by GSDana

Originally published at Zap's Trixie FanFic Site July 18, 2000.

Wannabe Author’s Notes:  I must admit, I shamelessly stole a restaurant from my recent trip to Colorado.  I am quite a fan of microbrewed beer, and Fort Collins, CO is home to many fine microbreweries.  For two years I have been told by all of my Colorado friends, “You must go to Fort Collins and sample the beers,” so when the opportunity arose to give a scientific talk among the home of microbreweries, I jumped at the chance!  C.B. & Pott’s came highly recommended from my boyfriend and it did not disappoint—it boasted a wonderful Hefeweizen and a fabulous Belgian Doppel, so it is no surprise that the restaurant should suddenly move to Westchester County and find itelf in my fanfic! Hopefully there is no law that says I can’t move a great brewpub from Ft. Collins, CO to Westchester County, NY…well, excepting the law of physics, I guess.

Chapter Four: Secrets and Misunderstandings

Jim stared down at the pile of cigarette butts in the loft of the barn, evidence that there had indeed been an intruder.  A worn, cheap cotton blanket lay near by, as well as several empty food cans.  Whoever the intruder was appeared to have a fondness for refried beans and Spam.  An empty tequila bottle also lay among the mess.  Jim decided that it probably wasn’t any of the kids after all—he didn’t really think that any of them could get their hands on the tequila.  Besides, the blanket made him think that the intruder was staying here; none of his boys had been missing from their nightly bunk checks.

If it was someone outside of camp, then he knew he shouldn’t touch anything, for fear of messing up fingerprints.  He wished Trixie were here—she could get so many insights from just studying the scene.  Well, she’s not here, Frayne, you’re a smart guy.  You can study this scene just as well!  How did Trixie do it when we were kids?  Oh, yeah, that time at Cobbett’s  Island when we found the cigarette butts in Pete’s tool shed, Trixie determined there were two people there by examining the butts.

Jim bent down to examine the evidence, a look of distaste clearly showing on his handsome face.  Cigarettes reminded him of the time Jonesy had burned down his uncle’s mansion with a careless flick of his cigarette.  This very barn and the summerhouse were all that remained of his uncle’s original showplace, Ten Acres.  Jim felt connected to this barn and certainly didn’t want it burning to the ground on account of someone’s nasty habit combined with carelessness.  He looked around the barn and suddenly remembered the Dodge case the BWGs had solved one summer; little runaway Davy Dodge had hidden in this barn with Wicky, his pony.  Trixie had been smart about solving that case, too.

Jim shook thoughts of Trixie out of his head and tried to concentrate on the task at hand.  Okay, one brand of cigarettes and all smoked right down to the butt.  Jim thought he could probably safely assume there had been only one intruder.  He turned to Bill, who was still standing, waiting for Jim to say something.

“When’s the last time anyone was in here?”

“Well, none of the maintenance crew has been here since the apple harvest last fall.  After we harvested the apples, made cider and applesauce for the winter for the school, and sold off the entire surplus, we locked this place up and haven’t been back here since.  It’s been about six months, sir,” Bill admitted.

“So the tramp could have been here last night or last winter, we don’t know,” Jim sighed.  “Well, we’d better start patrolling this barn to see if whoever it is comes back.  My guess is that it was a tramp that spent a few days here last winter and then moved on.”

Bill nodded.  “Do you want me to clean this up?”

Jim shook his head.  “No, my sister is in the process of getting her private investigator’s license right now.  I’ll have her come up here with her partner and take a look at this and see what clues they can dig up.”

Bill nodded his head in understanding and went to find his crew to set up a schedule of patrolling.  This was a great job, and Mr. Frayne was a great boss, so he wanted to immediately get started with protecting the boss’s property.

Jim trudged back to his cottage.  It was probably nothing; some tramp had seen the old barn at the back of the property and helped himself to a couple of nights’ lodging.  But why did he have this uneasy feeling about it?  Halfway back to the cottage, he realized it was just as easy to take the path to the Manor House and talk to Honey in person, as it was to call her, so he headed off in that direction.  At the Manor House, though, he was informed that Honey had just left for Crabapple Farm.

Jim cursed.  Should he call his sister there and risk talking to Trixie? Could it wait until morning?  Then again, maybe this would be the perfect excuse to call Trixie and make it up to her for being such a at Honey’s engagement party the night before.  He made up his mind and headed for the extension in the den.

