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"How about you Claire?" Larry asked, and Noah froze.
"Wh-what?" Her deer-in-the-headlights look almost made him laugh out loud.
"You've never come to one of our games. You could take Noah's place."
Claire looked from Larry to Noah, likely checking his reaction. He searched her face, wondering what she was thinking. He broke eye contact when everyone stood to leave.
"Um, I thought poker night was a 'boys only' thing." Claire casually threw her purse over her shoulder and pushed in her chair.
Del piped in. "Jenny comes."
"Jenny sucks at poker. But she does like to hang out and her money spends just as easily," Larry added, a crooked grin snaking onto his face. "Hey, if Claire's a better player, she can defend her gender against the slander we all throw at Jenny."
Noah snorted at Larry's weak attempt to goad Claire into coming.
"Um, thanks guys, but not this week," Claire said, not rising to the bait. "Maybe next time."
He sensed her watching him again, but kept his gaze forward as they walked back through the tunnels.
Throughout the afternoon, Claire's thoughts returned to the lunch conversation regarding the poker game. Noah's silence had confirmed her suspicions he hadn't shared their after-hours activities with anyone. When he'd failed to bring up his new chauffeuring duties during their often-casual team meetings, she'd followed his lead. But she'd caught Rick's questioning glance at lunch today, which suggested Noah was also keeping secrets from his closest friend. Time to find out what was going on.
"Claire, did you finish updating your piece on the purchasing module yet?" Vicki's voice boomed throughout her office.
Claire jumped and splayed her hand across her heart. "Good gravy, Vicki!" She spun around to find the woman standing in the hallway and gestured for her to enter. "You startled me. Why are you yelling?"
Vicki blinked at Claire, then looked up and down the hallway before producing a megawatt smile and stepping inside the office. "Sorry," she said at a normal volume. "I just came from the sales group where everybody tries to talk over everyone. Guess I was still in the shouting mode."
"That must be a wild environment to work in," Claire commented absently as she saved her work.
"You think the sales folks are too wild to work with?" Vicki asked.
"What? No, that's not what I said." Claire waved off Vicki's comment and checked her irritation. "Anyway, I already submitted the purchasing updates. Two days ago, in fact. Why are you asking?"
Vicki shuffled the papers in her hand and found the one she sought. "Hmm. It's not checked off on the task list, so I thought I'd follow up. You know, since it's my job to keep all you techie types in line and on track."
Claire ignored the implied slight and opened the document tracking system. If this is another system glitch… These administrative glitches—which only seemed to target her—were getting on her last nerve. At first, she'd been wary of making a fuss since she didn't want to be seen as an elitist developer from Silicon Valley, but after the last problem while they were in San Jose, she'd decided the next time something happened, she would complain to Simon. It was time to stop putting it off and reach out to her boss.
She stopped scrolling and pointed to her screen. "The system shows the task completed. Two days ago, when I marked it. Is your report wrong?"
Vicki peered over her shoulder at the screen, then moved toward the door. "Hmm. I guess this report is out of date." She moved into the hallway and raised her voice slightly. "Or maybe I'm just used to having to follow up with you all the time. Okay, I've marked it off my to do list. Toodle-oo!"
Claire watched open-mouthed as the woman strolled away. Vicki had never followed up on anything assigned to her. And Claire most certainly had never missed a deadline. Her fists clenched. The indirect dig at her work ethic hit a little too close to old wounds. Accusations of slacking off, doing shoddy work. The throb of her pulse sounded in her ears.
Stop! This wasn't NanoTechwise, and no one was out to get her. She stopped and took a calming breath. Her dad had always told her to step back and assess when someone made you angry. He believed people usually had things going on you couldn't see, and you had to look beyond what came out of their mouths to see what they meant because those inner battles often colored their words.
She considered the past few months and Vicki's position on the team. The woman never came to any outside activities. When she participated in group discussions, her comments were often not quite on point, as if she wanted to take part, but had nothing relevant to add. Claire leaned back in her chair. It's possible Vicki was simply a socially awkward person who was uncomfortable interacting with people. Lord knows, Claire had run into plenty of people like that in her field. She didn't think Vicki had many friends, and she had been kind to Claire when she'd first started. She decided to be nicer to Vicki in the future and actively make her feel more a part of the team.
The upbeat, melodic chime of her desk phone interrupted her thoughts. The display showed Randall calling. He probably wanted an update on the accounting report she'd been working on for him. Grace's explanation of how the report worked was super useful in getting it configured correctly.
"Hey, Randall," she answered.
Chapter 30
Date Night
The strap of his satchel threatened to slide off Noah's shoulder as he followed Claire into her apartment. With his hands full of groceries, he jerked his shoulder and hitched it back into place without dropping anything. They'd stopped at a nearby market to pick up a few items for dinner, and he'd enjoyed the domesticity of the act. He'd also learned how serious Claire was about her produce. The memory brought a smile to his face.
Claire hung her backpack on the back of a bar stool, then draped her coat over it and kicked off her shoes before taking the groceries from his hands. He doffed his own coat and shoes, then grabbed her discarded jacket and shoes, and stowed everything in the hall closet. Once order had been restored, he moved to the sink, rolled up his sleeves, and washed his hands. Claire unpacked the groceries, placing the veggies they'd purchased next to him for washing.
