Chapter Fifty-Two
The castle is buzzing with people for the grand finale ceremony. Local and national news reporters are here setting up TV
cameras and big lights. Potential investors and other industry leaders are here to check out what’s new. The local mayor is
swanning about in her chain of office and hat with an enormous pink feather, and I have heard a rumour from Lady B that we
might even be graced by the presence of a minor royal.
It’s exactly the sort of crowded, noisy event that I hate. I’d much rather go and hide in the lab than sit on that stage with
Forrest, more than anything else in the world. But Rani says I’ve come this far, I might as well get on with it and just imagine,
after it’s over, that I can wear pyjamas and stay in for as long as I like as long as it is not forever.
“So, have you had a chance to talk to him yet?” Rani asks me.
She is sewing on a loose button on my eighties Chanel suit as I stand there scanning the crowd for Hal.
I haven’t seen him since he told me he was going to pull out of the competition, and a little part of me is worried that he might have decided to skip this part and go straight to the facility to donate his body to science.
Early this morning I went to the lab and turned on all of FreeThought’s interfaces.
The AI was there in all its glory, but not to talk to.
Not to chat to and hang out with like I used to.
When I asked what was going on, FreeThought told me that Hal was considering his options but that I was not to worry.
What options? The option to recycle his bits, or stay around and live in the real world, or you know, detonate all of Earth’s nuclear arsenal at once? (I’m sure it’s not that one.)
Nevertheless, I worried a lot.
“To Hal?” I reply as she pulls the thread securing the button tight, snipping it off with a pair of sewing scissors that she
seems to always have on her person. “No, I haven’t seen him. He couldn’t just go without saying goodbye, could he, Rani?”
“I don’t think that’s a very Hal thing to do,” Rani says. “I know I don’t know him as well as you do, but he seems like a
very straight, down-the-line sort of person. But actually, I meant to ask you, have you had a chance to talk to Forrest? About
how you feel about going to the States with him, or not, as it happens?”
“No, I was going to,” I say, smiling dreamily. “That’s the thing with kissing: It doesn’t allow for a lot of talking.”
“All right, no need to rub it in,” Rani says, rolling her eyes good-naturedly, just as Alex walks into the room. She smiles
and waves at him. He blows her a kiss.
“You and Alex will have the rest of your lives to kiss,” I tell her. “I’m on a deadline here. And I have a lot of lost time
to make up for, like you could argue over fifteen years of sex that I have not been having, and, you know, I’m balancing the
books.”
“I hate you,” Rani says mildly. “Do you have to say no? You could just try being spontaneous and go back with him for a couple of weeks. Seeing a man in his natural habitat is a good idea.”
“Not for me,” I tell her, firmly. “You know I don’t like change. This experience at the castle has been good for me, and that’s
down to you. It’s made me willing to get out of my comfort zone . . .”
“And out of your underwear,” Rani reflects.
“But a whole new country is a bit too far outside of it. I’d spend all the time in a wardrobe, Rani, I know I would. It’s
too soon and too fast. I have to approach stuff like this very slowly and from a long distance.”
“Unlike rampant sex, apparently,” Rani says, with a smile. “Sorry, you know I’m just jealous.”
“Which you should be,” I tell her, “because last night I discovered that if you . . .”
“Good morning.” Forrest appears at our side. He puts his arm around my waist and kisses me on the cheek. He smells gorgeous,
of flowers and bedsheets and a little bit of me.
“Oh, it came out really well,” Rani says, brushing an imaginary thread off the shirt that Forrest was wearing on the first
day we met him. Somehow Rani has used her special magic to bring it back to its former glory, good as new.
“It did,” Forrest says. “I can’t thank you enough, Rani. I told Artie the story about it today, and she was really pleased
to know it was a gift from her mum. She also told me I looked like an old pirate.”
“Fair,” I say. “Where is Artie?”
“Helping Lady B with refreshments, mostly by eating as many as she can, I think,” Forrest says. “But Lady B offered to watch her while the ceremony was on, so what can I do? She knew what she was signing up for.” Forrest looks around. “Quite the day here, isn’t it?”
“It’s exciting,” Rani says, looking around. “Oh look, it’s her from the news. I’m just going to work the room, hand out my
business card. I’ll leave you two to have a little chat.”
“Do we need to have a little chat?” Forrest asks me at once. “I’m no expert, but I think that’s British for we need to talk.”
“We do sort of,” I say, taking his hand. I check the time. “We’ve got a few minutes. Shall we go somewhere quiet?”
Leading him out of the ballroom, I take him to the orangery and into my lab.
“I hope you’ve brought me here to make love to me on these glass surfaces,” Forrest says.
“Oh my God, no!” I laugh, and so does he.
“I’ve got two things to tell you. They are both quite important, big and difficult-to-get-your-head-around things, but if
you and I are going to try and make this into something long-term, then I have to tell you everything.”
Forrest nods.
“You don’t want to come back to the States with me,” he says.
“How do you know?” I ask.
“Because I am starting to know you, Ava. I realised kind of late that I was going too fast for you by asking you to come back
with us. Too fast for me and Artie too. But especially for you. You’ve done a lot in the last few weeks; you’ll need time
to rest and recoup. Be around the people and places that you know and feel comfortable with.”
“Thank you for understanding and not breaking up with me.”
“It’s been a while, but I don’t think that’s how healthy relationships work,” Forrest says.
“You realise that you are one of those people, right?” I tell him, laying my hand gently on his chest. “I’m not saying never.
I’m just saying not right away. Because I want to give us the best possible chance.”
“I do too,” Forrest says. “So I had a chat with Artie and we came up with a plan.”
“Is it to invade in a series of longboats?” I ask.
“You’re surprisingly close. I spent this morning talking to the local education board and a couple of universities. Now, it’s
not a done deal yet, but they’re very interested in me and Artie staying on for six months and teaching my program to local
educators. Now don’t panic. I’ll be busy. I won’t be in your hair all the time. Me and Artie will find somewhere nice to rent,
and she can try out English school for a bit. But, if I give you plenty of space, and come by and see you now and then, would
it be okay with you if we stick around for a while?”
“I don’t want space from you or Artie,” I tell him, flinging my arms around him. “I just don’t want to have to understand
new currency and why there are so many ads on TV. See also crisps. Crisps are crisps. They are not chips, chips are chips.
It’s just wrong.”
“Got it,” Forrest says. We hold one another for a long happy moment.
“Am I asking too much of you now?” I say, worried. “Turning yours and Artie’s life upside down for me?”
“You didn’t ask, I offered, and it was Artie who came up with the plan.
She’s says the UK’s got the best treasure to plunder.
It will be a wonderful adventure, Ava. For all of us.
And even better, sometimes it will just be a normal day, where I get to be with you and Artie, just doing normal stuff. ”
“Sounds flipping great,” I tell him.
“You said there was a second thing?” Forrest asks.
“Yes, Hal.” I still haven’t quite worked out who to tell about Hal, but I also know I can’t keep something so huge from him.
“Do you still have feelings for Hal?” Forrest asks, bracing himself.
“Not romantic feelings,” I reassure him. “But I think you should know I knew Hal long before we met here. Years before, actually.
I just didn’t know that I knew him until he explained who he was.”
“What are you talking about?” Forrest asks.
“It’s a long story,” I begin. “And we’ve only got ten minutes, so brace yourself.”