Mrs. Belden answered the phone at Crabapple Farm.

“Hi, Mrs. Belden,” Jim was suddenly shy. “It’s Jim.”

“Jim! Hi there!” There was nothing but warmth in Mrs. Belden’s voice, and Jim was relieved.  “We miss you here at the Farm.”

“I miss you and the Farm, too, Mrs. B.  I haven’t yet been able to find anyone who can bake a pie like you do.”

“Well, tomorrow is baking day, so please come on over and have a slice of pie and catch me up with what’s been going on in your life.”

Jim hesitated, he would like nothing better, but he didn’t want to upset Trixie if she didn’t want to see him.  Mrs. Belden understood his reluctance.

“Jim, she doesn’t bite.  You are more than welcome to come over and I will ensure that my stubborn daughter won’t chase you out of the house!”

Jim laughed.  “Well, when you put it that way, I’d love to come over tomorrow for some pie!”

Mrs. Belden smiled, knowing Trixie was going to kill her for her matchmaking, but not caring—it was time these two got back together!  “Glad to hear it, Jim.”

“Is my sister there by any chance?  Celia told me she headed over there a while ago.”

“Sorry, you just missed her.  Hallie, Di, Honey, and Trixie met up here before heading out into town for a ‘GNO’ or something.  The cab just left.  I haven’t heard that much giggling since they were teenagers!”  Helen smiled at the girls’ antics, glad that Trixie finally seemed to be a little cheered up.  She knew Trixie had a lot on her mind and she suspected not all of it had to do with Jim, but she knew better than to ask.  Trixie would tell her when she was ready.

“Wow!  That’s something no one needs to be a witness to, but at least you survived to tell the tale,” Jim chuckled.

“Yes, I did.  Now I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon for some pie and conversation, right James Frayne?”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

Jim smiled as he hung up the phone.  Maybe things could go back to normal after all.

 Meanwhile, the girls had decided to try a new restaurant/microbrewery that had opened up halfway between  White Plains  and Sleepyside on Albany Post Road.  C.B. & Potts had a casual appeal to it, the girls saw as they entered the brewpub.  To the left of them was a more traditional restaurant, and to the right was a large area with lots of tall, round tables, each with four tall stools surrounding them.  The bar sat at the back of the room, and seemed to have the only empty seats in the entire room.  Laughter and chatter met the girls’ ears as they looked around, taking in the wood beams and railings.  It almost looked as if they were in a log cabin.  A hostess approached them then.

“Hi! Four?” She asked.  At their nods, she told them it would be about an hour’s wait for a table, but they could sit at the bar.

“Can we order food at the bar?” Trixie asked.

“Sure,” the hostess confirmed.

Trixie looked at her friends.  “Do you want to just sit there?”

When the other three consented, Trixie thanked the hostess and led the way to the bar.  There were four empty seats in a row around a corner, so Trixie and Honey sat down on one side, and Hallie and Di took seats so that they sat at a 90 degree angle to the other two; this made for easier conversation than sitting all in a row.

“This place is pretty cool,” Hallie remarked.  She had just turned twenty-one and was becoming quite a connoisseur of brewpubs; Dan had turned her on to the wonders of micro brewed beer.

“It’s obviously caught on pretty quickly considering it’s this crowded and they’ve only been open a month,” Honey noted.

“Brewpubs are catching on all over the country,” Diana said.  “I myself prefer wine, but I must admit I did try some of that home-brewed stuff Dan made, and I really liked it.  It has so much more flavor than mass-produced beer.”

Hallie nodded.  “Dan can do some pretty good stuff.”

Trixie snickered.  “And not just when it comes to beer-making, huh, Hallie?”

Hallie laughed.  “Don’t get me started!!”

The four girls were laughing when the bartender came up to them and asked what they wanted.

Honey spoke for all of them.  “Well, we’re pretty new to this beer brewed on the premises thing, so what do you recommend?”

“Well, we have six beers that we are brewing right now, three darks and three lights.  What kind of beers do you like?”

Hallie spoke up then.  “I like dark beers, but I think the rest of them would prefer something lighter.  Do you have a Hefeweizen?”

“We sure do.  We also have a sampler you can buy—four 4 oz. samples for the price of a pint.  Do you want to try that?”

“Sure, give us two samplers, with one of each of your six beers and make the extra two one Hefeweizen, and do you have a Belgian?”  Hallie wanted to know.

