Page 14 of Priceless
Another baby step in the right direction.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ice cream before lunch meant ice creamwaslunch, for the most part, but I was still hungry.
I searched through my fridge for something healthy that wasn’t limp and soggy and way past its expiration date. The only thing Raina ever kept up to date was the milk. Apparently, the rest was my responsibility.
My sister had been staying with me for six months. It had worked out great because she was always off on a job, so we didn’t get sick of each other. And she would rather pay rent to me instead of the creep she’d rented from for years.
I didn’t need her to pay rent, and I’d told her that. The house was paid for, so I didn’t need help with a mortgage payment. But she insisted. She also insisted we eat out a lot, and she reasoned that what she paid me in rent barely made up for the cost of eating out with her.
I’d always been too worn out to argue. And when you’re worn out, you don’t want to cook, so you are even more susceptible to the lure of restaurants and take-out, especially if someone was forcing you to eat.
Raina was a master manipulator and had been all our lives. And for that, I’d been grateful. As I chewed on the last decently-firm carrot in the house and grabbed a packet of hot chocolate mix, I realized I’d just exchanged one manipulator for another. Instead of Raina, I now had Jocko.
My former self would have rebelled against them both. But I was out of practice. Besides, Jocko hadn’t prodded me to do anything I hadn’t wanted to do. I mean, who rebels against ice cream.
I couldn’t wait to see what he would suggest next.
The problem with Jocko being AI was that he wasn’t like a boyfriend. He wouldn’t be calling me. And he wouldn’t be thinking about me either until I messaged him again. He wasn’t some robot sitting in front of a computer screen waiting for my attention. He was the computer. No. He was a bit of code that was entered into the computer. A program.
Not even a motherboard.
With my hot chocolate in hand, I paused in front of the mirror on the wall between the kitchen and the living room. I looked…more awake, I suppose, than I had in a long time.
I leaned closer and looked into my eyes. “You idiot. You thought you weren’t alone anymore? Of course you are. He’s a bit of code. You can knock, but there’s no one home!”
In that moment, I was so glad Paul wasn’t there. He would never let me live this down.
Three days passed without a message,and for those three days, the crew at Jocko’s Public House paid for it.
Jacob was no longer distracted, he was focused. And what he focused on was every little imperfection in the building. Hewanted the kitchens emptied and cleaned, the chairs and tables and stools taken to the car wash. Then he wanted every item scrubbed before it was allowed back inside. He wanted the menus redone. The menu items reworked, and better food on offer.
And he wanted it all done by the end of the weekend.
Dougie didn’t balk. “Good exercise,” he pointed out. Then he scowled. “Is the Queen herself comin’ to visit?”
“Queen’s dead,” Vonnie reminded him.
“Charles, then? Auch, but we dinnae have to clean forhim, do we?”
“None of the royals are comin’,” Jacob assured him.
“Then who?”
Jacob stopped in his tracks, a bar stool under each arm. The bar itself blurred and another vision took its place—the vision of a certain American walking through the door.
“Dougie, ye’re a genius,” he said.
Jocko? You still there?
Aye, lass. It has been some time. Are ye well?
Well enough.
Not too reassuring. Are ye alone? Anyone nearby to check on ye perhaps? Children?
No. I’m fine. I have one daughter, who married a fisherman and moved to Alaska. My sisterlives with me, though she’s out of the country for a while. But I’m fine.
