Page 14 of Code Block
Caprock Enterprises
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From: Claire Broussard
To: Noah Raines
Subject: MADS Data Nomenclature
* * *
Noah,
* * *
I have some questions on the structure of the MADS nomenclature we are using and was told you would be the best one to answer them.
…
Claire groaned. "First of all, Mr. Raines, number one wasn't a yes or no question. And can you please explain what in the Sam Hill sometimes means? Oh, and I thought I was pretty clear on the last one. Ugh!" She threw her hands up in the air.
"Talking to yourself, Broussard?" Teresa, the project expert from the procurement department, popped her head into Claire's office.
"Hey, Tee." Claire smiled as Teresa came in. She was becoming one of Claire's favorite people at the office, always kind and willing to help. Plus, she never made Claire feel stupid for asking questions. "Noah Raines makes me crazy. I'll send off five questions, and he'll answer one. Or he gives me these kinds of answers." She swung her monitor around so Teresa could view the screen. Teresa squinted as she read through Noah's response.
"Ha! That's funny."
Claire raised an eyebrow. Teresa caught her look and hid her smile. "I mean, he's not wrong, but he could have explained it better. Have you tried calling him?"
Claire threw her head back and stared at the ceiling. "Yes! Multiple times. It goes straight to voicemail and he never calls me back. He'll respond via email, which always leaves me with more questions. I swear, our email chains are a mile long with all the back and forth. And—before you tell me it's the time difference—I've tried to reach him at different times; well before the workday ends in England."
"That's weird. He's always available for us. He's probably just super busy managing the floor and working on the project."
Claire blinked and sat up straight. She wasn't sure what to make of that. She assumed Noah was hard to reach in general—not just for her—but apparently that wasn't the case. The memory of his eye roll during the introductory meeting resurfaced, and she bit her lip. She chewed on her thumbnail, considering it. Teresa's comments brought back memories of her experience when The Jerkwad targeted her at her last company.
"Claire, you with me?"
Get it together, Claire! "Yeah, sorry. I went away into my head." Heat crept up her face.
"Yeah, you did." Teresa laughed. "Anyway, I can answer a few of these for you. And it'll be easier once he's back over here. He'll be right around the corner from you instead of across the ocean. Soon, you'll be able to pin him down without difficulty."
Teresa sat down in the visitor's chair and they spent the next half hour going through Claire's questions. They even covered a few she hadn't thought to ask. As Claire typed her notes on the last item, Teresa stood up.
"Hey, some of us are going to the new steakhouse on West Gray for dinner after work. You wanna come?"
Delight trickled through her. She and Teresa went to lunch together earlier in the week and now Tee was inviting her to socialize after hours. She'd made her first real friend from work! Not bad for two weeks into her new job. She squirmed a little from guilt since technically, Vicki was the first person to be friendly to her, but Vicki didn't give her the same warm and fuzzies as Teresa.
"I'd love to. Are y'all going straight from here? Or later, after you run home and change?"
Teresa laughed. "We're headed there straight after work. Not everyone lives downtown, Claire." She smirked. "We'll probably work 'til six, then walk over. I'll give you a shout when we're getting ready to leave. Sound good?"
"Yes. Thanks for inviting me." She smiled at the woman, genuinely happy to be included.
"All right. Catch you later, then."
"Bye."
Claire's grin stayed on her face as she saved her notes and switched screens to her coding application. Teresa's input cleared up one unknown and gave her an idea for extracting a piece of information that had previously eluded her.
