“I’m sorry about your wife.”

He shrugs. “It was eight years ago.” His eyes drift toward a boat, a thirty-foot sloop standing on the slipway below his house. There’s a name painted on its prow. MAGGIE. “You don’t forget, but you do come to terms with it, eventually.”

You don’t say anything. You suspect he’s thinking the same thing you are. Tim never came to terms with it.

You realize something else. You feel strangely comfortable around this man, almost as if you’re resuming a conversation you started a long time ago.

   “Did I…Did I know you well?” you ask bluntly. “Before, I mean?”

Again you get the sense that Charles Carter weighs his words carefully before answering.

“After your husband bought the land here and built his own house, he wanted to get rid of all these other properties just as soon as our leases expired, to increase his privacy. Naturally, some of us weren’t too happy about that. Things got a little heated…It was you who persuaded him to let us stay. Beaches shouldn’t be private, you said.” He nods at the building behind you. “It was too late for Sally and Joe’s diner. But the rest of us were grateful to you. It’s a small community here, but we treasure it.”

“I’m glad I could help.” Once again, you feel like an imposter using that I, taking credit for something your former self did.

“Well, if there’s ever anything I can do in return.” He pauses. “Even if you just want to talk.” Again he gives you an appraising look.

There’s a shout from the beach. “Abbie! Abbie!”

It’s Tim, gesturing up at you from the shoreline. “Abbie, stay there!” he calls. “I’ll come up.”

“I’d better go.” Charles Carter nods at you. “Good night.”

Tim runs along the boardwalk. “Abbie,” he says breathlessly. “Thank God. I thought—” He throws an anguished glance at the ocean.

He thought you were going to walk into the sea, you realize. Having told you last night that it could destroy your fragile electronics, he was scared you might have come down here in despair to let it do just that.

Yet, strangely, it never even crossed your mind. Because no mother, surely, could abandon her child like that.

Charles Carter has walked off without speaking to Tim. Tim casts a hostile glance after him but says only, “Come on. Let’s get you back.”

   “Tim, I know about Sian,” you say miserably. “I saw you together.”

“Yes, I realized,” he says quietly. “I saw you were gone when I went back to my room. We’ll talk about it back at the house.”

26

   Sian’s in the kitchen, dressed and drinking coffee. She looks at you, but it’s Tim she speaks to. “You found her, then.”

“Yes. Go back to bed,” Tim says curtly.

“Wait…” you say. “Tim, I need to know…Is Sian your girlfriend?”

Sian looks at Tim expectantly, and you realize she wants to hear the answer to this, too.

“No,” Tim says after a moment. “She’s someone I had sex with, that’s all.”

You note that had.

“Thanks, Tim,” Sian says sarcastically. “Nicely done.”

“Abbie’s upset,” he says tersely. “Right now, that’s my priority.”

“Abbie’s upset?” she says incredulously. “The robot’s upset?”

“She’s my wife,” he snarls.

Sian must know the warning signs by now, but she doesn’t back off. “So if she’s your wife, what am I, exactly?”

“I could give you a word,” he says curtly. “But you might not like it. Why don’t you go upstairs and pack?”

   She stares at him. “Are you firing me?”

“Restructuring. Your services are no longer required.”

“Because I slept with you?”

“No,” he says calmly. “Because Abbie can take over your duties with Danny.” He turns to you. “If that’s acceptable to you, Abbie.”

“You cannot fire someone just because you slept with them,” Sian snaps, at the same time as you say, “Tim, wait a minute. We need to think what’s best for Danny here.”

“There’ll be a generous payoff,” he tells Sian. “I suggest you go and think about just how generous you’d like that to be.”

She doesn’t reply. You can almost see the numbers turning in her brain.

Turning back to you, he says in a quieter tone, “What do you mean, about Danny?”

“I can’t replace her. Not yet, anyway. I know some of what she knows about Danny’s therapy, but not nearly enough. She should stay. At least for the time being.” You hate saying it, but you really have no choice.

Tim nods. “All right. Sian, you’ve got two more weeks, for which you’ll also be well recompensed. And now I suggest we all go back to bed.”

27

   “The point is, we can’t go on like this,” Mike Austin says tentatively. “Scott Robotics is under siege. Reporters have been harassing our employees. And John Renton’s asked for an urgent meeting.”

It’s next morning. There are five of you sitting around the beach house’s big outdoor table: Mike, Tim, a man called Elijah who’s their chief financial officer, and Katrina Gooding, their PR consultant. Tim’s insisted you join them—“Abbie has as much right to be part of this as anyone”—but the truth is, you have nothing to contribute and the debate simply goes back and forth around you.

You still haven’t had a chance to talk to Tim about Sian. You thought maybe he’d come to your room last night to explain, even apologize, but it’s almost as if he regards the matter as closed now.

Compared with that, the problems at his company seem unimportant.

“What does Renton want?” Tim asks.

“We don’t know exactly,” Mike answers. “But it’s a fair bet he’s getting anxious about the return on his thirty million. We haven’t exactly carried our investors with us on this journey.”

   “Abbie should do an interview,” Katrina suggests.

Tim doesn’t hesitate. “She’s not doing an interview.”

“What’s the mortgage like on this place?” Elijah gestures at the beach house’s stunning exterior. “If Renton wobbles, you’ll be the one whose loans are called in.”