It’s almost time to clock out. For hours after I noticed Lincoln feeling better, I’ve been trying to flirt with him, and he barely flirts back. He seems so disinterested, it’s like nothing between us ever happened, and it’s annoying the hell out of me.
Tom walks by our station after talking with the other coders, slipping his coat off the chair.
“See you two tomorrow,” he says, clapping Lincoln lightly on the back.
Lincoln adjusts a few files on the tablet. Tom starts talking to him about the planning they have to finalize for Friday, something about the rollout schedule and the remaining synchronization tests.
“My wife wants me to actually show up to my son’s soccer practice tonight,” Tom adds with a laugh. “I haven't been to a soccer practice in… 3 weeks now.”
Lincoln chuckles. “Damn Tom.”
“Yeah I know. The schedule has been crazy.”
“I know I probably sound like a hypocrite but you should make that a priority. Or at least try to.”
“You're right. Youdosound like a hypocrite.”
Tom and I laugh.
“Well shit,” Lincoln smiles. “I'm just saying… take it from someone whobarelygot to spend time with his family, it matters. Kids remember things like that. They remember you not being there.”
Tom sighs loudly. “Yeah, yeah, I know. That's why I'm going. Anyway, see you tomorrow. Later Sarah.”
“Bye, Tom,” I tell him as he heads out. He waves at me, still grumbling about being late.
Looking over at Lincoln, I give him a nudge. “You sound like you're speaking from experience.”
“A little,” he murmurs.
“You never want to talk about your family.”
“Because there's nothing to talk about. My father was barely there. Worked all the time and when he wasn't working he was drunk and passed out. Then he retired and was just passed out all the time or gone.”
This is the most that Lincoln has ever told me concerning his family. He doesn't seem to be very close with them at all. Every time I'd ask he would change the subject or just say he didn't want to talk about it.
“Do you still talk to your dad now?”
“Nope.”
But he doesn't give me any other information, I already know that he's locked back down.
Fabian, our Routing Systems Analyst doubling as CEO secretary, pulls on his winter jacket and tugs his hat over his ears as he cuts right in front of us, trying to exit first.
“Hey, Lincoln!” There is Tom again.
“You’re gonna be late Tom,” Lincoln laughs.
“I know, I know, but before I forget, I wanted to know if you looked over that last network log from Auralis. I got it earlier. Something about the loopback delay still being too sensitive when it’s mapping a cluttered environment.Nothing big.”
Lincoln nods. “Yeah, I tweaked it. I’ll send the patch file tonight.”
Tom points at him. “Perfect. Because if that loopback glitch carries into the units going out next month, legalisn’tgonna be happy.”
I fold my arms and wait, rolling my eyes as they keep talking.
Tom adjusts his gloves while talking to Lincoln. “... and dear old Tobias said we might have to reroute some of the predictive-risk data streams for next quarter. Something about Haffentrust Global getting nervous about the cross-market AI volatility.”
Lincoln nudges his bag higher on his shoulder. “They always get nervous before a major release.”
