Claire typed up her notes from this morning's meeting, appreciating her desk phone's headset, which allowed her to be productive while waiting on her dad to find his itinerary for next week. She heard him shuffling through papers on his end of the call.
"Here we go. Yep, I'm getting in shortly after lunch on Monday. I've got an afternoon meeting downtown once I'm there, then I'm visiting the north Houston plant on Tuesday, and the east Houston plant on Wednesday. But Thursday through Saturday, I'm all yours. Flying back early on Sunday."
"Are you sure you want to stay at a hotel? You don't want to bunk on my couch?" she asked. "I've actually got room for you now at my apartment. I couldn't say that in California."
"Nah, kitten. I'll come hang out with you, but I'll sleep better in a hotel. You will too, with my snoring." He chuckled, and Claire grinned at her end. She'd been pestering her dad to get a sleep study for years, but he didn't want to be bothered with wearing one of those "pesky masks" while he slept. "There's a decent one near downtown I usually stay at."
"Okay. I'm so happy you're coming. I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, sunshine. Anything I need to bring or have shipped to you? I think you've gotten all the kitchen stuff from storage."
"Oh, yeah, thanks again. I've made some awesome dishes with the bakeware. Mom had some great tools that are hard to find today. There was a cool baking mat with a grid I can use to measure out my dough." Claire stopped, realizing her dad couldn't care less about cool baking tools. "Anyway, I'm good. You don't need to bring anything."
"Okay, sweetheart. So, what are the plans for Thanksgiving Day?"
"Oh, we're having a big Friendsgiving feast here in the clubroom with my cooking buddies. And I've invited the MADS team from work to come eat lunch with us. Those who aren't in the US don't have this as a holiday, so they're here on their own. It didn't seem right for us to have this big party with lots of food while they were stuck in a hotel room away from their families."
"Sounds fun. I'm guessing your cooking group didn't mind at all. Based on everything you've told me, I imagine your Brinnie would feed the lot of them if she could."
Claire stopped typing. "I haven't told her yet. I just asked them this morning." It hadn't occurred to her that she should check before inviting the crew over. She shrugged. "But I'm sure she's okay with it. 'The more the merrier' is one of her favorite sayings. We're meeting for yoga after work today, so I'll tell her then."
Claire had been tickled when the team members accepted her invitation. And they seemed pleased as well. She guessed they weren't really looking forward to spending the week in the office with a skeleton crew. As much as developers craved distraction-free environments, they also liked to get immediate answers to their questions. Nothing worse than having a half-written block of code waiting for someone to get back to you.
Her dad asked a few questions about her work, and she shared a quick summary of the things she'd learned about Caprock. When her accounting buddy, Randall, waved at her from the hallway, she said her goodbyes and gathered her purse for lunch. They'd planned to walk the tunnels today and try the new Vietnamese restaurant three buildings over.
Noah surveyed the spacious room bustling with activity, then glanced at Rick and Larry. They looked as awestruck as he felt. Larry, who was off today for Thanksgiving, had swung by the office to give him and Rick a ride to Claire's apartment building for lunch. Upon arrival in the lobby, a brightly dressed older woman had directed them upstairs to the clubroom, where they now stood gawking at their surroundings.
The north wall boasted floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the professional baseball arena next door, and multiple TVs lined the remaining walls. For now, the screens were off, but he could imagine them all lit up on game day. He momentarily wondered if they ever carried the football matches from back home. Or soccer, as the Americans called it.
Scattered throughout the room were various eating and sitting spaces. Along the south wall ran a long counter stacked with piles of food. And what didn't fit on the counter spilled over onto the long bar next to it.
The room was crawling with people of all different sizes, colors, and shapes.
"Do you see Claire?" Rick asked.
Noah was taller than both Rick and Larry, but he couldn't spot the lively redhead anywhere in the mix. He was eager to find her, so he didn't feel like an interloper crashing a party with his tagalong friends.
"No. Do you think coming here was a mistake?" he wondered aloud.
"Hell, no," Larry answered. "Not if these are the folks who cooked for our Singapore meeting. Let's get a plate. We'll find her later."
Rick looked at Noah and shrugged. This was awful. An introvert's worst nightmare. A room full of strangers at an event he wasn't sure he should be at. He wiped his palms on his jeans and moved to follow Larry.
"Raines!" They turned as one at the loud greeting. A large man with weathered skin clasped Noah on the shoulder with one hand and held out his other to shake. Noah recognized the regional manager and shook the offered hand. "It's been a minute since I've been to the England plant. I heard y'all got the new tooling plant moved over from Scotland without a hitch. Good deal."
Noah swallowed and returned the greeting. Knowing Don was Claire's father added unexpected layers to Noah's impression of him. He introduced the sales manager to his companions. "Guys, this is Don Broussard, the US-Mid regional manager. Don, Rick Jackson from VIG, and you probably know Larry Kowloski."
"Oh, yeah. Larry and I go way back. So y'all are working with my daughter on the MADS project then?"
Rick's eyebrows went up. "You're Claire's dad?"
Don laughed. "Yeah. I know. She gets her looks from her mother. Listen, I'll catch you boys later. I've got to go catch Brinnie and give her a hard time. Oh, Claire's on her way. She'll be here any minute."
Brinnie? Noah searched his memory. Oh, right. The flamboyant older woman who'd first greeted them. Noah grinned. His own grandmother showed up in some wild colors sometimes, but she couldn't hold a candle to the lady playing hostess for this shindig.
"I've seen his name on reports we've worked with, but never snapped to the connection," Rick said.
"You didn't? Somebody mentioned the relationship a while back. Kind of made an ugly stink about it, too, but I don't remember who brought it up." Larry shrugged and hustled them toward the line to fill up their plates.
