I opened the laptop and saw the notification. New comment on the PR. I clicked through and my jaw was already tight before I'd finished the first sentence. Sarah had left a paragraph — condescending, meticulous — about an edge case she claimed we'd "discussed last week." We had not discussed it. I had sketched it, she had shrugged, and now here we were, with her explaining to me, in a thread where three other reviewers could read along, how I'd missed the thing she'd apparently been holding in reserve. The blood moved up the back of my neck. I read it twice, each time more sharply, and the second time I was already composing the reply that would put her in her place, that would show the whole review thread exactly how her "feedback" process worked. I closed the tab before I typed it. Not because I didn't mean it. Because I wanted my hands steadier when I sent it.
