Table for Four

Claire glanced around the restaurant, looking for Jesse. Despite yearning to ride in Jesse’s pickup truck, she opted to appear cautious and meet him there, since it was their first date. It was silly because she had already been alone with him plenty of times while he was doing handiwork in her condo. If he was a serial killer, he was playing the long game.

She spotted a strangely familiar, beautiful face seated at a booth. A face she had stared at on a screen for weeks perfecting, choosing the laugh lines, choosing the smile. It was Henry. The Robolove 5 she bought and ended up selling to her friend Leila. The Robolove 5 was a fully customizable robot, nearly indistinguishable from a human. Leila was with him, of course.

Leila hadn’t changed anything in Henry’s programming except that he loves her now and not Claire. His memory of his time with Claire was trashed and emptied, restored to factory settings. Strange that the face Claire knew so well didn’t know her anymore.

Leila flagged Claire down and motioned for her to come over. Claire considered fleeing, but it was too late; the hostess already noticed. “Join your friends. I’ll bring over two more place settings.”

“No, I-” she started to say, but the hostess was gone. Reluctantly, she walked over to Leila and Henry’s table. She noticed a glass of red wine and a stack of bridal magazines on the table.

“Claire! Join us!” Leila squealed, pulling her into the booth. “Are you eating alone? I was just telling Henry I would love for you to meet. You’re a big part of our love story, obviously.”

Why did Leila tell Henry he was a secondhand robot? Even though he was AI, it seemed cruel. “I’m meeting a date,” Claire said, but her voice gave out on the word “date.”

“You’re meeting a what?” Leila asked.

“A date,” she croaked, looking at the door. No Jesse. The hostess brought over two more place settings, as promised.

“Two more glasses of Merlot, please,” Leila told the hostess, then turned her attention back to Claire. “When you said you were planning to date humans, I didn’t expect it to happen so fast! I once went two years without a date.”

“Ridiculous!” Henry chimed in with his upper-class British accent. “A beautiful woman like you? The behavior of humans mystifies me.”

“Awww! Claire, you know my fiancé, Henry!” Leila held out her oversize ring. Claire wasn’t sure where to look, so she looked at the ring. She missed wearing Grandma’s ring, but Henry had proposed with it. It was forever tainted by Claire’s bad decision.

“Congratulations,” she stumbled.

“Nice to meet you, Claire,” Henry said, exactly the way he did when she first powered him up. The accent she chose and then regretted now sounded charming. She liked the way he said her name.

“Nice to-” Jesse entered the restaurant. Claire inhaled sharply. He was so handsome and so... human. He caught her eye, looking confused. “I should go,” Claire said.

Leila spotted Jesse. “That’s him?”

“Yeah,” Claire said. “He’s a little younger.” A decade younger than Claire’s 44 years, but who’s counting?

“Don’t be shy, bring him over!” Leila squealed.

Claire, her mouth feeling very dry, waved to Jesse to join them.

Jesse smiled widely as he arrived at their table. Claire wanted to float away on that smile, but she had to deal with the situation at hand. Jesse’s smile faded as soon as he saw Henry. Claire felt guilty, though she wasn’t sure why. She didn’t cheat on Henry with Jesse, but Henry suspected it and reacted with mild romantic jealousy - a trait Claire chose.

She reminded herself the past was erased. Henry didn’t remember their relationship. He didn’t remember the times that truly felt romantic. He didn’t remember the arguments.

“This is my friend Leila and her fiancé Henry,” Claire said, trying to sound normal. “This is Jesse.” Jesse made eye contact with Claire for a quick moment before politely greeting them and sitting down next to Henry.

“Claire,” Henry said, making her jump. “I really must thank you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have my Leila, and I’m pleased to see you found a suitable partner.” Henry put his arm around Jesse like they were old chums. Jesse looked at Claire, amused.

Claire didn’t know what to say. She looked at Leila, who was sipping her wine and admiring Henry, who was locked in on Claire. She looked down at the bridal magazines, noticed a headline, ‘Robot Bridesmaids… Are they worth it?”

“You’re… welcome,” she stammered. Was that light in Henry’s eyes always there? The one that made him look alive? He seemed more lifelike than Claire remembered.

“Tell us everything!” Leila said, absently touching the thick magazines. “How many dates is this?”

“It’s our first,” Claire said, hoping Jesse didn’t think she brought the magazines. Or worse - planned this double date.

“I’m so sorry! We don’t mean to intrude! You don’t have to sit with us.”

“No,” Jesse said, with a glimmer in his eye. “This’ll be fun.” Damn him, Claire thought.

“You tell us how you met, and then we’ll tell you how we met,” Leila giggled.

Claire looked at Henry’s beautiful green eyes again. They looked right back at her. She forgot the question. “We met on an app,” Jesse lied.

The waitress arrived with glasses of wine for Claire and Jesse. Henry, of course, did not eat or drink. Claire had been looking forward to having dinner across from a man who was also eating after so many dates with Henry, during which he stared at her or went on a word salad philosophical diatribe. Now she was sitting across from both him and the man she dumped him for.

“Which app? Hinge? Cupid?” Leila asked. “Bumble? Tinder? Electro? Oh, wait, electro is just robots.”