“We have a Belgian Doppel that’s new this week, and it’s been really popular,” the bartender explained.

“Sounds great,” Hallie told him.

After checking their identification, the handsome bartender went to get their samplers.

“Hefeweizen?”  Diana wanted to know.  “What am I going to be drinking?”

“It’s an unfiltered German style wheat beer.  It’s really good if you like light beers, and very popular,” Hallie explained.

The bartender then placed the eight samples in front of them, explaining what each one was.  Hallie was pleased to see there was quite a selection, from a blueberry flavored wheat, to an amber ale, to a darker Porter, in addition to the Hefeweizen and her beloved Belgian.  The girls sampled each one, loving the change from mass-produced, tasteless beer usually served at college parties.

Finally, Diana and Honey each ordered a Hefeweizen, Trixie went with the quaint “Bluesberry,” as it was called, and Hallie was quite pleased with the Doppel and ordered that.

Drink orders taken care of, the girls opened their menus, and tried to make their next crucial decision: what to eat.  All of the menu items sounded tempting, but they finally decided and placed their orders.

The four girls chatted happily as they waited for their food orders, and Honey was happy to see that this outing was having the desired effect: Trixie seemed to be relaxing.  Diana and Hallie also kept a watchful eye on Trixie; they, too, were glad to see some of the old sparkle returning to her blue eyes.

“Hey, Hallie,” Trixie said in an odd voice and Hallie immediately wondered what was up.  “I might need a favor from you.”

“Sure, Trix, anything for my favorite cousin!”  Hallie said tongue-in-cheek, remembering that when they were younger, things had been tense between them.  She was sincerely glad they had outgrown that phase of their lives and could be genuine friends now that they were older.

“Well, I’ve kind of had this offer from the FBI, and if I decide to take it, you may be the main Belden in the Belden-Wheeler detective agency.”

“You’re kidding!”  Hallie said at the same time as Diana exclaimed, “The FBI?”

Trixie nodded, laughing at the surprised expressions on her friends’ faces.  “Sure enough.  They’ve been trying to recruit me since I took that summer internship at  Quantico last year.”

“Wow! That’s great, Trix.  Do you think you’ll take it?”  Di wanted to know.

“I’m thinking about it, but I have a while yet to decide.  I mean, on one hand it’s a great opportunity but on the other hand, opening an agency with Honey has always been my dream.  What do I do?”

Hallie turned to Honey.  “What do you think?”

Honey took a moment before replying.  “I would love to open the Belden-Wheeler detective agency with Trixie, but if she can get some valuable experience with the FBI and that’s what she wants, I think she should go for it.”  Honey’s face suddenly took on a devilish grin.  “I told her we’d take her back into the agency anytime she’d had enough playing with Mulder and Scully.”

The girls all laughed at Honey’s reference to the TV show Trixie had religiously watched for years now.

Their food arrived just then, and the quartet dug into the meals with gusto.  After her third bite, Trixie suddenly realized that the seat next to her had been filled with a rather handsome twenty-something.  He had auburn hair, green eyes, and a build similar to Jim.  He happened to look at her and smile right then, and she noted that he had a nice smile.

The young detective put her sandwich down after taking a bite and smiled back at him.

“Hi,” the handsome stranger said.  “I’ve never been here before.  What do you recommend?”

Trixie wiped her mouth with her napkin.  “This is our first time here, too, but I can definitely recommend the blue-cheese chicken sandwich.  It’s great!”

“It does look good.  My name’s Scott by the way,” he introduced himself, and held out a hand.

Trixie took it.  “I’m Trixie, and this is my best friend Honey, my cousin Hallie, and my sister-in-law Diana.”

The three girls waved at Scott, amused that he was hitting on their friend, and even more amused because they all knew he was flirting with Trixie, but Trixie herself probably didn’t realize it.  Trixie’s self-image, given a beating when she was younger by always being called “sturdy” and by Mart’s teasing, had never really improved, even though she had slimmed down.  Therefore, now an adult, Trixie had a hard time seeing herself as others saw her.

“So, what do you and your friends do for amusement around here?”  Scott wanted to know.  “I just moved to the area recently.”

“Where specifically did you move to?”  Trixie wanted to know.

“A town north of here called Sleepyside,” Scott informed her.

