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Contented was a good word to describe her mood, but it did nothing to capture the emotion that engulfed her when she was close to her fiancé. Strong arms encircled her, pulling Nancy Drew tight against Frank Hardy’s warm chest. She sighed in happiness – the perfect end to a perfect day. It had almost been enough to totally erase the nagging worry about Frank’s continuing nightmares.
Awakened by breakfast in bed, she would have been satisfied to lie around the apartment all day, though she suspected Frank would have ended up in front of his computer working on yet another edit of his Master’s thesis. She had been glad when he insisted on a trip to the zoo at Lincoln Park instead. They had a relaxing morning wandering through the exhibits followed by lunch at a nearby café overlooking Lake Michigan.
Then they had rented bicycles to cruise the lakefront trail for the afternoon. On their way back to the apartment they stopped by the grocery store and picked up steaks, potatoes, and the makings for a salad. Then they had gone to the movie rental place to select a couple movies to while away the evening.
They had worked companionably to make supper. Now, nearly three hours later, they were cuddled in front of the second movie, the remains of buttery popcorn on the coffee table in front of some romantic comedy playing on the television.
The steady thudding of Frank’s heart lulled Nancy into that pleasant place between waking and sleep. They both jumped when the telephone rang. Frank reached behind himself and picked up the receiver, sounding as sleepy as Nancy felt.
“’Lo? This is Frank.”
He must not have gotten a response. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
Even from where she was Nancy could hear the male voice on the phone. “Son of a bitch!”
Frank squinted at the caller identification. “They hung up. Do you know the number?”
He held the phone out to show her, but Nancy shook her head.
“It’s a Chicago number, but not one I know. Someone probably just dialed wrong.” She sat up and stretched. “Are you ready for bed?”
Frank took a deep breath as he put the handset back in its cradle. “Might as well. I think I’ve slept through half of this movie, anyway.”
“Me, too.”
The phone rang again around two in the morning. Nancy groaned and rolled out of Frank’s arms. She stumbled toward the living room wishing she had thought to bring the handset into the bedroom and wondering who was calling this time of a Sunday morning. She was spurred quickly to answer by a surge of panic as scenarios that would lead to either of their families calling this time of night began playing through her head.
Her heart threatened to escape her chest as she answered, “Hello?”
“Is Hardy still there?”
Adrenalin had staved the last of sleep fog from her head, but she was still stymied as she recognized the voice of her former boyfriend, Ned Nickerson.
“Ned? Why are you calling this time of night?”
“I called earlier but Frank Hardy picked up the phone. Tell me what I heard isn’t true, Nan?”
The slight slurring of the words hinted that Ned had likely been drinking. Nancy knew it wouldn’t take much alcohol - Ned had never been a big drinker. It would definitely go a long way toward explaining the early morning call. He was usually impeccably polite.
“Ned, it’s the middle of the night. Where are you?”
“I’m in Chicago – at Burt’s.”
That explained a lot. Burt Eddleton was one of Ned’s best friends, and tended to be hotheaded, likely fueling Ned to make this phone call. Burt had just broken up with Nancy’s best friend, George Fayne - at Frank and Nancy’s engagement party, no less. It had been the only thing to mar the festivities.
“Ned, it’s the middle of the night. I think you should go to sleep.”
“We need to talk, but I’m not coming over there if Hardy is there. Is he there, Nan?”
“Yes, Ned, he’s here. He lives here. I don’t see what difference it makes to you anyway. Why don’t you just go home to Kathy?”
She grimaced at the sulky tone of her voice. When Ned had shown up on her doorstep with another woman in tow she had managed to accept the end of their relationship without too much drama. But though she didn’t regret the way things had turned out, she couldn’t deny that it had hurt when she learned that Ned had found someone else.
The silence lengthened, and then she heard a heavy sigh. “Kathy is . . . she’s just a friend, Nan.”
“But you said –“
“I know what I said,” Ned snapped. He took another deep breath and when he continued his voice was defeated. “Kath tried to talk me out of it. She told me it was going to backfire. I guess she was right.”
Nancy closed her eyes. Obviously, she had failed yet another test – this time irreversibly.
“I can’t believe this.”
Ned’s voice was soft, but this time hopeful. “Am I too late, Nan?”
“What do you think, Ned?” She responded angrily.
“We really need to talk, Nan. Please.”
Nancy sighed. “It’s late, Ned.”
“I could stop by in the morning . . . after Hardy leaves.”
Ned was trying to sound reasonable, but every time he mentioned Frank’s name, she could detect the underlying anger. She was angry, herself. She counted to ten to keep from snapping at him.
“Fine. I’ll call you when he leaves for the gym and you can come by. It won’t be until after eight.”
Nancy ended the call and carried the handset back into the bedroom, just in case someone else decided to give them an after-hours call.