“Electro is for humans who date robots,” Henry corrected her. There was the condescending Henry Claire didn’t miss.

“Claire was on all of them,” Jesse joked. “Barely wearing anything.”

“You’re funny!” Leila said. “He’s funny! Well, it’s no secret how we met,” she continued. Claire wished it were a secret. It was such a minor detail, really - that Henry was owned by and engaged to Claire for approximately six weeks. A mere blip on the graph of life. He didn’t need to know Claire designed his every feature and chose his personality traits - then got rid of him. “Claire accidentally designed my dream man!”

Suddenly there was an awful, deafening sound. The fire alarm. Claire wondered if she pulled it with her mind. Henry shoved Jesse and Claire out of the way, grabbed Leila like a rag doll, slung her over his shoulder, and bolted out of the restaurant. Jesse and Claire stood there stunned as smoke began wafting in from the kitchen.

Jesse grabbed Claire’s hand and they filed out onto the street with the rest of the patrons, where Henry and Leila were waiting. “Sorry we left you behind,” Leila said. “Did you see what Henry did? He’s like a superhero!”

Claire used to think Henry would be useless in an emergency. Now he had shoved her out of the way to save Leila from a small kitchen fire. Superhero. The word hung in the air.

Claire realized Jesse was still holding her hand. His hand was softer than she expected, and warm. She remembered how cold Henry’s hands were. His body ran warm, but his hands felt like ice unless he ran his hand-warming app, which used a ridiculous amount of RAM.

“Yeah, that was something!” Jesse was saying over the roar of an approaching fire truck.

“Sorry our night got ruined, but this is great for social media,” Leila was already framing a selfie of the four as the firetruck pulled up behind them and let out a loud sigh.

Claire smiled helplessly as Leila took a photo and concentrated on retouching and posting it, asking Jesse for his social media handles. Claire panicked. She couldn’t remember if she deleted all the photos of Henry from her social media accounts.

She looked at Henry and then Jesse, red lights flashing on their faces. She couldn’t figure out why she felt a knot of jealousy in her stomach. Jesse had gotten her safely out of the restaurant. That should be enough, right?

Plus, Claire would have been mortified if Henry shoved her friends out of the way. And the fireman’s carry was just unnecessary, considering the circumstances. And, Claire reminded herself, she didn’t need anyone to rescue her, ever.

Leila looked up from her phone. “I’ve been meaning to ask you if you would be my bridesmaid. I’ve got a whole invitation package for you. There’s a live butterfly in a box!”

Claire was horrified, both at the invitation to be a bridesmaid and the idea of a butterfly in a box. She felt Jesse’s presence beside her; he seemed amused again. She squeezed his hand. Jesse, Henry, and Leila stared at Claire expectantly. A firefighter shooed them farther down the street.

“Sure,” Claire said quietly when they came to a stop.

“What?” Leila asked.

“Yes, of course!” Claire managed, smiling tightly.

“Yay! You’re going to love the dress,” Leila said. “Oh no, I left my magazines!”

“I’ll get them,” Henry said and jogged toward the restaurant. The firefighter quickly stopped him. Claire could hear Henry arguing that he can withstand temperatures of up to 300 degrees.

“Don’t be silly, Henry!” Leila called, then turned to Jesse and Claire. “We’ll have to do this again!”

“Yes!” Jesse said, squeezing Claire’s hand. “We’d love to have you on our second date.”

“You’re funny!” Leila said, sounding slightly jealous this time. Henry was programmed to have a sense of humor, but it wasn’t fantastic. Some of his jokes were only funny to robots.

Claire felt bad for Leila for a moment, and then realized Leila was happier than she’d ever seen her. Maybe she did accidentally design Leila’s perfect partner, though his sense of humor could use an upgrade.

Henry returned and apologized to his “queen” for not getting the magazines. Leila giggled and kissed him. Claire felt nauseated. He looked at Claire and Jesse and said, “We’ll see you both again soon.” It sounded like a threat. Claire knew Henry wasn’t capable of making threats unless he was confronted; it must be her imagination. Maybe Leila’s jealousy was also just her imagination.

Henry and Leila said goodbye and headed toward their car, leaving Claire and Jesse alone on the sidewalk. He pulled her in for an embrace, just like the one that convinced her to get rid of Henry. The knot in her stomach was replaced by a swarm of bees.

Jesse smelled so good she could barely breathe. Her heart was pounding. She never felt this way with Henry. Or did she? She couldn’t be sure. There was that one night they sat outside waiting for a meteor shower. They talked all night, and at one point, he brushed her hair behind her ear and kissed her. There may have been a swarm of bees present in that moment. Or at least a few bees.

“That was interesting,” Jesse laughed. He loosened the embrace and looked at her. “I’ll go to the wedding with you if you want. I happen to be a suitable partner, and they are our best couple friends.” He said “suitable” the way Henry did, with a liquid u.

Claire laughed. “A wedding would make a pretty awkward second date.”

“We’ll have to see each other in the meantime then, if only to make it less awkward,” he said, pulling her close again. Claire leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat, soaking in his humanness. “That sounds like a deal.”