“Watch me.”
They went to the park near the food truck to eat, sitting side by side on a bench facing a small pond with ducks. Kids were laughing and tossing pieces of stale bread to the ducks. A few older people strolled around the lake on a small path, hand in hand.
“San Valentino has the best parks,” Alex remarked as he bit into his wrap.
“We do,” Grace agreed. “It’s one of the things I love about the city—along with the great beaches. Are you from here?”
“No,” Alex told her. “I grew up in San Diego, but I moved here for college.”
“And you fell in love with the city and just had to stay?” Grace suggested.
“Well, MatchupNow was already running by the time I graduated, and what better place to have a tech company than here?” Alex replied. “You grew up locally, right?”
“Right,” Grace agreed. “Not in this neighborhood, though. I lived in Las Adelitas—and I still do.”
Las Adelitas was a suburb that wasn’t as rich as the rest of San Valentino. It was known for being a tight-knit community.
“Is your family there too?” Alex asked.
“My mom is,” Grace answered simply. She was glad when he didn’t push for more details. “Is your family in San Diego still?”
“Yep,” Alex agreed. “My mom, my dad, and my little sister.”
“You have a sister?”
“I do. Her name is Kathryn. She’s five years younger than me, but she thinks she knows everything.”
Grace laughed. “Younger siblings are always like that, or so I hear. What does she do?”
“She’s a doctor,” Alex told her. “And a mom of two. It still shocks me when I hear her spout medical jargon, because to me, she’ll always be the three-year-old who kept stealing my GI Joe figures to use in her pretend hospital.”
Grace smiled. She liked the idea of Alex as a young boy playing with his sister. It made him less intimidating.
“Adorable,” she said.
“Not so much when I was eight, but yes, in retrospect. How’s your food?”
“Amazing.” Grace took another bite. “I love falafel.”
“Good. After lunch, you should go home. Take the afternoon off. Do whatever it is you usually do on a Saturday.”
“Are you going back to work?” Grace asked. “Or doing whateveryouusually do on a Saturday?”
“What I usually do is work, so I’ll do that.” Alex grinned. “But that doesn’t mean you should.”
“No way. If you’re going back to work, I am too.” Grace smiled back. “I haven’t cracked the latest bug yet.”
“I can’t stop you,” Alex replied. “But I can give you a stern look.” He did so, and Grace laughed. The more she got to know him, the more she saw his lighthearted, almost playful side along with his focus on getting every detail right and his love of his business.
They finished their food and headed back to the office, where they both got down to work again. Another few hours passed in quiet camaraderie and lines of code against a black screen. Grace stole a few glances at Alex, but did her best to stay focused on work.
In the late afternoon, she finished what she’d wanted to do and got up.
“I’ll head out now, if that’s okay.”
“Of course it is. You should have left hours ago.” Alex smiled.
“Will you be in tomorrow?”