“What did Nickerson want?” The tension in Frank’s voice was unmistakable.
“Burt told him about our engagement.”
“I take it he wasn’t happy.”
“Um, no.”
“I thought he had a fiancée?”
Nancy pursed her lips. She was hesitant to add to Frank’s worries at this point. The day had been so relaxing, and he had actually been sleeping peacefully. The desire to slap Ned back to Decatur was intense.
“What’s going on, Nancy? Talk to me.”
Nancy couldn’t help the smirk that crossed her face. “That sounds familiar.”
“Don’t make this about me.”
Nancy lurched to a sitting position, pounding her fists on the mattress in frustration, and then holding her head in her hands.
“No, Frank, it’s all about me, and just what a screw-up I am when it comes to relationships.”
Frank sat up and put his hands on her shoulders, rubbing gently. “No you aren’t, Nan. What the hell did Nickerson say to you? Come on, sweetheart, out with it. We’ll both feel better.”
Nancy turned and looked at Frank, recognizing the sympathy in his eyes, and thinking that she was the one who should be feeling sorry for him. He had to be insane to want to marry her. She bowed her head, and haltingly related the basics of her conversation with Ned. When she looked back up into Frank’s eyes she was surprised at the anger reflected in his face.
“So he’s coming over here to see you in the morning? After I leave?”
“He just wants to talk.”
“You really think so, Nan? Because it sounds to me like he wants to make a play to get you back.”
Nancy took Frank’s hands and looked at him intently.
“That is not going to happen, Frank. I love you. Nothing Ned has to say is going to change that.”
Nancy waited as Frank processed what she had said. She released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding when he put a hand behind her neck and pressed his lips to her forehead.
“I love you, too, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about.” Nancy looked up into his eyes, willing him to understand. “But I do think that Ned and I need to talk. We both need some closure.”
Frank took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright. I’m not going to say I’m happy about it, but I understand.”
Nancy cupped Frank’s handsome face in her hands, the feel of his stubble comfortably familiar. She moved forward and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.
“Thank you.”
hdhdhdhdhdhd
When the buzzer sounded Frank’s first thought was that it was Nancy. She had left about ten minutes ago to pick up pastries at the corner bakery. She claimed it was her one indulgence, though he knew for a fact that she was also a sucker for deep dish Chicago pizza. It was no wonder she ran like a demon – it was probably the only way she kept that trim figure.
He pushed the button. “Forget your key, Nan?”
His teasing question was met with several seconds of silence. Then a tense male voice came over the intercom.
“Frank. It’s Ned. Can I come up?”
Frank toyed with the idea of leaving him standing on the stoop, but ultimately decided against it. It wouldn’t be fair to Nancy. He sighed and pressed the lock-release button to allow Ned entry.
A minute later he opened the door for his fiancée’s ex-boyfriend. Ned stood in the hallway, his usually-well-groomed blond hair was in disarray, and dark shadows were apparent under green eyes dull with pain. He looked heart-broken and hung over and Frank almost felt sorry for him – almost.
“Nan just stepped out for a few minutes,” Frank said. “Can I get you a cup of coffee, or something else to drink?”
“Coffee would be great,” Ned said with a wan smile.
He trailed behind Frank into the apartment and took a seat at the kitchen bar. Frank set an empty cup in front of him and filled it. He then warmed up his own coffee, before taking a seat at the opposite end of the bar from Ned.
Ned looked into the cup quietly for several seconds, before taking a drink. When he looked up at Frank, his gaze was apologetic. “I’m sorry about last night. I was kind of . . . surprised when you answered the phone. I guess I shouldn’t have been, but . . .”
Frank shrugged his acceptance of the apology. “It’s alright. I don’t hold my liquor too well either.”
Ned gave a self-deprecating snort. “Yeah, well Burt always has been the one to get me into trouble.”
“Listen, Ned, I’m sorry about this . . .” Frank let the sentence trail off. He was sorry. Sorry that Ned was obviously hurt by Nancy’s engagement to him. But he certainly wasn’t sorry it had happened. “I should probably be thanking you.”
“I was stupid.” Ned took another sip of his coffee. “I thought if Nan thought . . . anyway, it doesn’t matter. You finally won.”
“Stupid is right.”
They both turned at the sound of Nancy’s voice. She seemed to have appeared in the apartment out of nowhere.
Setting a box of pastries on the counter next to Frank, she locked her blue eyes on Ned. Frank felt another surge of pity for the man because those eyes were flashing with obvious anger.
“I thought you were going to wait until I called you?”
Ned glanced at Frank. “The light of day causes you to re-evaluate what you’ve said, and done. I decided I owed Hardy – um, Frank an apology, as well as you. I’m really sorry about last night, Nan. I guess I was just caught off-guard. Why didn’t you tell me you were engaged?”
