I spotted my friend Lauren, one of the senior programmers, perched on top of an unused workbench. Her loose red curls were lightly frosted with sawdust.

“Have you seen Coach Leonard?”

“Yeah. Right behind you,” she said.

Coach was dressed in her typical uniform: a well-worn denim coverall that she somehow managed to make look stylish on her short, curvy frame. Her steel-gray hair was cropped close to her head, the color a sharp contrast to her warm brown skin.

“I see you’re back,” she said, her voice a low growl. The woman always sounded like she was getting over a bad case of something or other.

I sighed with relief as I handed off the check.

“Mission accomplished,” I said. “But don't make me do that again. I'm pretty sure they only paid me so I would leave.”

Coach Leonard silently shook her head with an amused grin, but Lauren let out a hoot of laughter.

“That must be why they gave so generously, Bert. Who wouldn’t pay to get rid of you?”

She picked up a piece of pizza, folding it in half like a taco before stuffing it in her mouth.

“Gee, thanks,” I said. Then I narrowed my eyes accusingly. “Exactly what's going on here? Too lazy to do actual work?”

“System updates,” Lauren said around a mouthful of pizza, waving her half-eaten slice at the bank of computers.

"What, all of them? At the same time? Whose brilliant idea was that?" I asked.

Lauren shrugged. "We needed a break anyway."

I looked at the clock. It was after five, and there was only so much programming you could do before your vision started to swim in code and your legs fell asleep. Maybe that only happened to me. My feet didn't quite touch the floor when I was seated at the desk.

Most team members were wrapping up whatever they were doing, leaving only a few people at work in the lab. Lewis had stopped playing with the remote and was now hunched over a circuit board with a soldering iron. Deon was no longer at his side.

There were still some programmers keeping an eye on the software update, but only one person was at work in the woodshop: the mystery Asian kid at the table saw, redoing bumpers for the robot.

I couldn’t quite think of his name. Maybe I’d never known his name. I thought it might be Matthew. He looked like a Matthew.

“Hey do you know…” I turned to ask Lauren for confirmation, but discovered she had taken off without saying goodbye.

Typical.

The boy (possibly Matthew) wasn't very tall, but would still tower over me. He had a slim, athletic build and held himself like a runner, his posture straight but not stiff.

He moved very cautiously, setting everything up very precisely, as if he didn’t have much experience in the shop. I could almost imagine him reciting safety rules in his head before flipping the switch on the saw.

I knew he hadn’t been part of the rookie boot camp I led in September. I would have remembered him. That meant he was very new to the team, which explained why I was blanking on his name.

“Need any help?” I asked, noticing he had yet to turn on the saw.

He looked up in surprise at my voice. “Oh, I uh… think I’m okay.”

“Cool.” I shifted from one foot to the other. “By the way, I don’t think we’ve met. Or if we have, I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t remember your name,” I said.

“Matthew.”

Nailed it!

“I’m Alberta, but most people call me Bertie,” I added.

“I know. You’re kind of famous around here.” When he smiled, a half-moon dimple appeared on his left cheek.

I grinned. “I think the word you are looking for is infamous.”

He shook his head with a smile. I was perturbed at how adorable the boy looked with his hair in a ridiculous cascading topknot, and a crooked smile lighting up his face.

“Thanks for offering the help, but I’ve got this. I need the practice, anyway. I might take you up on your offer when I move onto more complicated tasks. Today's nearly shot anyway.” He gestured to the clock.

I nodded. “Another time then.”

Matthew put in a pair of hot-pink earplugs and finally flipped the switch, starting up the hum of the well-tuned table saw.

I thought briefly about staying late to catch up on CAD, assuming the updates finished soon, but masquerading as a business professional had taken more out of me than I had anticipated.

With a barely acknowledged wave to the half-dozen people who remained in the Lair, I headed home.

As I got in the car I found myself reflecting on the fact that Matthew was quite adorbs.

Ugh. Why had I put that word in my brain?