The Marriage Act(17)
‘That’s why I am calling for Artificial Intelligence to be installed not only in the houses of couples with Smart Marriages, but in every single home in the country. As well as it protecting relationships, monitoring our conversations can also help to fight terrorism, expose criminal behaviour, child abuse, racism, bullying and spousal abuse.’ A lump formed in her throat at mention of the last. She swallowed it back down. ‘If you have to hesitate to think about what you say before you say it, or type it, you won’t be talking and acting on impulse. And isn’t that going to make us all more considerate of one another?’
Roxi counted three seconds in her head before she delivered her final line. ‘For everyone’s sake, let’s be better.’
She returned to her laptop and, once satisfied with what she saw, added a large graphic to the end of the footage that read, #IWillDoBetterWillYou? And after the inclusion of specific tags, trending sounds and other metadata to assist in making her video as discoverable as possible, she posted it and crossed her fingers.
? Do you have a good ear, great observational skills and bags of empathy?
? Are you non-judgemental and broad-minded?
? Do your married friends turn to you for advice?
? And, most importantly, do you believe in the Sanctity of Marriage Act?
Then why not consider a career as a Relationship Responder?
We are recruiting new candidates to train as Relationship Responders and head out into the field to keep couples together and steer them in the right direction. You don’t need any prior qualifications, just an understanding of relationships and a sixth sense for the truth. We’ll do the rest.
THE POWER TO SAVE MARRIAGES IS IN YOUR HANDS
www.smartmarriage.co.uk/relationship-responders
13
Jeffrey
Noah and Luca had not scrimped when it came to decorating their house. If Jeffrey were to ever own a home of his own, he would strive to make it as perfect as Noah and Luca’s. Here, there was a mattress to melt into, Egyptian cotton sheets to lie upon and a duvet stuffed with silk and duck down.
He did still have a place of his own that he continued to pay rent on: a windowless flat furnished with just an armchair and a single bed. Its walls stubbornly held the stench of the previous tenant’s dead body that had remained undiscovered for more than a year. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine why she had ended her life in that vortex of despair; Jeffrey too had considered it frequently before he became a Relationship Responder. But his job gave him purpose and hope. In the last eighteen months, each time he was between clients, he chose to sleep on the rear seats of his car rather than return to that place. But despite being able to afford a better home, he decided to keep that flat as a stark warning to himself of what he was going to return to if he didn’t put his heart and soul into finding himself a partner.
He stretched and yawned and cast his eye over the wardrobe in the corner of the room. While unpacking last night, he had found a dozen or so items of neutral-coloured clothing purchased for a newborn baby. He brushed his fingertips across the soft material as he pulled their hangers to one side to make room for his own clothes. He wondered how far down their surrogacy journey Noah and Luca had travelled.
Jeffrey recalled how parenthood had been little more than a dream for him until he’d been appointed Ruby and Saul’s Relationship Responder. Ruby had desperately wanted her marriage to work and to start a family. But by the time Jeffrey had appeared on their doorstep, Saul had announced he was seeing someone else and was ‘riding the storm’ until he and Ruby reached the Family Court in Level 3 and were divorced.
Jeffrey had spent many an hour counselling Ruby alone and the intensity of their relationship developed into something much greater for him. He had fallen in love with her. Only when Saul moved out did he pluck up the courage to admit to Ruby that he too wanted a family and that, together, they could make their parenting dreams a reality.
Her response was instant rejection. Jeffrey left her home that same afternoon and filed his report, ensuring she alone was to blame for the failure of her marriage, branding her erratic and antagonistic. As a result, the Family Court punished her for pushing her husband away and Saul and his new bride were awarded the lion’s share in the division of assets.
Jeffrey washed away her memory as he showered, then slipped into a fresh set of clothes. Downstairs, he found Luca arranging bowls of fruit, muffins and pastries and jugs of citrus juices on a burnished kitchen tabletop.
‘Help yourself,’ Luca invited. ‘They’re all home-made.’
‘Do you eat this well every morning?’ Jeffrey asked as his sweet tooth directed him towards a muffin coated in poppy seeds. Luca’s reddening cheeks suggested it had been laid out for his benefit.
Warm prickles spread across Jeffrey’s shoulders and arms. He appreciated the effort even if it was only to win his favour. He had a good feeling about today’s first session.
14
Roxi
An afternoon that began with such hope was gradually petering out into disappointment for Roxi.
Three hours into a dull work lunch with Owen and his colleagues and she had still not received a single notification responding to her post earlier that day calling for people to ‘be better’ in the aftermath of Jem Jones’ death. She had left her phone in the car and was relying on her Smart watch to alert her to the response she had hoped for. She had checked and rechecked its settings many times but there was nothing wrong with it. She had to face facts – nobody was interested in her opinion.