As Frank watched, the anger reflected in Nancy’s blue eyes turned to guilt. He stood up.
“I think that’s my cue to leave. I’m headed down to the gym. Don’t forget we’re supposed to meet your dad and Hannah at church at 11.”
Nancy picked the box back up and handed it to him. “Why don’t you share these with Kip? I’ll meet you down there shortly for our run.”
She reached up for a light kiss. Frank glanced at Ned, catching another flash of pain in those dull green eyes. Frank was definitely feeling sorry for the guy as he walked out of the apartment. But, Ned’s loss was his gain. He might feel bad for him, but he wasn’t above taking advantage of Ned’s mistake.
He was trusting Nancy, and hoped he wasn’t making a mistake of his own, leaving her in the apartment with an ex-boyfriend that obviously wanted to drop the ‘ex.’
hdhdhdhdhdhd
Nancy poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, taking her time to stir in a splash of cream. She turned as the door to the apartment closed behind Frank. Leaning on the bar between the kitchen and the dining area in the tiny apartment, she looked at Ned. They had been together for so long that sometimes it seemed surreal that it was over.
Ned’s long fingers tapped erratically on the coffee cup in front of him, as he gazed studiously at the black liquid inside of it. “So, you and Frank Hardy? Ran straight to him, didn’t you?”
When Ned looked up at her his gaze was accusing and Nancy shook her head.
“I’d say it was more like running away from him in pure terror that I was going to screw up another relationship. We’ve been dating maybe a couple months, now.”
“A couple months? And you’re engaged? That’s awful damn fast. He’s not wasting any time staking a firm claim, is he? Or maybe he already had one, and I just didn’t know it.”
A cascade of discordant feeling gave Nancy a bad case of emotional whiplash that ended in an odd sense of repentance. “I’m sorry, Ned.”
“Sorry for cheating on me?”
“I didn’t cheat on you. Not really. But at some point I did fall out of love with you. I guess it just took me a while to realize it.”
Ned looked up at her, eyes narrow. “I just have one question. Was that before or after you fell in love with Frank Hardy?”
Nancy bit her lip. “I honestly don’t know, Ned. I thought you and I were going to be together forever. Then when I graduated high school and decided that what I really wanted was to pursue a career in private investigating, everything changed. Your reaction hurt me. Do you remember?”
“Of course I remember. I hurt you? You didn’t even discuss it with me, Nan. For two years we had talked about how great it would be when you joined me at Emerson and started your Journalism degree. The next thing I knew you were headed to CSU to study forensics. It was a hell of a shock. And I knew those damn Hardys were behind the change of mind. You had just run into them on the west coast. Do you remember?”
Nancy chewed her lip as she considered what Ned had said for several seconds before responding.
“It’s true, working with Frank and Joe on that case in L.A. did make me reconsider my career path. Frank had already started his studies at NYU in forensics, and it was fascinating talking to him about his classes. And Joe was all set to join him the next year. They were both so excited about it I guess I kind of caught the bug.”
Ned pursed his lips. “You know until that summer Frank and Joe Hardy were just a couple of guys in a family that you and your dad visited periodically. When you came back from L.A. it seemed a lot more . . . serious. You talked about them constantly for weeks after you returned.”
“I had talked to you about them before.”
Nancy felt defensive, and that bothered her. She dug back six years, thinking about her summer vacation the year after high school graduation. Dave had broken up with Bess, and she and George had decided that a visit to the west coast with a trip down the coast would be the perfect panacea for their friend.
In fact as she recalled she and Ned had argued just before their departure. He had wanted to come and she had nixed the idea, wanting to focus on her girlfriends for the trip. Ned must have remembered the argument, too.
“Yeah, but this was different. You told me it was a girl’s trip and I wasn’t welcome, then came home spouting about all the fun you had with Frank and Joe Hardy. How was I supposed to feel?”
“You would have been a constant reminder to Bess about what happened with Dave. I thought you understood why . . . oh, for goodness sakes. That was six years ago!” Nancy threw her hands up in disgust. “I can’t believe we’re discussing something that is practically ancient history.”
“Admit it, Nan. It was the beginning of the end for us. I tried to ignore the look in your eyes every time you mentioned Frank’s name, but even then it was obvious you felt more than friendship for him.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
Nancy sighed and shook her head. “Does it matter at this point?”
“I don’t suppose it does. Listen, I’m sorry about how this ended. That little stunt with Kathy was stupid and manipulative and I guess the outcome served me right. I hope you and Frank are very happy together, Nancy. I really do.” Ned stood, voice almost mocking as he said the last couple sentences, which served to set Nancy right on edge, again.
“We are.” she said irritably.
