You'll Find the Bright Places

Somehow you'll escape
All that waiting and staying
You'll find the bright places
Where boom bands are playing.

 

The weekend seemed to pass in a blur for Trixie. Her date with Jim had energized her and she spent most of her Saturday working diligently on the case file Honey had given her. Their performance on this case was critical, as the potential new client would be using it to evaluate their agency for a contract - a contract Honey and Trixie desperately wanted to win.

By kick-off time on Saturday evening, Trixie was ready for a well-earned break. Settling in to watch Bobby’s football game with the Bob-Whites at Mart and Di’s apartment, she was elated when Jim dropped in before the end of the second quarter. He had a few hours free from school responsibilities and decided to take advantage of Mart and Di’s invitation.

Jim Frayne frowned as he studied the seating arrangements, trying to calculate a way he could sit next to Trixie.

Dan deliberately ignored Jim’s look of appeal, failing miserably at a half-hearted attempt to hide a knowing smirk.

Trixie cleared the obstacle by offering her seat to Jim and moving to sit on the floor in front of him.

“Uh, uh Trix,” Dan relented. “No way am I sitting next to this nerd. You can have my seat and I’ll use the floor.”

Jim protested feebly, offering to take the floor, but Dan actually felt a bit of sympathy for his friend, and refused.

Mart and Di enjoyed watching Jim’s machinations as he finagled a way to sit next to Trixie without calling attention to their new pairing. The two exchanged a discreet look, sharing a knowing smile.

The undercurrents between this close-knit group of friends were thick, so much so that even Brian Belden shook his head, looking around the room suspiciously at his friends, wondering exactly what it was that he was missing.

Trixie and Jim did their best to act normally, but a grinning Dan made even the most innocent gesture appear intimate. When Bobby made a significant defensive tackle that resulted in a fumble right before half-time, Trixie squealed and turned to give Jim a quick kiss. When her eye caught Diana’s glance, she stopped and just squeezed his arm. As the game counted down the seconds to halftime, she jumped up and mumbled something about a snack. Jim quickly stood and offered to help her.

That was enough for Brian. He stared at the retreating couple and leaned over to ask Honey in a whisper, “What’s going on with Jim and Trixie?”

“I’m not sure, but I think we’ve just confirmed our number one suspect for her date last night.” Honey whispered back, giving him a smug look.

Brian innocently peered around his wife into the kitchen. He could see the two of them easily enough, but they had their backs to him and he was unable to tell what they were doing or saying. “I sure hope you’re right about this,” he said softly to Honey. “Jim was as jumpy as a box of frogs last week.”

“That’s got to be it; Trixie was at work, but let me assure you - she wasn’t really there!” Honey answered, giggling.

In the kitchen, Jim looked over his shoulder and thought quickly. They would have to move if he was going to kiss her, since they were in plain sight of the crowd watching the game. He pulled softly on her sleeve as he moved to the other side of the kitchen.

“Don’t you think we should just tell them?” Jim asked, after she had given him what he considered a proper kiss.

“No, not yet,” Trixie told him. “You don’t know Brian and Mart! They will just start in with the nth degree. It’s embarrassing to the max!”

“Well, Dan could say something, you know.” Jim reminded her thoughtfully. He wasn’t at all sure he liked the idea of keeping this from Brian.

“Yes he could, but I don’t think he will.” Trixie said chewing her bottom lip as she glanced towards the den.

“Me either,” Jim replied a bit absently as he focused on making more of this time alone with her than talking. Both of them jumped apart when they heard a throat clearing.

Dan chuckled at their guilty looks. “So, what gives with you two? Aren’t you going to tell the group you’re finally together?”

“Who said we were together?” Trixie replied with a toss of her head.

“Well, get real, Trix!” he said pointedly. “I could have sworn you said it last weekend, outside the elevator? Remember? Oh, yeah, of course, then, your shirt was untucked and your lips were swollen and your hair was more rumpled and you looked a little more dazed!”

Trixie favored Dan with one of her famous scowls as Jim pulled her closer, so she was leaning back against him. He really couldn’t see any sense in her standing by herself when it was just Dan. “We don’t deny it, but that doesn’t mean we’re ready to say anything either.” Jim told him.

“Listen, it’s not my place to interfere, but don’t you think Mart and Di have figured it out? They were there last weekend when you two walked out of the elevator. Anyone with half a brain could see what had been going on. Not to mention the two of you were inseparable the rest of the weekend. You might want to think about how Honey and Brian are going to feel if you keep this from them.”

Trixie and Jim exchanged guilty looks.

“You might want to think about how foolish you are going to feel when Honey and Brian tell you they’ve already figured it out.” Brian’s voice spoke from the doorway. He was grinning as he stood there with his arm around his wife.

