Pinewood Corner Kitchen Chapter 3
“That was disappointing,” Gabriella said as they drove up the highway back toward Leominster.
“I get it though,” Graham said. “They’ve built this empire and if their secrets got out, other people could either use them to build themselves up or destroy them.”
She thought that was a bit dramatic for a cooking blog, but maybe it was a more cutthroat world than she’d envisioned. Based on the way the two Chapmans had looked at her when she went against their wishes, that had to be the case. Not so much cupcakes and lemonade.
And maybe she was being dramatic too, getting irritated that they called her unreasonable. But at least Graham had stuck up for her.
When they got back to headquarters, Graham looked at his phone. “I missed a call,” he said.
He opened his voicemail and the message started. “Graham, this is Steve Chapman,” came the voice now filled with that exuberance it had had when Steve first walked into the kitchen. “I think we got off on the wrong foot at our meeting and after talking it through with my wife, maybe we can go without the NDA for now. Could you and your partner come back?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Gabriella murmured.
“No, maybe this is good,” Graham said as the message clicked to an end. “We can actually do the case.”
“Yeah, but they were supposed to call the Foundation,” Gabriella said. “How do they even have your number anyway?”
Graham thought as they got out of the car. Even if they were going back today, it certainly wasn’t going to be right this second. They needed to talk to James about it first. “Oh, the class!” he said. “Madelyn bought the tickets, but they needed both of our contact information. They must have pulled my number out of the records.”
That didn’t sound legal, but even with her copious recent experience with shitty contracts, Gabriella couldn’t say for sure. But she did know that it was still such a relief to be able to say they were going to bring this to James and get his opinion before doing anything else.
He and Bradley were in the living room. Bradley had his leg propped up on the chair at the still-empty computer station as he worked at the station next to it. James sat on the couch under the window, drinking a mug of tea and looking outside at the silent street. This was so unlike his usual approach of diving straight into the overwhelming amount of work he had to do that Gabriella was both concerned and relieved to see it. He’d said he wasn’t going to give the Foundation everything he had anymore, that he’d do only what was necessary to keep his team safe. But as horrific and traumatizing as the events around the wellness fair had been, she could also see him falling right back into old habits now that he was in charge again.
“How’d it go?” he asked as they came up the stairs.
“I told them we couldn’t do it and to call the Foundation if they changed their minds,” Gabriella said.
“Good.”
“So they called Graham when we were on our way back to tell him that they changed their minds. They left a voicemail.”
James looked steadily at her for a second, then took a sip of what smelled like green tea. “Right,” he said, nodding as he glanced out the window again.
“What are you looking for?” Gabriella asked.
“Nothing,” he replied. “Just taking a minute.”
Good. That was a good thing, even if she didn’t trust that somewhat haunted look that still appeared in his eyes far too often. It was there right now as he gazed out at the flowers in the yard.
“Should I call them back?” Graham asked.
“Do you want them to call you every night with new requests?” Bradley retorted.
James shrugged and pointed toward Bradley. “He’s right,” he said. “Don’t call them back. Gabs, you specifically told them to call the Foundation rep?”
“Yeah.”
James looked around the room, his eyes landing on her, then Bradley’s propped-up leg, then back over to the window. “Then they need to call them.”
Graham’s phone buzzed again at that moment. “I think it’s them,” he said.
“Did you give them your number?”
“Only for the class last night,” Graham said. “I didn’t personally give them my number today.”
“Don’t answer,” James said. “You told them what to do and it wasn’t to call a staffer’s private line without an invitation.”
Sometimes they gave their numbers to clients, but the case hadn’t even started before it ended. Graham looked like he wanted to answer anyway, but he set his phone down on the coffee table. “Want me to write the report?” he asked Gabriella.
She could see the disappointment in his face and didn’t blame him. She’d never had to worry about meeting her heroes and realizing how shitty they were. All in the middle of a workday, too.
“I’ll get it,” she said.