Then she looked at Ned, feet pointed toward the door, ready to flee her presence. After eight years together it felt almost too final. And she felt guilty but she wasn’t entirely sure why. She took a deep breath to curb her anger.
“I’m sorry it ended this way, too, Ned. I never meant to hurt you. I kept hoping we could work things out but I think I knew when you moved to Decatur that there was nothing left to work out. I should have made a clean break then. It wasn’t fair to either of us for me to keep hanging on at that point. For that I am truly sorry.”
A sad smile curved Ned’s lips, but his gaze when he looked up at her was once again accusatory. “I moved to Decatur after your last case with the Hardys. The truth is that I knew when you said you wouldn’t come with me that you had already made your choice. I guess we’re both guilty of hanging on too long.”
He walked to her, kissed her forehead and squeezed her shoulders. “Have a good life, Nancy Drew.”
Then he strode out the door.
Nancy stared at the closed door for several minutes trying to sort out her feelings. Over the last few years she had become almost numb to the pain that her arguments with Ned inevitably caused. But this time she realized that it wasn’t the pain of losing a boyfriend that was bothering her, but the comprehension that she had just lost a long-time friend.
Knowing that the relationship with Kathy had been a ruse Nancy was certain her own easy acceptance of it had to have hurt Ned. Had he really expected her to fight for him? The relief she had felt at the time had been palpable - a sure indicator that she had held on for far too long.
Nancy headed back to the bedroom to dress for her run. She needed the concentration of a long, hard run to straighten this mess out in her head. She smirked as she considered Frank’s half-hearted accompaniment in her jogging routine. Maybe today she would leave him in the gym.
He wasn’t going to like the pace she set.
hdhdhdhdhdhd
Frank looked up as the door to the gym opened again and was again disappointed to see someone other than Nancy walking in. The longer he was here the more he thought leaving her alone with Nickerson had been a mistake. Frank may have known Nancy longer than Ned but they had only been an actual couple for a couple months. Comparatively, Ned’s eight-year relationship with her seemed like a lifetime commitment. Even if Frank was the one who was engaged to her.
“Alright, Frankie-boy, what’s up?” Rudyard ‘Kip’ Arnold, the owner of the gym startled Frank out of his reverie.
Frank shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Right. Nothing. And I’m a famous poet. C’mon. I’ll spot you on the bench and you can tell me all about ‘nothing.’”
Frank followed Kip and lay down on the bench as the man adjusted the weights.
“Ned Nickerson showed up this morning.” Frank had no idea if Kip knew who Ned was or not but he had an inkling he did. Kip seemed to know a lot about Nancy even though she wasn’t a member at his gym.
Confirming his knowledge, Kip responded a moment later, “Always sucks when the ex shows up on your door step.”
“Tell me about it.”
Kip grunted as he helped Frank position the weight and then stood ready as Frank began the presses. Frank pushed himself harder then usual as his irritation at Ned resurfaced now that he wasn’t standing in front of him looking all injured and pitiful.
Finished with the first series of reps, Frank allowed Kip to lift the weight back into the rest while he shook out his arms.
“Ned looked like hell when he showed up and I almost felt sorry for him. Especially when Nan came back obviously pissed about the stunt he pulled last night.” Frank related the gist of the phone calls.
Kip lifted the weight into position for Frank to begin another set of presses. “And you left them up there alone? You’re a braver man than I, dude. Pity sex isn’t unheard of, you know. Gotten some myself.”
Frank nearly dropped the weight and Kip caught it mid fall, hauling it back into the rest.
“You don’t think –“ Frank shook his head, and grabbed the weight from its rest, pressing more furiously then ever. “No way. Not Nan.”
“You’re awful trusting, Hardy. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
Frank moved through the rest of his workout in a daze, Kip’s words eating away at him the longer he waited for Nancy to show up.
He was relieved when she jogged in 45 minutes later looking like a wet rag doll. He stood from the bench where he had just finished curls, mopped the sweat from his forehead and met her part way across the small gym.
“I thought you were going to stop and get me when you were ready for your run?”
“I stopped to get you for my cool down. I needed a hard run after talking to Ned. I hope you don’t mind but I didn’t think you’d be up for it.”
Taking in the soaked t-shirt and dripping hair he knew he would have been dying at the pace she had obviously set for herself. When she ran with him she barely broke a sweat.
“You’re probably right. Ready for a nice easy cool down?” He grinned at her.
“Yes. Then we better get ready for church.”
Frank followed her out of the gym and down the block, a triumphant smile on his face. Ned had been right. Frank had won. He had won Nancy’s heart from the man who had held it in butterfingers for the last eight years. And he didn’t plan to ever be as clumsy with it as Ned had been.
Unfortunately, in a dark corner of his mind Frank couldn’t help but wonder if Nancy wouldn’t be better off with Ned.
She would definitely be safer – of that he was certain.
FINI