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“No.”
“Then…in what way did you mean it?”
How did he mean it? The question was simple, and yet it shook loose a part of his brain that had been buried under a hundred other battling thoughts. He’d meant to make her smile, obviously, as he’d told himself. But why had he wanted to do that? Why did he honestly think her smile should be lumped in with the other great wonders of the world?
He cleared his throat, very unsure of himself now. Unsure how to reply, unsure what he was doing here on her front step, unsure what she thought of him being here on her front step. He tried to gather clues from her expression. Stress lines creased her face, and yet this told him nothing except that she was feeling as awkward in this moment as he was.
“I just meant…I never meant to make you feel uncomfortable.”
“That’s what you didn’t mean. I’m asking what you did mean.”
His pulse was unsteady. “Well…what did you want me to mean?”
“Me?” Her head jerked back as if he’d tossed a ball and not a question. “I, uh…What did you want me to want you to mean?”
“What did you want me to want you to want me to mean?”
“No, what did you want me to—”
“You sound excited, Devra. Are you experiencing a heightened state of arousal right now?”
The interruption had come from a charming if somewhat squeaky voice.
Devra’s face went bright red. “No! What? Squally, I’m not—Why would you think that?”
“Analyzing. Your voice is two octaves higher than usual. Which indicates a heightened state of—”
“Turn off autoreplies and stand by for further instructions!”
Bradley peeked over Devra’s shoulder but couldn’t see the source of the voice. “Is that her? The robot?”
“It isn’t a robot because it doesn’t possess actuators,” Devra clarified, “meaning it can’t perform physical actions. And it isn’t a her. It’s an it.”
“Hmm. Sure sounds like a she to me. Could I meet it?”
“I…” Devra glanced behind her, and Bradley felt more than saw the door close an inch, her hesitation palpable.
He was certain she was going to say no. He considered stepping into her doorway before she could say so, but as much as he wanted to see inside this woman’s home, he wanted to be invited in more.
So he stood. And he waited.
“I…um. My place is kind of a mess.”
“I still have a dozen boxes left to unpack. I’m comfortable with messy.”
“I…” Shutting her eyes, she rubbed her temples, her decision appearing to be much more complicated than it seemed to Bradley—she either wanted him to come in or she didn’t. At last, she dropped her hands. “I guess. Fine.” She sounded resigned more than anything.
He, on the other hand, was soaring. Devra stepped aside, and he floated in.
The house wasn’t messy, but it was cluttered. The kitchen table area and even part of her living room was stretched with a never-ending desk that held more computer monitors than he had pillows on his bed. Textbooks and documents were piled everywhere, typical home essentials such as end tables and lamps and personalized decor notably absent. It looked less like a home and more like a high-tech computer lab.
“Squally, enter conversation mode. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
Bradley turned to the little cloud that sat perched on the shelf.
“Squally, meet Bradley. Bradley, Squally.”
“Nice to meet you, Bradley.” The cloud managed to give him the warmest smile despite its deceptively basic facial features. “Any friend of Devra’s is a friend of mine.”
