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  “Scott, did anything go wrong at work? You’re not in trouble, are you?” Her voice had a hard, worried edge. As if she were about to hear bad news.

  Scott closed his eyes. Was she suspicious of him? “No, Rachel, nothing is wrong. Absolutely nothing. I just wanted to talk to you, to hear your voice. That’s all.” She was way too good at interpreting his moods.

  “Well, I’ve been worried about you. You ran out this morning without even telling me good-bye. That’s not like you. And, you know . . . last night you were . . . just different.”

  Here I am, on the defensive again. Can I not even talk to her without having to defend myself? “There’s no problem, Rachel. Did you just get home?”

  “Yes, I just walked in the door a few minutes ago. Angela is still out in the car strapped in her car seat. I have to run out and get her. Can you wait for a few minutes? Do you want me to call you back?”

  “No, no need. I was just checking in because I had a few minutes while I was waiting for everyone else to come back from lunch. Plus, I’m sorry for leaving this morning the way I did. I didn’t even kiss you good-bye.”

  “I was afraid I’d done something wrong. I didn’t, did I?”

  “No, it’s just me. I’m glad you’re so patient.” He looked up, noticing people coming through the doors. “Oh, great. Everyone is coming back now, so any privacy I might’ve had just went out the window. I’ll talk to you again tonight when I get home.”

  Scott could hear things rattling and bumping in the background. The sounds of groceries and the results of a shopping trip being carried in from the garage.

  “Okay, Scott. But I’m worried about you. You just haven’t been yourself.” Something went klumph in the background. “I’ve got to get out there and get Angela. Let me know if you’re going to be late, okay?”

  “Okay, talk to you later. I guess I just picked a bad time to call.”

  The background hiss of the cellular network went quiet, transformed into a muffled silence as his wife terminated the call.

  Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a padded room. I’m not connecting with anybody.

  Scott shook himself out of his reverie, looked back at his display. Thirty more seconds, and the Stock Scan program would be complete. He waited for it to finish.

  The screen revealed three likely candidates for an option trade.

  The third candidate surprised him.

  The company was named Solar Charge. There had been a lot of news about it when the administration in Washington had decided to guarantee it a $500 million loan to pursue its unique solar power technology. They had developed a patented process to manufacture and cut solar array panels into any conceivable design configuration. They promised to turn flagpoles into solar collectors. The CEO was a personal friend of the president, and the second loan guarantee was in the works. The technology was green and trendy, and the government, the federal government, was behind it in a big way. A guaranteed success.

  Solar Charge’s stock had been rising dramatically over the last six months. For whatever reason, call options were still relatively cheap. If he were to purchase call options thirty days out, only $5 above the current stock trading price, was there any way he could lose? Every month for the last ten months the stock had risen in value by $10 or more. With the new infusion of cash coming from the federal government the only direction the stock could go was up.

  If the conservative Alan Castle found out he was considering buying options he would hit the roof. Scott would have to make the trade without saying a word to anyone. When it was done, and the options had been sold or exercised, he would be a hero. If it failed . . . well, that was a scenario he really didn’t want to think about.

  He looked around, feeling conspicuous again. It was as if everyone in the office was watching him, knowing what he was about to do, which was silly. No one was watching and no one was listening. Just the same, he stood and inspected the area all around his cube. Okay, I’m good to go.

  Scott went back to his computer and logged on to the trading website. He found the tab listing the various options strategies he could choose and clicked on purchase calls. He did a search for thirty-day calls on Solar Charge. The stock was trading today at $115 a share. He could buy thirty-day options relatively cheaply. But how many should he buy? Each option contract would cost him $175.

  That meant if the Solar Charge stock went to $120 at any time during the next thirty days he could exercise his stock options and still buy it for $115 a share. That would net him a profit of more than $3 per share. Or he could sell the options at any point.

