It took a couple of miles on the treadmill before the voices in Gabriella’s head stopped screaming at her. She was so stupid. What had she been thinking? Apparently nothing, if the reaction from the others was to be believed.

She needed to be better at this. At all of it. Yeah, she’d gotten James out of the cemetery, but she’d immediately messed that up by slipping up in front of the doctor. And risked getting the Father in trouble yet again. When was she going to grow the hell up? James had talked her down from putting in her resignation over the summer, and she’d been starting to feel like things were getting better. But apparently, she still hadn’t learned, even if she thought she had.

“Oh, hey.”

She hadn’t even heard the door open, so Graham’s voice caught Gabriella off guard. She hadn’t bothered with headphones when she came down here, just tried to run herself ragged. So she looked up at him with a jolt as he walked in.

“You okay?” he asked, pulling off his Fitchburg State sweatshirt and hanging it on a hook by the door.

Gabriella slowed down to a walk and nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“James told me everything that happened.”

He smiled kindly at her as he looped his headphones around his neck. Then headed to the corner of the small gym to stretch for his own workout as Gabriella walked at a brisk pace to start cooling down.

“You’re good, you know that, right?”

Graham was sitting with his legs in front of him, reaching out to touch his toes. “What?” Gabriella asked.

“I said you’re good at this,” Graham replied, pulling back, then stretching again. “I haven’t been here long, but I’m impressed by how professional you are in fucked up situations. That’s all.”

Gabriella laughed a little bitterly. “Thanks, but I’m probably the least professional person on this team,” she said. “I almost just gave away what was happening with Father McEnerney. I just got lucky that the person I blabbed to is in on it too.”

“But you got James out of the cemetery, right? And yourself?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re both safe and alive? And the mission is still on?”

“Yeah.”

Graham shrugged. “Then you’re doing fine. One mistake isn’t going to ruin it completely, especially if it’s already resolved.”

Maybe she should feel weird about getting a pep talk from the newest member of the team. Wasn’t she the one that was supposed to be helping him settle into the job? But when he smiled, he was every inch the college professor again and she couldn’t help feeling inspired.

“You feel better?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Gabriella said, smiling back despite herself. “Thanks.”

Graham laughed and stood up, making his way toward the open treadmill. “Tell you what though,” he said as he plugged in his workout on the dashboard. “I’m loving this job, but it might be the weirdest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Same here,” Gabriella admitted. “I worked in customer service before this. Then I was unemployed and James brought me on.”

“I was a psychology professor until I almost got eaten by a bear monster.”

He winked at her and she laughed as she stepped off of the treadmill and went to get a paper towel and sanitizing spray. She cleaned off her machine as he began to run.

“Seriously,” Graham said. “Don’t worry. I know I’m the newbie, but at the risk of being patronizing, you remind me of some of my students last year. They were so doubtful about their performance, but they killed it on every single assessment.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but Graham just turned back toward the display on his treadmill and pulled his headphones over his ears. Gabriella waved goodbye to him as she picked up her water bottle and he nodded back with a smile.

---

The handprint was still clear on James’s face the next morning, but it looked a little less livid than it had all day the day before. “Gabs,” he said from the top of the stairs as she walked into the Headquarters. “I have a question for you.”

Oh God, what was it today? “Yeah?” she asked a little hesitantly.

“For the Halloween party,” he said. “I know Halloween is coming up quick, so I want to get planning. Do you think we should do it Friday or Saturday? I’m working overnight both nights, so it’s not going to fall on anyone else to watch the comms. My first thought was Friday, but I thought maybe people would have other plans.”

Gabriella was quiet for a moment. She was going to attend whenever it was, but James was so into the idea of this party and she could just tell that the others weren’t feeling it. It wasn’t that far away now, and she hadn’t heard a word from anyone else about planning. But the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint James, especially since he finally seemed to be getting out of that funk he’d been in when he’d taken over a few months ago. “Um…” she started uselessly.

“I’m leaning toward Saturday,” James said. “Do you think that would be best?”

“Yeah,” she said, feeling that little twist of guilt again. “Yeah, I think so.”

He smiled at her. “Great! I’m going to just get some party food, nothing too exciting. And some beer. Anyone who’s not on duty can have some.”

“Great.”

“This’ll be nice,” he said. “I want to do something fun for you all since things have been so stressful all, well, all year. So I’ll check with the others, but Saturday seems like the best option. I know things have been chaotic, but I’ll try and talk to the others and settle on a day.”

He walked away as she was still kicking off her shoes, heading toward his office. Gabriella sighed, then started walking up the stairs. Even if she was the only person at this party, she’d do whatever it took to keep James happy. She just hoped that the others felt the same way.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 16