“Sorry,” she said breathlessly, wiping her eyes. “Sorry, it’s just… for so long I thought that was completely the other way around.”
Now, Laura looked incredulous. “Definitely not. I’ve met automated mops with better personalities than that guy.”
Ophelia began to laugh again, and suddenly she was crying. She wiped frantically at her tears. “Sorry. God, I don’t know what’s come over me.”
“It’s all good,” Laura said, reaching across the table to pat Ophelia’s arm. “Let it out.”
“Everyone is staring at us,” Ophelia said, looking down in shame.
“Let them.” Laura shrugged. “If they can’t mind their own business, that’s their problem.”
Sam stroked his thumb over Ophelia’s thigh in silent agreement. She squeezed his hand.
“He was cheating on me,” Ophelia blurted. “I don’t know how long, but…” She shuddered, blinking out another tear.
“I’m so sorry,” Laura said, pressing a hand to her throat. “I thought you knew. Like—I thought you guys had an arrangement. There are a lot of people in open relationships at the office. To be honest, it’s all kind of incestuous between the staff in the coding lab.”
Ophelia looked floored. He should have been the one to tell her, but… he hadn’t wanted to be the one to break her heart.
“So, they’re all…”
“Hooking up with each other?” Laura sighed and slumped back in her seat. “Pretty much. Each other and sometimes the bots, when they think no one is watching. Sometimes both at once. It’s… a really weird place. I’ve been trying to find another job for months, but no one can match Automata for pay.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks. “God, I can’t believe you didn’t know. I feel like such an asshole. I would have told you sooner, I swear.”
“It’s okay,” Ophelia said. “I believe you.”
The infernal waitress returned, and the women scrambled to come up with their orders. He ordered himself a lobster bisque to maintain the illusion of humanity. Laura side-eyed him, a little too shrewd for his liking.
He’d taken a chance by contacting her, but Ophelia needed support. He would take worse odds to give her what she needed.
Their food came, and Laura steered the conversation toward work, taking a vested interest in Ophelia’s hesitant explanations of her role at Blue Fairy. He could see the instant her shell finally cracked. She leaned across the table and waved her arms as shespoke, and Laura was more than capable of keeping up with the genetics terminology.
When the check came, he took it off the table, risking Laura’s suspicion. He had no intention of letting either woman pay. Why should he, when he could treat them courtesy of Logan’s card? He tapped the stolen holotab against the waitress’s device, and there was an affirmative chime as the money was delivered.
Both Ophelia and Laura were giving him an incredulous look.
“Was everything okay?” the waitress asked.
“It was satisfactory,” he said.
She laughed, reaching for his arm on the table. He slid it away a moment before she would have made contact. Remembering Ophelia’s chastisement, he bit back on the urge to glare.
“Here,” the waitress said, passing him a napkin from her apron. “In case you need it.” She gave a little wave and walked away.
“Wait,” Laura said, leaning in with a frown. “She didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?” Ophelia asked.
Sam looked down at the napkin, inked with a phone number and the name “Sally”.
“What a jerk,” Laura muttered. “It couldn’t be any more obvious that you’re together.”
Ophelia flushed at that, tittering a nervous laugh. “Oh, I-I don’t know about that.”
He folded the sullied napkin inside out and used it to dab at a bit of sauce on Ophelia’s chin.
She made a strangled sound, tugging his hand away. “I’ve got it,” she said, fumbling with her own napkin.
“You do not have to do everything by yourself just because you’re capable of it,” he whispered.
