Back in the office, Grace worked for a few more hours. She was just starting to understand the section of code she was working on when five o’clock rolled around, and her colleagues began to trickle out.
“Don’t stay too late,” Autumn said as she packed up her things. “We have a unique codebase here at MatchupNow, and it takes new hires a while to understand. You won’t get it all in one evening.”
“I’ll just do fifteen more minutes, then I’ll head out,” Grace said. In truth, she was eager to prove herself right out of the gate by figuring out the code—and adding to it—as quickly as she could. Starting in the tech field a little later than most meant that she often felt behind or like she wasn’t quite good enough. She wanted her team here to know that she was pulling her weight.
Grace read the code several more times, consulted the documents Autumn had shown her, and was able to add a few lines to streamline loading times of new profiles. Grinning, she stretched, elation filling her—until she glanced at the clock. It was almost nine p.m. She’d been at the office for twelve hours.
Standing, she stretched her stiff muscles, packed up, and headed to the elevators. A few people were still working, but most offices were dark and empty. Grace pushed the button and leaned against the wall, stifling a yawn.
“Grace, right?” a masculine voice asked. Grace turned, quickly ending her yawn, to see none other than Alex Medson again.
“Yes, that’s me.” She straightened up.
“Burning the midnight oil already?” Alex asked. Grace wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard a hint of appreciation in his tone.
“Just trying to figure everything out,” Grace said.
“And how’s it going? New hires tend to find our codebase difficult to understand.” He looked down at her with an inscrutable expression.
“I think I’m getting it,” Grace admitted. She didn’t want to sound cocky, but she wanted to prove her worth.
“Good for you.” The elevator arrived, and they both stepped in.
“Are you always here this late?” Grace asked.
Alex chuckled. “Later, usually. I’m not going home yet, just going to grab some food. The cafeteria closes at eight.”
“When do you sleep?”
“Almost never,” Alex admitted. “Four hours a night usually sees me through, though.”
That sounded difficult, but Grace wasn’t about to say so to her new boss. Still, she felt a little bad for him—as well as intimidated by his dedication.
The elevator reached the ground floor, and they stepped off.
“Good night, Grace,” Alex said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how you do here. I have my eye on you.”
“Good night,” Grace replied. As she got in her car and drove home down the sleepy late-evening streets, she couldn’t help wondering if Alex meant that in a good or a bad way.
CHAPTER 2
GRACE
Grace was back at the office at nine the next morning. She was a little tired—after getting home, she’d wolfed down a container of leftovers and looked through more information about MatchupNow before sleeping late—but excited to be back. The whole thirty-minute drive from her small apartment, she’d been thinking about work as she watched the low buildings of her suburbs turn into the skyscrapers of downtown San Valentino.
The morning was quite productive. Grace added a few more lines of code, which Autumn reviewed and approved.
“I’m impressed,” she said. “You’re already making progress.”
“Thanks. I have a good teacher.” Grace winked at Autumn, who laughed.
“I’ve done almost nothing but show you around. This is all you, Grace. Good work.”
Grace grinned, her heart warm from the praise. After a morning of work and lunch with her coworkers, it was time for another scrum. Along with the design and customer service teams, theywere discussing how the app would look after the updates, from the color scheme to the size of the icons to an interesting new layered layout for profiles. Grace was interested in every detail, and she wished she could see the main laptop where all the code was stored.
“The app will show information about prospective partners in three layers,” Alex was explaining. “If users like the first layer, the second will be revealed, and so on. Only if they like the information on the third layer will the match be made. It imitates the process of getting to know someone in real life and makes for more solid matches based on connection instead of just looking at pictures.”
“The layers should be easy enough to do,” Dennis, one of Grace’s team, said. “What information should be where?”
