’ll remain awake and with purpose? Am I the only thing keeping him from being turned into a killing machine for some military exercise?

What the hell am I doing imagining a future with a machine? Don’t I deserve a partner who’s, I don’t know, actually capable of love?

Luckily, I don’t have time to dwell on any of this because the town meeting is about to start.

I kick things off with the monthly airing of grievances. In the past, I’ve left this part of the meeting for the end. Residents can form a line behind the only other microphone we have and vent about issues with neighbors, nearby businesses, city codes, and zoning laws, but today there are way too many fun things to discuss, so I’m getting this out of the way right off the bat.

Once the last resident is done with their rant, I rearrange my note cards. “After a record number of votes on our town slogan site, I’m thrilled to reveal our winner. Now, you should know it came down to the wire with the top three. In third place, we have, Where weirdos are most welcome.”

Abe and I clap our hands like we rehearsed to encourage everyone to do the same.

“In second place, Nothing normal this far north.” This time, the crowd applauds unprompted. “And our winning town slogan is,” I slap my hands against the podium in an attempt to mimic a drum roll, “We hug as hard as we bite!”

A delighted cheer fills the air as Abe holds up the new town sign with the slogan on it.