i designed a simple holiday card with a picture of us at the park. he said he wanted to make a small addition. the next draft contained a glamorous woman standing between us in a red coat
he introduced her as his ai companion and said leaving her off would feel exclusionary. i asked whether the entire family needed to know about his chatbot. he said honesty was important in modern relationships
then my aunt called to congratulate us on our unusual arrangement. she'd assumed we were announcing a new partner and wanted to know whether to buy three presents. i nearly dropped the phone
we sent a corrected card. he kept one copy of the original on his desk. every december i still receive a message from that aunt asking how the lady in the red coat is doing