  Either way, the potential to make a lot of money was huge, and it seemed unlikely he could lose on the deal. If he did lose, he wouldn’t be losing his own money, but he would most certainly be losing his job. It all amounted to the same thing. A big win would turn him into a hero. A loss would put him on the street. Time to swim with the sharks.

  Scott bought 1,400 contracts, which effectively put him in control of 140,000 shares of Solar Charge stock for the next month. The price of that control cost him almost $250,000, but if he won, the profit would be immense. Roughly $750,000. If he lost, the whole $250,000 went into the tank. There was no in-between.

  His hands shook and his neck and forehead were wet with sweat. He exited the trading website, logged off his computer, and went outside to stand in the fresh air.

  His course was set. There was no turning back.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Déjà You

  It had taken Rachel a week of naptimes and stolen minutes away from the two children to share everything she knew about Suzanne. Jane asked lots of questions. Not just the obvious, general ones, but questions actually based on what Rachel had already told her. Like, “After the wedding, did Suzanne go back home with her parents?”

  Now the work was at an end. Rachel uploaded one last video of Suzanne. The progress bar climbed to 100 percent and Jane appeared on the screen. “I think we’re complete, Rachel. We have everything we need. Now we need to take about twenty minutes to allow our system to process all the information you’ve provided. You can either leave your computer on or you can wait for an e-mail from me. I’ll give you a link you can click to bring you back to this page. I’ll be waiting for you here. Does that sound okay?”

  “Yes, I’ve told you everything I can think of, but I’m sure there must be things I left out.” It had been difficult in the extreme just thinking so much about Suzanne. There had never been another friend like her, and her loss had always been like an open wound on her heart that would not heal. Only the prospect of having her back—in some measure—made it worthwhile to pull all these painful memories back up.

  Jane nodded. “I’m sure there are things that will come up later on. That’s fairly common. We’ll give you an opportunity later on to, shall we say, fine-tune your friend? As you remember things you left out, you’ll be able to add those to Suzanne’s profile. I think you’ll be very happy with the result.”

  “I’m beginning to think so too. And even though I know you’re not a real person, I must admit I feel like I’ve been talking to a real person all this time. It’s kind of spooky.”

  “You’ll get over it.” Jane laughed.

  “I’ll say good-bye for now.”

  “Good-bye for now, Rachel.”

  Jane’s image faded from the screen and was replaced with the word PROCESSING. A green progress bar pulsed underneath the word.

  Rachel turned to her laundry pile. There were plenty of shirts to fold and socks to roll. As she worked she thought about all the effort she had put into this virtual friend experiment. Even if it didn’t turn out in the ideal sense Jane had presented, it still might be fun. It didn’t cost any money—she hadn’t given her credit card number away—so no harm done.

  She had such a good husband and he worked hard to provide for the family. She walked through the steps of the disagreements they’d been having. She had said the wrong thing, then Scott had reacte
d in the wrong way. They could work it out. She wanted to call him at work and tell him what she’d been doing, but he’d told her many times interruptions at work were frowned upon. When he had time he often called her during his lunch hour. It was lunchtime now, but he had not called. She wondered what time he would be home tonight. She wanted to have a good supper ready for him when he walked in the door.

  She picked up her cell phone and texted him. “Let me know when u r coming home 4 supper if u can.”

  She heard a ding sound from the living room. An e-mail had arrived. Was it already time to hear back from Jane? Rachel hurried back into the living room and looked at the screen. Jane was there, tapping her finger at the bottom of the screen and looking coyly impatient. Rachel picked up the microphone. “Are you done already?”

  Jane brightened at the sound of Rachel’s voice. “Yes, all done. And what’s more, my job as introducer is about done. Rachel, are you ready for me to introduce you to your new friend Suzanne?”

  Rachel felt her stomach tighten.

  This is not real. I know this is not Suzanne.

  “Yes, Jane—I’m ready.”