“You figured it out?” Jim said weakly, staring at his best friend in astonishment.

“Trixie isn’t the only detective around here you know.” Honey reminded her brother. “This one was so easy even my husband figured it out.”

“Thanks a lot, sweetheart.” Brian said, tickling his wife.

“Certainly you don’t believe that a concordant dyad comprised of your virtual twin would be incognizant of your social comportment?” Mart and Diana had come up behind Brian and Honey.

“I think he said they know.” Jim said solemnly to Trixie. Jim and Trixie stared at their friends, who were now all crowded into Mart and Diana’s kitchen grinning gleefully at them.

“Well if they all know then there is nothing to tell is there?” Trixie retorted with a toss of her head and a sniff. It was a typical Trixie gesture.

“Well…” Brian started slowly. “I think you could tell us a little more.”

“Like what?” Trixie demanded.

“Like Jim could tell me how serious his intentions are towards my sister.” Brian said matter-of-factly, his dark eyes meeting the green gaze of his closest friend. Much passed between the two of them in that look.

“Now you listen to me, Brian Belden…” Trixie started indignantly before Jim interrupted her. While Jim was stopping Trixie, Honey was giving the high sign to Brian.

“Brian, don’t you think Trixie’s old enough to make her own decisions?” Honey gave her husband a look that blatantly conveyed the message “BACK OFF”.

Mart opened his mouth to speak, but Diana simply elbowed him hard in the side and hissed quietly, “Unless you want me to bring up the high school schedule thing again you’d best keep your mouth shut.”

“I was only going to tell him to butt out,” Mart protested innocently.

“Trixie, you need to let me handle this.” Jim told her firmly.

“Let you handle this!” Trixie sputtered. “I don’t think so! This is my brother. He has done nothing but interfere with my dates all my life. He thinks I don’t know about all those… those… interrogations he gave my dates! Jim, I think that you need to just let me--”

Trixie got no further. Jim simply pulled her too him and kissed her. He was already learning how to handle the spitfire Trixie. When he finally released her, he whispered, “Let me give it a whirl, okay Trixie?”

Trixie could only nod. Jim had an uncanny ability to literally take her breath away.

“Brian, you know me well enough to know I’m not going to do anything to hurt Trixie, but what happens between the two of us is going to be between the two of us. I think that we, Trixie and I, would appreciate it if you would simply respect that like we respect the relationship you and Honey have.”

“Honey and I happen to be married to each other.” Brian reminded Jim unnecessarily.

“Yes, I think we remember that wedding since it was less than six months ago.” Jim said dryly. “However, I don’t remember ever asking you or Honey to explain your relationship. Not ever, Brian. Not even when both of you were in Boston.” Jim emphasized with a pointed look before he continued. “Your sister deserves the same courtesy and respect. She’s a responsible adult, not to mention smart, beautiful and perfectly capable of taking care of herself.”

Trixie was stunned. Not one of the boys she had ever dated dared to speak to Brian that way. She fell a little deeper in love with Jim as she stared at him. He wasn’t even upset; he was just giving Brian a friendly, matter-of-fact look. Trixie squeezed his hand to show her support.

Brian continued to look at Jim until he noticed four sets of eyes that obviously sided with Jim including his own wife’s. Trixie’s eyes were full of either love or admiration, maybe both, as she beamed at Jim. Brian sighed. He had always hoped Jim and Trixie would end up together, and he loved them both. How could I ever doubt Jim? He’s my best friend and I know he wouldn’t do anything I wouldn’t do! No doubt that’s what’s scaring me. Damn, how have I managed to get so stuffy at thirty? Brian wondered to himself. Taking a deep breath he held out his hand to Jim. “You’re right of course, Jim. I must have sounded like some kind of overbearing and overprotective idiot. I trust you and Trixie to do the right thing for both of you.”

Jim shook his hand gravely but his eyes had a twinkle that showed Brian the two friends were still going to be two close friends. “Thank you, Brian and no, you sounded like a concerned older brother not an overprotective idiot. I, for one, appreciate that you treated all her other dates the same way you treated me.”

The rest of the group laughed as Trixie hugged her oldest brother with a whispered, “Thanks!”

“So are we going to go watch Syracuse kick some Rutgers butt or not?” Dan spoke up.

Trixie smiled, “We are definitely going to watch Rutgers go down, Mangan. Do you want to bet on it?”

Dan shook his head, “Bet against Bobby? Are you out of your mind?”

The group laughed and returned to the den. Trixie stopped Jim before he walked back into the room with the rest of them.

“Jim, I love you,” she said quietly. “I don’t deserve someone like you.”

