"Later." Vicki threw the words over her shoulder as if Claire were already forgotten.
After checking that her login worked again, Claire hunkered down the rest of the afternoon. She hummed as she compiled the latest version of her new code. She could hardly wait to present it at the next team meeting. The guys were going to be so impressed. At least that was her plan, anyway.
"Hey, Claire?—"
She screamed. Claire swiveled her chair around, her heart hammering. Srini stood frozen and wide-eyed just inside her office, a thick spiral-bound book clutched to his chest.
"W-why is the door closed?" Her voice came out too high, too sharp. "Please open the door." She started shaking and gripped the desk for support. The room got smaller and the walls inched closer.
Srini blinked, then quickly set the book on her desk and reached behind him. "Sorry, Claire. It must have shut behind me. I didn't close it on purpose."
The door swept open and air rushed back into her lungs.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice cautious.
Claire dragged her gaze from the door back to him. "I'm… I'm claustrophobic," she said, surprised the lie slipped so easily off her tongue. "I don't like closed doors."
He nodded, visibly relieved. Apparently, claustrophobia was an acceptable excuse for her unhinged reaction.
But she knew better. For a split second, she'd been back in another room. This one with the locked door, a cruel smile, and whispered threats no one else was around to hear.
She blinked hard and forced a breath through her nose. One awful experience shouldn't dictate her interactions for the rest of her life. Time will help. I just need time.
She swallowed and cleared her throat. "What have you got for me?" she asked him.
"Oh, right. Uh, Rick ordered you your own copy of the MADAS database definitions." He pointed to the massive book he'd placed on her desk. "He said some developers liked to have hard copies they could mark up. Personally, I'm all digital, but Rick and Delbert like both."
She smiled and her racing heart settled. "Thanks. That's so thoughtful."
"Sure." He turned to leave, but stopped. "We've got both digital and hard copies of all the MADAS documentation if there's something else you need to look at. The physical copies are in Larry's office on his bookshelf."
"Cool. I'll check them out. Thanks again, Srini."
"No worries," he said over his shoulder as he left.
Claire picked up the heavy manual, running her fingers along the edge of the spiral binding. A small gesture, but a meaningful one. After two weeks on the job, someone had finally shared something without her having to ask. A genuine, unsolicited offering. She did a little happy dance in her chair. The other developers were finally treating her like one of the team.
And that changed everything.
Chapter 6
Progress and Clarity
The weekly project meeting was in full swing. Noah had already given his update and now listened as the rest of the extended team took their turns. His screen showed about fifteen participants. The core team attended every week, but the extended team—subject matter experts for their respective departments and users who did the testing—joined as needed. Most called in from their desks, though a few gathered in conference rooms at their locations. The largest group sat together in a Houston conference room.
"Claire?" As Simon prompted the new hire, the video app brought the Houston group into focus and they grew larger on his screen. Noah leaned forward, wondering if Simon would address the productivity issues he'd brought up yesterday. After receiving his email, Simon had called and they'd discussed the new process. As expected, the project leader was interested in the results of Rick's tracking spreadsheet.
From his viewpoint, it looked like Claire sat near the room's exit. Srini had shared how Claire was apparently claustrophobic and thinking back, she'd sat close to the door in every video conference he'd attended. Interesting.
Her eyes darted around the room. "Um, I reviewed the upload process with Rick. Our new method of running requests through one person isn't working. It's slow, frustrating, and kind of painful for everyone involved. I'd like to propose an alternative."
Her eyes skimmed the room again, stealthily avoiding the dev group sitting in the corner, and waited for a response. Noah was surprised she'd brought up the pain point. Perhaps Simon had said something to her already.
"Go on," Simon encouraged.
"From the outside looking in, the original process seemed a bit clunky anyway, right? The multi-step ETL process is crazy complex and breaks every time we introduce any new?—"
Claire stopped at Noah's raised hand. "Yes?"