He disappeared down the hall toward the bedrooms while she sat down at one of the empty computers and waited for it to start up. This would be a quick report because technically, the case was done. The Chapmans could reopen it with the Foundation if they wanted, but calling Graham’s personal line over and over wasn’t going to speed up that process.
James glanced at his watch. “Meeting’s in ten minutes,” he said, though it sounded more like he was talking to himself than anyone else.
“I can handle it alone,” Bradley said.
“No, I need to be there.”
“McGovern will live if you aren’t.”
Right. James being the captain again meant that he’d be meeting with McGovern, their branch liaison and one of the main reasons Adele had been able to capture James as easily as she had back in March. McGovern wasn’t a bad man and he was remorseful about the role he’d played, which was more than they’d gotten from anyone else in this situation. Except for James, who had no reason to feel guilty, yet was absolutely drowning in remorse.
Gabriella wasn’t supposed to know that Amelia had still been taking the meetings with McGovern as she and James worked through the slow transition back to captain and second-in-command. But Amelia was gone for the next few hours and even if she wasn’t, James would still insist. Even if his only contact with McGovern in the past several months had been yelling at him on the phone, then telling him they needed to get a new staffer if James quit. And even then, McGovern had said yes that would happen, when everybody knew that it wouldn’t.
Likely including McGovern.
“Look,” Bradley said quietly, “is it going to fuck you up being in there?”
“No.”
That was a lie. “Fine,” Bradley said. “It’s not like I can tell you what to do.”
There’d been several weeks where he could tell James what to do, but no one was about to mention that. James looked back out the window with his tea. Then he drained it and stood up.
“Alright,” he said. “I’ll meet you in there.”
Once he was in his office, Bradley carefully slung his bad leg onto the floor and stood up with a wince. He turned and saw Gabriella looking at the office door. “I’ll be there too,” he said, then walked away before she could say anything in response.
Graham’s phone buzzed again. Seriously? He came back in at the sound and they both watched it vibrate in the center of the coffee table, knocking into a rarely-used coaster.
“They’re not bad people,” Graham said.
Gabriella wanted to agree, but couldn’t.
She got her sad little lunch out of the fridge and ate it at the computer bank against regulations as she worked. She was midway through the report when James’s office door opened and he hurried out. Startled, Gabriella stood up. “Hey,” she said, moving toward him.
“I’m fine.”
He was definitely not fine. She stayed where she was for a second as he went into the kitchen and got a glass of water. Then the sound of broken glass had her hurrying in.
One of their drinking glasses was shattered on the floor with James standing over it, wide-eyed. “Gabs, go away.”
“Did you hurt yourself?”
“I’m fine, please go away.”
James got to the broom before she could, his hands shaking as he swept the glass shards into the dustpan and threw them in the trash. She wanted to ask if he’d done that on purpose, but she already knew the answer. He’d done it at least a few times. Smashing dishes or throwing things. And, at one point, diving into the lake near his old house on a snowy April day. All to prove to himself he wasn’t being controlled anymore.
“Can you help me with this report?” she asked.
James looked at her, confused. “What?”
“The Chapman report. I need help.”
“Gabs, I have to get back to McGovern.”
“It’ll only take a minute-” She looked over. In the office, Bradley held up two fingers away from the screen without looking at her, arguing with McGovern. “Two minutes. Please.”
James wasn’t going to believe she needed help, but that wasn’t the point. She held his eye and finally, he relented. “Yeah,” he said. “What do you need help with?”
“I’ll let you know.”
He sat down in the seat beside her and was silent as she typed up a report she could have done in her sleep. There were no cuts on his hands, which were steady now as they sat in his lap.
“I think I’ve got it now,” she said after two minutes had passed.
James nodded, not looking at her. She reached over and put her hand on his gloved one, giving it a squeeze.
“You don’t have to go back in,” she whispered. “Give Bradley two more minutes and he’ll piss McGovern off enough that he’ll hang up.”
James laughed, turning his hand over so he could take hers, just for a second, before letting go and standing up. “I need to get back on track if I’m captain,” he said.
She wasn’t going to argue, but she did linger over her work in the living room for a while in case he came back out.
