Page 76 of You Had Me At Pumpkin Patch
‘You see why I’m better with a script?’
She noticed his slight wince, as though he wasn’t sure that was a thing to joke about. But the truth was, shelovedhim like this. His vulnerability was the sweetest contrast against his rugged exterior, and she didn’t want him to ever have to pretend to be anything different. In fact, his exterior was looking particularly fetching, in a tight white T-shirt that did everything to remind her of the firm torso she’d once lain her head on. Though she wasn’t here to ogle or take notes.
‘Not that I’ve consulted the chatbot for a long time,’ he said quickly. ‘I only experimented with it in the early days of liking you, when I had no idea how to be around you. I even sold my laptop that night, just after the auction, to raise more funds.’
So that’s where he’d been going with it after the party.
‘You don’t need a script, Zain. You never did.’
He took a moment to think about it, then sighed. ‘You see, the real me only has two settings. There’s gruff pumpkin farmer mode, which is handy when I want people to leave me alone. Then there’s the version who turns weird when he likes someone and starts rambling on about bats or the key characteristics of a Baby Boo pumpkin.’
Rosie thought back to the time she’d bumped into him in a meadow, not long after she’d arrived, when he’d got overly animated on pumpkin facts, before looking mortified. And their impromptu bat-spotting night, when he’d admonished himself for being a nature geek, even though she’d adored every moment. She instinctivelyknewall of that was from his heart, not a laptop screen.
‘You have no idea how much I love that side of you,’ she said, hoping her eyes conveyed how much she meant it.
‘Really? I mean, it’s not very macho, is it? Not the kind of thing any romance lover would go weak at the knees for.’
‘Oh, I’m pretty sure you can do macho without a script.’ Her lips were twitching into a smile. ‘Unless you somehow orchestrated that time I walked in on you naked in the outdoor shower?’
‘No! No way. I mean, you can check through my emails, or the printouts, or anything...’ He pointed to a pile of logs, which had been dumped like they were ready to burn, wadges of paper stuffed among them.
‘I mean, if that was acting, you deserve an Oscar.’
The way his neck was flushing red was definitely genuine.
‘You don’t need a chatbot to make you interesting or lovable, Zain. I fell for you long before the so-called “perfect” dates. And my favourite parts were always when you seemed off-guard, or you stumbled over your words or what to do. Now I know those parts wereyou, without instructions.’
He pushed a hand through his long black hair, which was sort of tied back in a knot but mostly flopping everywhere – just how she liked it. ‘You preferred the messy bits?’
‘Always. That’s how life is meant to be, isn’t it? Kind of untamed.’
‘Huh. I guess. It’s just...’ He looked upwards and exhaled, before fixing his gaze on hers. Those deep, woody eyes had become her place. ‘Nobody’s ever wanted or accepted either of those versions of me. Not the gruff one, and definitely not the nature freak. Not that I let that one out much. I don’t want to go on about my earlier years, but you know how that went. I rarely found a family who wanted me to stick around. Not even the ones who were related to me. And the occasional time I did...’ He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.
She wanted to close the gap between them and hold him. She longed to tell him that everything would be OK, and that she was here to love him always. But he still had some explaining to do, and so did she. She wasn’t going to pretend everything was OK, just to keep him, because she was no longerthatperson.
‘Zain, what’s the connection between you and the chatbot thatyou knowlost me my job?’ She’d since googled Kimberkoo, and it was not a popular surname.
‘Urgh.Stupidly, I didn’t even know Kimberkoo Chat was a thing, until you’d mentioned it. Us hermits don’t tend to keep up with the news.’
Rosie could tell the light humour was to deflect his nerves.
‘But back when I was a lonely kid in care, it wasn’t just nature I was geeky about. The nature bit came later, with Pru and Dennis. Before that, I was a...tech nerd.’ He winced. ‘It feels like a different life. With a whole lot of lonely hours in my bedroom, I came up with an early, pretty crappy version of a chatbot, just for something to talk to. I mean, I was clearly no good at making human friends.’
‘You? You created Kimberkoo Chat?’ Rosie’s face sank, almost as quickly as her heart.
‘No, no.’ He stepped forward and placed his hand on her arm. ‘Not the version you know now, with all the bells and whistles. I had no idea it would end up writing novels and planning dates for losers.’ He gave her an awkward smile. ‘And though I’m sure it does worthwhile things too, I wasn’t responsible for letting it loose on the world. I had no idea that had happened. That was my estranged father, all the way across the other side of the world.’
‘I thought you barely knew him?’
‘I didn’t, much.’ His face crumpled. ‘I should have explained, but it’s a raw subject. I hadn’t known him as a kid. I’d always had dumb dreams of the father–son long-lost reunion thing, and getting to know my roots. So when I was eighteen, I flew to Montana to track him down. I found the rest of his family first. His brothers, sisters, my grandmother. They were good people, and they ran a pumpkin farm, with real history. They welcomed me in. That’s where I got the rare seeds from, and that’s when I began to fall for their way of life. To feel connected to something.’ He’d begun smiling, but it faded. ‘When I did find my father, he didn’t have much to do with his farming family anymore, and he didn’t show much interest in me – until I mentioned this clunky software thing I’d invented. I was trying to sound cool and get his approval. I wanted him to like me, to think I was worthy of his attention...’ He rubbed a hand over his face. ‘Pretty needy, hey?’
‘No,’ said Rosie, firmly. ‘Please don’t think that.’ She gestured him to go on.
‘Well, it did get his interest. More than I did, it seems. He pretended like he didn’t believe me, so that I was quickly laying out the tech and trying to prove myself. Anyway, we had a big argument, which he probably engineered. It worked. I fled, leaving everything I’d created. I was more interested in working on the land by then, anyway.’ He shrugged. ‘This was years ago. I guess he’s been improving what I left him with. I had no idea he’d unleashed it onto the world, until you said the name. It’s true that I’d barely used tech since then. Until this.’ He waved an arm towards the would-be bonfire. ‘And look where that got me. Rosie, I’m so sorry.’
His eyes locked with hers. ‘I’d only meant to check out this chatbot and see what he’d made of it. I was curious. So I bought an old laptop and found a pub with Wi-Fi. I didn’t intend for the thing to plan our dates. It started as awhat-if.Then suddenly, the software seemed more interesting than me. I just wanted to sweep you off your feet, like you deserve to be. I neverevermeant for you to feel tricked. I clung to those stupid instructions at first, because I was out of my depth. But the way I feel about you was never scripted.I love you.I’ll never need a script for those words.’
Her once sinking heart soared.
