**My Father’s Robot**

Chapter 8

The water was still hot when I turned it off.

I stood there a second longer than I needed to, letting the last of the steam cling to my skin, then stepped out and grabbed the towel. Hair dripping. Skin pink from the heat. I didn’t bother drying off properly. Just wrapped the towel around myself and left the bathroom with my phone in one hand, already thinking about the pizza I had ordered and whether I still had ice cream downstairs.

The bedroom was quiet. Ordinary. My clothes from earlier were still on the chair. The window was cracked open a little. I could...