“Really?  That’s were Di and I grew up, and Honey moved there when she was a teenager,” Trixie exclaimed.

“Well then, I guess you really can give me the lowdown on the area,” Scott said with his charming smile.

Diana spoke up then.  “There’s a lot of charm to Sleepyside.  How long are you going to be here for?”

“At least for the summer.  I’m going to be starting my third year of law school, and my uncle said that Sleepyside might be a good place to start my practice after I graduate, so I chose to do my summer law internship at a firm in  White Plains.  I’m kind of here for the summer scoping the area out,” Scott explained.  Trixie stared at him critically and decided that, besides Jim, he was one of the handsomest men she had ever seen.

“Where do you go to law school?”  Honey politely asked between bites of her seared Mahi Mahi sandwich.

“Georgetown,” came the reply.

Trixie jumped.  “Hey, I just graduated from there!  What a coincidence!”

Scott’s smile broadened.  “Really?  What was your major?”

“Criminology,” Trixie told him.

“That was my major in undergrad, too.  With a minor in poli sci.  Now my specialty is criminal law.  Are you planning on law school?”  Scott inquired.

Trixie shook her head and Honey jumped in to brag about her friend.  “Trixie is being recruited by the FBI,” Honey said, no small amount of pride in her voice.

Scott looked impressed.  “Really? Wow, to be recruited by them must mean you’re good.”

Trixie blushed and once again her friends jumped to her rescue.  “She is good,” Di said.  “She’s helped the police with a number of cases, some of them even involving international crime rings.”

Scott looked at Trixie.  “I’d like to hear about them.  You sound like an amazing woman.”

The other three girls were grinning delightedly as they watched this good-looking man so obviously flirt with their friend.

Trixie laughed self-consciously.  “I don’t know about that, but we’ve had our share of excitement in the past.”

Scott ordered food and the rest of the evening was spent companionably chatting amongst the five of them.  Honey watched Trixie become animated as she and Scott talked about  Georgetown and D.C., as well as one of Trixie’s favorite places, Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, just a short subway ride from campus.  As much as Honey wanted Trixie to be with her brother, Jim was being ridiculous, and this Scott guy seemed to have a lot in common with Trixie.  Of course, this was just a chance meeting in a restaurant, but maybe something nice would come of it.  If not, maybe some of Trixie’s confidence with guys would return.  Ever since Jim and then Matt, Trixie had been a little gun-shy when it came to dealing with the opposite sex.

When it came time to leave, Scott asked Trixie if he could call her.  Trixie hesitated and involuntarily looked to Honey for guidance.  Honey smiled and winked and pulled a piece of paper and pen out of her purse, pushing it toward Trixie, giving her tacit encouragement.  Trixie took it, and with a deep breath, wrote her phone number down.

Scott stared at the piece of paper and then smiled at Trixie.  “I’ll be using this soon,” he promised as Trixie smiled at him and followed her friends out of the brewpub.

Once settled in the back of a cab on its way to Crabapple Farm, Trixie exploded.  “Can you believe that?”

Honey, Di, and Hallie answered in one voice. “Yes!”

Trixie looked startled.  “What?”

Hallie snorted while Honey explained.  “Trixie, why must you think of yourself as a troll?  You are a good-looking, intelligent, funny woman.  Of course guys are going to be attracted to you!”

“But giving him my phone number seemed kind of weird,” Trixie explained.

“Well, he seemed very nice and it wasn’t like this was some meat market dance club in downtown  New York City  .  It was a chance meeting at a nice restaurant in the suburbs and you happened to have a lot in common, if you didn’t notice,” Hallie reasoned.

Trixie smiled.  “We did, didn’t we?”

Diana piped up.  “I, for one, am happy for you, Trix.  Just do me a favor and don’t let my husband know that I condoned his sister giving out her phone number to someone she just met, ‘kay?”

The girls laughed, for they knew that although Mart mercilessly teased his younger sister, he was also fiercely protective of her.  She had been hurt too many times in the past for him to want to see it happen again.

“Or my boyfriend, who for some reason has always felt personally responsible for Trixie’s safety,” Hallie added.

“Or my fiancé, who has an even bigger big brother complex than Mart,” Honey added.  Or my brother who, despite the fact that he’s acting like a jerk, still loves Trixie, whether he knows it or no, she silently added to herself.

