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I grinned. “I know you do. That’s why I chose you for it.”
He grinned. “Well, you know the product landing page? We should have a chatbot feature that incorporates the user’s location and connectsto the wireless app interface. Wouldn’t that be cool?” His face disappeared as he shared his screen with me. “This is what you sent me for instructions.…” He showed me a page and took me through the steps. “But if we change the programming just a bit, it’d look like this.” He flipped the screen to a new image. “Then users can navigatethisway.”
I watched his screen, paying close attention.
“Um, Ana?” he asked. He sounded nervous. “You’re being quiet. Do you hate it?”
I startled out of my reverie. “Not at all, Mike. I think this is amazing. We should go with your idea. It’ll improve the product. Well done.”
His face came back on-screen, and his smile was wide. “Really? Okay! Cool! Awesome. Okay. I’m going to get to work on completing it right now!”
I laughed at his enthusiasm. “Thanks for bringing this to me. We’re going to be a great team.”
“Yeah, we are!” he exclaimed. “Peace out, Ana. Bye!”
Was this what it was like in the boys’ club, minus the fabled, stereotypical locker room talk? Because it was pretty great. I could get used to being in a boys’ club like this.
Because of the exchange with Mike, I made a point to send a message to each team member individually, reminding them that if they had any ideas to run past me, or any additions to make, I would love to hear them. It didn’t take long before the others took me up on it, too.
Turned out we had a really smart group. Allen, Bruce, even Evan, wrote back with minor tweaks here and there that improved the product. Even though I knew this whole situation meant leaving Apollo IT, I couldn’t help but be incredibly proud of them. And sorry that we wouldn’t have theopportunity to work together again in the future. C’est la vie. There was no point in being sad about it. If I found this camaraderie once, I could find it again. I pushed away the thought that it had taken so long, and so many lies, and finally a common enemy to find it in the first place. It would be okay, I told myself again. If there was anything I was good at, it was finding an enemy.
Later that afternoon, I met Sara Jean for coffee. She picked a swanky little upscale place I’d never been to before, and my cold brew was served in a little porcelain cup. “I feel so fancy,” I murmured as I took a tiny sip.
“Cheers.” She held up her own tiny cup. “I can’t wait to see what you have for me.”
I opened my laptop. “I hope you like it as much as we do. I have an amazing team, and we’ve put our heart and soul into this.” I had a gorgeous portfolio to show her, courtesy of Allen. I took her through all we’d done so far and showed her what we had yet to implement.
“It’s perfect,” she said, and I could see her getting excited. “I can’t wait to show the board, and the Avs are going to be thrilled.”
“Everyone will be so happy to hear that. We have a few more tweaks and testing to do before it’s debuted at the Apollo IT company retreat in Las Vegas. Provided you don’t have any changes, it’s set to go live that same week.”
“Great. We’ve been working on how we’re going to advertise, so that dovetails nicely.” Then she leaned forward in her chair. “So how are things going with your little situation?”
“It’s interesting. Turns out I underestimated my team. I assumed that, since Melvin treated me, and you for that matter, like we weren’t important, they would have the same reaction. But they didn’t. At all.”
“You told them who you really are?”
“I did, and they didn’t even blink. They want to make the best product for you, and they don’t seem to care at all what I look like, so long as I can help them do it.”
She smiled at me knowingly. “And that’s why I do my little test. When you find people eager to look past appearances, you’re more likely to get the respect you deserve and cultivate a good working relationship.”
“I’m very lucky to have had this opportunity to work with them and with you. When the project is over, though, I’m going to part ways with Apollo IT.”
“I take it you haven’t worked things out with Mr. Hammer?”
“No. And I don’t intend to. Even if he didn’t take advantage of his employees, there’s no room on his team for an unapologetic feminist.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but believe me, I understand,” she said, taking another sip. “I’ve had lunch with the CEO of Apollo since we struck a deal, so if you’d like me to say anything on your behalf—”
“Thank you but no,” I said, then regretted cutting her off. But oh my god, no. I needed to fight my own battles. She’d already given me an incredible gift by trusting me with her company, but I could speak for myself. “If there’s anything he needs to know, I’ll make sure to tell him. Has Melvin emailed you at all?”
She shook her head. “He stopped by the practice arena a couple of times, but like before, he never came by to say hello.”
I rolled my eyes even as she laughed.
“This may sound condescending, and I don’t mean it to be, but I’m proud of you, Ana.”
I looked at her, feeling the lump in my throat again. “Thank you, Sara. That means a lot.”
