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, they were 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?”
“Layer one will have basic information like name, profession, and picture,” Alex answered. “Then questionnaire answers, then long-form answers.”
Grace bit her lip. There was one clear problem with this idea that Alex didn’t seem to see.
If he’d been just another coworker, she would have spoken up, but he was the CEO—and he had known control issues.
There was his need to review every line of code and attend every meeting, after all.
Still… Grace couldn’t let her intimidation get in the way of trying to make this app the best she could. Very slowly, she raised her hand.
“Yes.” Alex glanced at her. “Do you have a question?”
“I do. MatchupNow is all about connections based on compatibility, not superficiality, right? I agree with the layer concept in principle, but I’m worried about the order you mentioned.
If users see the picture, profession, and name first, they’ll be more likely to swipe based on appearance instead of getting to know potential matches,” Grace said.
“Wouldn’t that go against MatchupNow’s mission? ”
Alex turned to her, his piercing blue eyes fixing on hers. For a moment, Grace’s heart froze and a shiver ran down her spine. She was certain she’d made a mistake and would get fired right now, on her second day. But then, slowly, Alex nodded.
“Good point, Grace. How would you propose we fix that?”
“Um…” Grace’s cheeks reddened as she felt everyone’s eyes on her, but she couldn’t flinch.
“How about layer one shows some of the questionnaire answers? Like the question about pets, the one about an ideal relationship, and a few others. A mix of serious and silly. Then, layer two can have the longer-form answers, and layer three can have the picture, profession, and name.”
Alex looked at her again. Grace could feel his full attention on her, as if he were looking through her and directly into her thoughts. It was an unsettling feeling, but not an entirely unpleasant one.
“Agreed,” he said after a short pause. “That way, people will start to form opinions based on personality before getting waylaid by pictures.”
Grace nodded, and Alex smiled.
“Good.”
Another shiver ran down Grace’s spine at his single word of praise and his smile. It was completely inappropriate for the workplace, and she did her best to ignore it, but she would have to be blind not to notice that her new boss was attractive.
“Next, let’s discuss the placement of the information in each layer,” Alex continued.
The meeting went on. Emboldened by her initial suggestion, Grace found another opportunity to suggest a fix that could make the app run faster, which Alex also agreed with. By the time the meeting ended, she was exhilarated. Maybe she really was going to make her mark on this app.
“That’s all for today. Thanks, everyone.” Alex stood, and the others all slowly got to their feet. As Grace walked to the door, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned. Alex was standing behind her.
“Great ideas today,” he said. “Keep them coming.”
“Of course,” Grace said. “I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Come to my office later this afternoon. Let’s see what other ideas you have.”
Again, Grace felt a strange sensation run down her spine. Maybe Alex invited employees for private discussion all the time—yes, he almost certainly did, given his need to oversee every detail of the app. Yet Grace also felt seen and a little special. She was looking forward to the meeting.
“Of course,” she said again. “What time?”
“Around three.”
“See you then.”
She followed Autumn and her other colleagues back to the office. They chatted about plans for the upcoming weekend, but Grace was only half paying attention. Once again, she was thinking about the app—and about Alex.
If a part of Grace had hoped that Alex wanted to see her for herself, that part was squashed at the meeting.
Alex was completely professional. They spent almost an hour glued to his computer, adding tiny changes to the code to implement Grace’s idea to speed up the loading times.
By the end, Grace had a headache from examining the lines of code, but she was also thrilled by the chance to prove herself.
“Good work today,” Alex said when they both stood. “I’ll compile this and review it later.”
“Thanks for the opportunity,” Grace said. She winced internally at the overly bright phrasing, but she really was glad to have the chance to prove her worth. Hopefully, she’d have more chances in the future.
And more chances to earn Alex’s approval.
“So, you were working with Alex,” Autumn said when she returned to the office. There was something in her tone, halfway between teasing and annoyed.
“Yeah, I think he just wanted to talk through his ideas with someone,” Grace said. It wasn’t the truth, but something told her that she shouldn’t admit that she’d had a chance to contribute her ideas. “I thought Alex was closely involved. Don’t things like this happen all the time?”
“No,” Autumn replied. “And certainly not with new hires. He doesn’t have time for individual meetings. Well, good for you. I bet talking to him was very educational.”
“Definitely,” Grace agreed, though her stomach flipped.
She already thought of Autumn as something of a friend, even though she was also in charge of the department.
She didn’t want to make some kind of faux pas that would endanger their working relationship or friendship, so she added, “Also, I’m completely stuck on the algorithm we’re working on that orders the new profiles. Can you show me again?”
Autumn’s shoulders relaxed slightly, and she smiled. “Yeah, no problem. Scoot over.”
As Autumn talked Grace through the lines of code, which she understood well enough, Grace’s mind wandered. She thought of how she’d sat beside Alex, both of them bent over the laptop, close enough that their shoulders could have touched. Though they hadn’t.
Grace wasn’t about to endanger the new job she’d worked hard to get by developing a crush on the CEO. Still, Alex was attractive and interesting, and she had enjoyed spending time with him and winning his approval. She couldn’t help hoping that he might invite her for another meeting in the future.
By the end of the day, Grace seemed to be back on Autumn’s good side.
The two women left together, chatting, and Grace headed out to her car for the drive back to her apartment.
When she slept that night, lines of code danced through her head like sugarplum fairies—as did memories of Alex’s intense blue eyes when he’d looked at her in the meeting.