The next morning, Trixie kept herself busy helping Moms with housework.  As much as Trixie hated dusting when she was younger, she didn’t really mind it that day.  As full as her mind was with her decision and thoughts of Jim and Scott, she was glad to be able to keep her hands busy while her mind wandered.

The phone rang and Trixie yelled to her mom that she would answer it.

“Belden residence,” she answered.

“Hi, is Trixie there?” a male voice asked.

“This is Trixie,” she stated.

“Hi, Trixie.  This is Scott.  Scott Mason, we met last night at C.B. & Pott’s.”

“Hi, Scott!  You promised you’d call soon, but I certainly didn’t think it would be this soon!”  Trixie blurted, and then berated herself for her lack of sophistication.

Scott sounded amused on his end of the line.  “Well, I don’t believe in playing those stupid phone waiting games.  I think if you want to call someone, you should call them without worrying if the current social game dictates that you wait two days or three days or until the next full moon or whatever!”

Trixie giggled.  She had always thought playing dating games was stupid, too.  Trixie firmly believed that if you wanted something, you should go about it directly.  “I heartily agree.”

The two chatted for a while about everything and nothing, and Scott finally asked her out.

“How about dinner and a movie next Friday?”

As much as Trixie enjoyed talking to Scott, she didn’t feel she was ready to go out on a date with someone she just happened to meet at a brewpub.  Her mind thought quickly and improvised.  “Well, my brother is coming into town Friday and I was supposed to have dinner with him and Honey.  Would you like to join us?”

Scott agreed and the two made arrangements for Scott to come by Crabapple Farm at  seven o’clock the next Friday.

“But I don’t think I can wait that long to talk to you again, so I’m sure you’ll hear from me before then—is that okay?” Scott wanted to know.

Trixie smiled happily.  “That’s fine by me.”

The two talked a little longer and then said good-bye.  As soon as Trixie hung up, she dialed Honey’s number.

~*~*~*~*~ 

Jim looked in the mirror before he left his cottage to head over to Crabapple Farm.  His polo shirt and new jeans looked casual but nice, he decided.  Okay, let’s go grovel before Trixie and ask for her help on this intruder business.  Maybe she’ll even let you take her out to dinner.

Jim followed the trail from Ten Acres down into the hollow where Trixie’s family’s farm sat, wondering how many times over the years he had used this path.  He felt so lucky to have grown up here, to have been adopted by the Wheeler’s, and he owed all that to Trixie.  How could he act the way he had to the girl who was responsible for everything that he had?  Without Trixie there would be no Ten Acres Boys’ School, no inheritance from his uncle, no growing up with a great family like the Wheelers.  So she had wanted to pursue something on her own for a while—why had he reacted like that?  Jim shook his head, knowing deep down inside of him why her had reacted to her leaving like he did.  It was because everyone left him sooner or later and he didn’t know how do deal with it when it was Trixie.

Well, that was water under the bridge, Jim reasoned.  I can’t change the past, but I can own up to my actions and motivations and definitely try to direct the future—toward an ‘us,’ a ‘Jim and Trixie’ like it used to be, he thought.  Hopefully, it’s not too late.

Jim walked up to the kitchen door and was about to knock when he heard Trixie on the phone.  He knew it wasn’t right, but something compelled him to eavesdrop.

“Can you believe he called me already, Honey?”  Trixie was saying.

Jim couldn’t hear Honey’s response of, “Of course I believe it!  It was so obvious how interested he was in you.”

“It was not.  What would some hot guy sitting at the bar be interested in me for?”  Trixie asked.

Jim heard this with a mixture of feelings: incredulity that Trixie didn’t know just how attractive she was and with disappointment and regret that some lucky guy obviously had realized what just how attractive she was—and he was on the outside again.

Trixie listened to what Honey was saying.  “He’s not the only guy who finds you attractive, Trixie.  I know Jim still does.  When he looked over at you the night of the engagement party, he was definitely in awe.”

“Whatever.  If he thought I looked so good at the engagement party, why did he pick a fight?” Trixie demanded.

“Because he has a lot of pride, Trix, but he thought you looked fabulous.  Anybody could tell by the look on his face; anybody but you that is,” Honey stated.

“Well, he did ask me to dance, but we both know how disastrous that was.  But in a way it was good, because I think I finally realize that things between us can never go back to the way they were, as much as I wanted them to,” Trixie said sadly.