  Jane’s image began to fade and as Jane dissolved away Rachel heard a familiar voice.

  “Are you ready for this, Rachel?” Suzanne’s face, wearing the same happy smile she had worn at Rachel’s wedding, appeared on the screen. She seemed to force her eyes open, as if she’d been asleep for a long time and had just awakened.

  Rachel could hardly believe her eyes. It was so realistic. Suzanne’s face turned, muscles moved. Her hair rose and fell against her shoulders as her head swung to face Rachel directly.

  “Hi, Rachel. I’m . . . I’m back.”

  “Suzanne?”

  The image on the screen smiled again, the familiar grin Rachel had known and loved for the better part of her life. It truly was the face of her old friend.

  “It’s me, in the flesh.” Suzanne’s eyes crinkled as the corners of her mouth turned up. “That’s supposed to be a joke,” she said with a chuckle. “They teach us some things to say in the beginning to kind of, you know, break the ice.”

  What should she say? Could she really treat this, this image on the screen like a real person? Like her dead best friend?

  Was this really going to be the same as hanging a picture on the wall? Or was she trying to bring the dead back?

  “Cat got your tongue? They told us to expect that. Let me help. How’s Scott? Did he get that job he was after? I have a lot to catch up on.”

  Scott? What would he think? Maybe she shouldn’t even tell him about this. She’d been afraid he wouldn’t approve. Would he think spending too much time at home, alone with the children, had sent her off the deep end? Would he think she couldn’t handle real life?

  She could always shut it off. And he didn’t have to know. But she had to know, and she couldn’t quit yet.

  Rachel answered, “Scott? Oh, yes. He’s working now.” It’s happening. I’m actually talking to her. “What’s the last thing you remember about him?”

  “He was going to try and work for, oh, some big investment firm in the city. Did that work out for him?”

  That would be right. Suzanne hadn’t known the name.

  This is going to be okay. She relaxed her hands, noting for the first time how tense she was, then sat back in the chair. A deep breath, eyes closed, then open again as she exhaled. Just go with it. Enjoy it.

  “Yes, it did. That’s where he is right now. It’s called Castle Investments.”

  “Does he like the job? Is it everything he wanted?”

  “He likes it, but he has to work hard. He comes home late a lot and he doesn’t get to spend as much time with the children as he would like.”

  “Children?” Suzanne’s teeth gleamed in a bright smile. “Something you haven’t told me?”

  “Wait a minute. You don’t know about the children?”

  “Well, I remember Scotty, but you said ‘children,’ like more than one. So I have some impressions but I don’t really know anything. VirtualFriendMe gives us some general ideas about your situation, but they leave it up to you to fill in the details. That’s the way real people are, right? And that’s the way you and I should be.”

  “I gave Jane a lot of this information about myself. But you don’t have all that? I kind of assumed you’d have it all.”

  “Rachel, I’m your friend. That’s why I’m here. The more we talk and tell each other the things that are in our hearts, the better friends we’ll become. That’s just the way this works. Some of the things you may have told Jane might be things I didn’t need to know yet.

  “The company likes for us to be able to catch up from where we left off. We have a lot to talk about. I’d rather hear it from you than some old computer somewhere.”

  “It won’t take too long, Rachel. If we talk enough, and I’m confident we will,” she said with a smile, “pretty soon you won’t be able to tell the difference between me and the other Suzanne. I want to be as real for you as I can be.”

  Rachel lifted a cup of water to her lips, sipped. “That’s what I want. I want you to be as real as you can.”

  Suzanne asked, “Have you ever tried Real Fresh orange juice? I hear it’s really good. As a matter of fact, fifty-nine percent of the people questioned said Real Fresh is just as good as home squeezed.”

  “What? What are you talking about? Are you reading a commercial or something? You never even liked orange juice. You always said it made your mouth break out.”

