‘I’ve played footie with him for a few weeks now so I’m used to it,’ Charlie replied and winked at his friend.
The truth was that Charlie had no idea what Vicky was apologising for. He had been dipping in and out of the conversation for much of dinner, uninterested in what either his work colleague or his wife-to-be had to say. The last thing he’d heard was Andrew recalling a client who appeared to be using his voice to satisfy more than just her mentoring needs.
‘None of this matters anyway, as it’ll be AI which has to deal with these freaks before long,’ continued Andrew. ‘The rise of machine learning means we’ll be replaced within the next couple of years by robo-advisers and chatbots in the same way bookkeepers, estate agents, couriers and car salesmen were.’
Charlie nodded his agreement and glanced at Vicky’s cousin Alix. He caught her staring at him and she looked away quickly.
Soon after he’d agreed to a double date with Alix, Vicky arranged dinner for the four of them at a restaurant. Charlie was finely attuned to the body language of others and specifically micro-expressions which were often hard to fake. The way Alix held his gaze with her rich, chocolatey eyes or tilted her head as he spoke were signs of her attraction to him.
She might have ticked every box if he had still been the old Charlie. But back then, he lacked the backbone to have ever asked her out. Now, his confidence wasn’t a problem, it was ambivalence. He no longer had ‘a type’ because he felt no attraction to anyone. However, for the purpose of the double date, he went through the motions of paying her attention, showing interest in what she had to say and asking about her life. Being involved with someone wouldn’t hurt in his pursuit of the appearance of normality.
‘Andrew tells me that you’ve just moved into a new place in Salford?’ said Vicky. ‘Alix has a flat only a few minutes away from you.’
‘I’m renting a room in a house with a couple of lads from the IT department,’ he replied. ‘So far so good.’
‘Have you been in Manchester long?’ asked Alix.
Charlie relied upon the well-rehearsed story he and Karczewski had concocted that he’d been born to armed services parents on a military base in Aldershot, and for much of his childhood, the family had frequently moved around Europe.
‘That must have been tough when you were little, leaving your friends,’ Alix said, with genuine sympathy.
‘It wasn’t always easy,’ he admitted. ‘Just as I got used to one place, we were off to somewhere else. But you adapt quickly when you don’t know any different.’
‘Where are your family now?’
‘Retired from the forces and living in Australia. They emigrated a few years back.’
‘Didn’t you want to go with them?’
He pointed to his pale arms. ‘With my skin tone? I’d be burned to a crisp within an hour.’
‘Alix, tell Charlie about your job,’ encouraged Vicky. Her inflection suggested Charlie might be impressed.
‘I work in a nursery,’ she said, almost shyly. ‘It’s not that exciting.’
‘She’s great with kids,’ added Vicky. ‘You should see her; she has a natural way about her. Very maternal.’
‘Babe, chill,’ Andrew muttered and Vicky side-eyed him.
‘I’m just pointing out that my friend is a very nurturing woman.’ She turned quickly to Charlie. ‘What about you, Charlie? Do you want kids?’
‘Not tonight, no,’ he joked.
‘But eventually?’
Again, he returned to the script. ‘If I met the right person, then yes, it’s something we’d discuss.’
‘Have you done the Match Your DNA test?’ Vicky continued. Alix’s eyes bored into him.
‘No, I haven’t,’ he lied. ‘I prefer to let things develop organically, rather than chemically. But it’s completely up to the individual, isn’t it? How about you, Alix? Have you taken it?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted, ‘But my Match is an eighty-eight-year-old great-grandfather in Central Pakistan.’
When Andrew let out a laugh, Vicky nudged his ribs with her elbow.
‘It’s okay,’ Alix continued. ‘I can see the funny side of it too; the one person I’m supposedly biologically made for is pushing ninety. We have one another’s contact details but neither of us got in touch.’
‘You never know, Alix, he could be a millionaire at death’s door looking to leave all his money to a beautiful young bride,’ teased Andrew.