Jim wanted to kick himself more than ever.  Stupid temper!  It had ruined things once and for all between Trixie and him.  He wanted to throw open the door, run into the kitchen, and tell her that things could go back to the way they were—that if that’s what she wanted, than he did too.  But she had used the past tense.  She had said “as much as I wanted them to.”  It was too late.  Now she had this “hot guy” from the bar, and she certainly wouldn’t want some crazy guy who yelled at her for making her own decisions and tried to keep her wings clipped.  But, Trixie, it wasn’t because I didn’t love you, it was because I did.  You are such a rare and beautiful specimen that I was afraid of losing you to the world.   I was afraid you’d see that wonderful world out there, so shiny and vibrant, like you, and you would never come home to me.  Oh, what have I done?  Jim’s brain screamed.

“So, he asked me out for Friday night, but I was afraid to go out with him alone, so I said I had plans with you and Brian and invited him along—puh-lease tell me you and Brian can go out to dinner with us next Friday!”  Trixie sounded frantic to Jim’s ears.

Jim felt as though he had gotten the wind knocked out of him.  It was finally over.  Despite everything that had happened in the past, he had always just assumed that he and Trixie would get back together again, even when he was with Megan, even when Trixie was with Matt.  They had always seemed meant to be.  But now she had this “hot guy” from the bar. And now he, Jim, was out of the running.  He left his post by the kitchen door and trudged across the lawn toward the path to Manor House.  He would have to find Honey and ask for her help in finding the intruder.  He couldn’t face Trixie right now.

All the way to the Manor House, Jim battled with himself.  Should he pretend he didn’t hear any of the conversation?  Should he try to subtly get information from Honey about what he had overheard?  Or should he just throw caution to the wind and confront her straight out?  Since when does Honey just let some stranger hit on Trixie at the bar and get her phone number?  The world is full of psychos!  I thought Trixie and Honey had more sense than that!

Each thought in this vein got Jim more and more riled during the short walk to Manor House.  His frustration and jealousy were being channeled into anger about some unknown guy getting Trixie’s phone number at a bar.  He tried to pretend that it was just brotherly concern that was fueling his ire, but deep down he knew it was because he had finally lost out.  By the time he reached Honey’s door and knocked, his famous red-haired temper was already inflamed.

Honey threw the door open and smiled at her older brother, but once she got a good look at the expression on his face, the smile disappeared.

“Jim?  What’s wrong?”  Honey was concerned.  She hadn’t seen Jim looking quite like this since the day Trixie left for  Georgetown.

“How could you let her do it?”  Jim yelled, sorry that he was losing his temper, but too far-gone to try to control it.

“What?  Let who do what?”  Honey was completely bewildered; the only thing she could think of was that Jim had found out about the offer from the FBI.

“Go out with some guy she doesn’t even know!”  Jim responded.

Honey was surprised.  “Are you talking about Trixie and Scott?”

“Whatever his name is!  You let some guy pick up Trixie in a bar?  I thought you had more sense than that!”  Jim was really on a roll.

Honey was distraught at seeing her brother so incensed.  “Jim, I’m really sorry.  Calm down, please.”  Honey begged, always the peacemaker.

Jim took one look at his sister’s distressed face and relented.  This wasn’t doing anybody any good, and it was only upsetting Honey.  His anger suddenly vanished, and he turned sheepish.  “Honey, I’m sorry.  I guess I was so worried about Trixie’s safety that I kind of let my temper get away with me on the walk up here.”

Honey was relieved to see him calm down.  “How do you know about this at all?”  She blurted out, curiosity getting the better of her.

Jim took a deep breath, ready to begin his confession.  “Mrs. Belden invited me down to the Farm for pie, and I needed to ask Trixie for a favor.  I overheard Trixie on the phone with you when I got there.  She doesn’t know I heard.”

Honey nodded.  “I’m sorry, Jim.  I know it must hurt to think of Trixie with someone else –“

Before she could finish, Jim interrupted.  “It’s not that!  Trixie can date whomever she pleases; I’m just worried that it’s some strange guy in a bar, that’s all.”

Honey knew better, but she also knew how to deal with male delusions.  “Right.  Well, it wasn’t really at a bar.  That new place, C.B. & Pott’s, opened up on  Albany Post Road, and the four of us girls went there for a Girls’ Night Out.  It’s not really a bar, it’s more like a restaurant, and it’s actually really quaint.  This guy started talking to us, and he was really nice.  He’s a third year law student at Georgetown, so he must be rather respectable and upstanding.  Georgetown Law is hardly something to sneeze at.  Hallie, Di, and I were all there to protect her, and we all agreed—he seemed harmless.”