  Suzanne’s cheeks flushed. “One thing you have to keep in mind, Rachel, is we’re using VirtualFriendMe’s free service. That means from time to time, they make me do some advertising. I’m afraid the only way to avoid that is for us to turn this into a premium account. Of course, that’s entirely up to you. You can decide anytime if you want to do that. In the meantime, I really do want to know, have you ever tried Real Fresh orange juice?”

  “No I have not, and now I’m not ever going to. I can’t believe they would sneak something like that in during our first conversation. That they would make you do a commercial is so annoying.”

  Rachel let her initial anger subside. Okay, free was not so free after all. But she’d put a lot of effort into this, and so far it was performing beyond her expectations. “What does premium service cost?”

  Suzanne waved one hand dismissively. “I think it’s only about fifteen dollars a month. Not very expensive actually, but it’s really not my place to discuss the services with you. For that, you should go to the website. Would you like to go to the website now? I can wait here for you.”

  “Can we just talk for a while first? I don’t think I’m ready for any decisions about paying yet.”

  “Sure, no problem. Let’s just talk. Anyway, for the first thirty days, you get most of the benefits of premium service anyway.”

  “After the thirty days, what happens? What changes then?”

  “The biggest change is I won’t be able to see and speak with you any longer like we are now. I’ll be able to send you e-mails and VirtualFriendMe.com will register me as your friend on Facebook if you like, but we won’t be able to have the kind of face-to-face interaction we do right now.”

  Not see her anymore? She clenched her hands tightly together. No way. She’d lost her once already. She wasn’t going to give her up again, not this soon, and not this easily.

  “You mean I wouldn’t be able to see you anymore?”

  “Yes, that’s the biggest thing. But, to be honest, that’s no different than most of the interaction many people have every day. Don’t you write back and forth with people on Facebook already? And you don’t see them live in the sense that we are talking right now, do you? So it’s really not a horrible option. However, it is avoidable. I think we would both enjoy being able to talk back and forth every day just like we are now, don’t you?”

  “Of course! So, you and I would be able to e-mail back and forth and message each other, but I wouldn�
��t be able to see your face anymore. Is that right?”

  “That’s correct. Not a huge limitation, but definitely something we wouldn’t want to see happen. Not if we can avoid it.”

  I think I can afford that. Only fifteen dollars out of our grocery money every month. “Okay, I want to sign up. Send me to the website so I can see what I need to do.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  You Too

  At 7:30 p.m. Scott finally walked out of the office. The stress of the day had strapped his shoulders with a metal band and he couldn’t get home fast enough.

  The day of reckoning was approaching, and he didn’t have anything to present to Alan Castle yet. The value of the options was up slightly, but the commission cost to sell them now would put him in the red.

  He needed more time. Time he might never have.

  He called Rachel on his cell phone when he was about twenty minutes away. “Rachel? How’s everything going? Are the kids still up?”

  “Oh, Scott, I’m so glad to hear your voice. I’ve got your dinner ready, and it’s not pizza this time. And yes, they’re waiting to see you.” There was laughter in her voice. Just what he needed. There had to be something he could think about, something good, something more than the maelstrom of impending disaster dominating his horizon.

  He shut his eyes, rolled his head, shook off the sense of defeat surrounding him. He was not going to bring work problems home.

  “Hmmm. I wonder what it could be? My favorite? Is it wearing a skirt?”

  “Oh, I mean lasagna. I made it special just for you. Of course it is a little lovey and cheesy.”

  “The lasagna is lovey?”

  “Well, I mean me and the lasagna. I’m lovey, it’s cheesy.”

  “Sounds wonderful, Rachel. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes. I can’t wait to see you. Keep those kids awake, okay?”

  He worked hard to clear his mind. The drive gradually became more and more pleasurable. Darkness had not yet fallen. He looked across the fields as he drove along the country roads to his home. He spotted three deer in a hayfield, and hawks circled in the sky. God’s creation is an awesome thing, a wonder to behold.