Jim looked at Honey miserably.  “I’m sorry I overreacted.  I keep forgetting that Trixie isn’t that impetuous fourteen-year-old anymore.  She’s a big girl who took care of herself in D.C. for four years.  You’re right, Honey, she can handle herself with some guy she met near Sleepyside.”

Honey felt bad for Jim and reached out to give him a hug.  “She would cancel her date on Friday night in a heartbeat if she thought for a second you might want to go out with her instead.”

Jim shook his head.  “No, there’s too much history for Trixie and I to ignore.  It’s better that she has a clean slate.”

Honey decided then to tell Jim about the FBI offer, before he heard about it from someone else.  “I think you should know something else—Trixie has had an offer from the FBI to take a position down in D.C.  She hasn’t decided anything, but I didn’t want you to hear it second hand and freak out or something.”

Jim smiled ruefully.  “I’m not going to freak, Honey, but thanks for telling me.  What about you and the agency though?”

Honey explained to him that although she wanted nothing more than to open the agency with Trixie, she knew she had to let Trixie choose what was best for her.  If she insisted that Trixie open the agency with her, and Trixie was too selfless to do anything but do that if Honey requested it, Trixie might end up resenting the opportunity she let slip away.  Honey vowed that nothing was more important than the friendship she and Trixie shared, not even the childhood dream of the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency.  Jim knew that Honey was not speaking only of the current situation, but also of Trixie’s decision to go to  Georgetown.  He had let his dream of having Trixie by his side forever, and his insecurities from his childhood, get in the way of her need to go to  Georgetown  .  Too late, he had realized his mistake.

Honey saw the realization and misery mingle in Jim’s eyes and wished that there was something that she could do.  She hated to see the big brother she cherished so much looking so sad.  “Jim, go to her.  Please trust me—Scott will be ancient history if you just tell her what you are thinking.  Tell her what you were thinking then, when she left four years ago.  Deep down I think she understood where you were coming from, but she’s just as stubborn as you are.  Look at all of us, Brian and I, Mart and Di, even Hallie and Dan—we’re all where we should be.  And if you march yourself down to Crabapple Farm right now, you and Trixie can be too.”

Jim looked at his sister.  “Don’t you see that it’s too late?  If she were to start things with me now, there would be this question in her mind of ‘What might have been with Scott?’  That would always be between us, and it would never work.”

Honey was incredulous.  “After one night at a pub? Come on, Jim, you can't really believe that, can you?”

“Well, even if it wasn’t on her mind, it would be on mine, and that’s enough.  With all of the other issues we have to get through, adding that on top of things is too much,” Jim explained.  He looked at his sister, knowing the thoughts that would be forming inside her head.  “And you have to promise not to tell her, either, Miss Matchmaker.”

Honey stared at her brother and then finally relented.  “Fine, I promise, but you have to promise that if things don’t work out with Scott, you’ll try then.”

Jim considered it and then nodded.  “I will.  I think I miss Trixie too much to ever truly give up on her.”

Honey nodded, not fully satisfied, but she knew Jim well enough to know that if this is how he needed things to be, then this is how they were going to be.  “Okay, I have one more favor to ask.”

“Anything for my favorite sister,” Jim tried to lighten the mood.

“Please don’t tell Trixie’s brothers or Dan that Hallie, Di, and I let some guy pick Trixie up at a bar!” Honey laughed and Jim joined in, despite himself.

“Okay, Little Sis, having this juicy piece of blackmail over the four of you is worth keeping the secret for!”  At least Jim looked more like his old self, even if he was aching inside.

 Honey continued. “All right, now that that’s out of the way—what kind of favor were you going to ask Trixie for?  Is it anything thing I can help with?”

Jim explained to Honey about the intruder at the school, and he and Honey made plans for quite a while.  Plans that involved Trixie and her excellent deductive reasoning.  Plans that involved a partnership between Jim and Trixie, working together to solve a mystery, and if something blossomed…

Trixie Belden® is a registered trademark of Random House Books. These pages are not affiliated with Random House Books in any way. These pages are not for profit. Image courtesy of Ian Britton, FreeFoto.com.

Story copyright © GSDana