Jim reached over and pulled that curl before kissing her, “Oh yes, you do, Trix, in fact, you deserve even better than someone like me, but I’m afraid you’re just stuck with me!”

Honey managed to schedule the girl’s night she wanted before the group broke-up that night after the ball game. She still wanted a gab night with just the three of them.

“So Trixie, do you and Jim have plans every Friday night?” Honey asked carefully.

Trixie gave a look to Jim and he answered with a shake of his head. He would not be able to get away every Friday night.

“No, we don’t. Do you need us to work late?” Trixie asked.

“I was hoping we could have our girls’ night in a couple of weeks or so,” Honey explained. “Brian’s going to be on call again soon. He’s doing weekends now so he can be off over Thanksgiving.”

Mart and Dan rolled their eyes. There were times when they couldn’t believe the girls. After all this time, sleepovers still managed to take place two or three times a year.

“Dan, you want to hang-out while they have their sleepover?” Mart asked mockingly.

“Sure, Mart, let’s have a slumber party, maybe Jim will let us have it at Frayler and we can all teach the boys how to each other’s hair!” Dan retorted. “Too bad Brian has to work, he could wax our legs.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure I bring Di’s hot rollers.” Mart said convincingly. “You see if you can get some nail polish and I’ll do your toes. It could be a critical part of the student’s curriculum for them to understand the importance of a base coat!”

Honey and Di just shared a look and rolled their eyes. Really, guys would never get some things! All in all that was just as well; they didn’t need to get it.

 

 

Jim and Trixie fell into an easy and comfortable relationship with each other. They even managed a schedule of sorts. They talked at least twice a day; it was easy to catch each other on the phone. In spite of the demands on their time they still squeezed in time to see each other. They rode horses together early in the morning. They managed to schedule time to run together as well. But their one standing date arose from Jim inviting Trixie to eat supper with him and his students at the school.

Jim had hired an excellent cook for Frayler Academy. Samara Burns loved to cook. Cooking for a group of boys was a dream come true for the middle-aged widow. Now that her daughter had married and had a family, Samara was determined to do what she loved most and the job at Frayler had been perfect. She was able to live in; alleviating any concerns her daughter might have had. Plus, she had plenty of free time to visit her daughter who was less than an hour away by train.

Not only did Samara Burns love her job at Frayler, but she very much approved of the young woman her boss had brought by the school.

“What do you mean there will be an extra person for dinner?” she demanded when Jim had told there would be a guest for dinner.

“I invited a friend of mine to eat dinner with us tonight,” Jim explained carefully.

“Would this friend be of the female persuasion?”

“Yes, Trixie is definitely a female,” Jim grinned at his cook.

“Ahhh, Trixie. As in Trixie Belden, Martin and Brian’s younger sister?” Samara had been at Frayler only a few months, but she picked up on a lot.

“Yes, you’ve got the right girl,” Jim admitted.

“Hmmm, from what I’ve heard about this one, I would be saying you’ve got the right girl,” Mrs. Burns told her boss bluntly.

Jim stared for a moment before laughing, “Well, yes I think you’re probably right. Do you mind if I invite her every week?”

“You’re the boss around here,” she said as she turned to remove a pot from her gigantic commercial stove.

Jim knew this was her approval of the situation.

Trixie sealed the stamp of approval when she spent the first evening helping the boys and Mrs. Burns with the dishes. Noticing how the young woman dove right in to work, laughing and talking all the while, she knew this was the girl for her boss.

From Trixie’s perspective, getting to know Mrs. Burns and the boys in the school was an added benefit. The students were wild about Trixie thinking her great fun. Besides, they were all smart enough to sense the positive difference in their headmaster was when she was around.

 

 

Girl’s night had grown up considerably from Trixie, Honey and Diana’s high school and college days. Instead of practical jokes, truth or dare games, raiding the fridge, consuming mass quantities of chips and dip as well as soft drinks, they now had margaritas, Mexican cheese dip and vast quantities of chocolate, deliberately shunning all things healthy for the evening; and simply told the truth about everything they were comfortable sharing.

Before the three girls realized it, they were celebrating like they hadn’t since before Honey’s wedding to Brian; only with just the three of them present the lips were much looser. After all, there were no relatives present for secrets to slip.

“So Di, you’re saying they sat there and couldn’t keep their hands off each other the entire second half.”

“Yes,” Diana giggled remembering the two of them once their secret was out. “But if I was dating a guy with an ass as fine as Jim’s I’d have a hard time keeping my hands off him as well. Wait, what am I saying? I am married to a guy with a great ass!”

The trio dissolved into giggles before Trixie finally sniffed, “Besides, how do you know he has such a great butt, I haven’t even seen it.”

Diana grinned wickedly, “Oh, but I have.”

This remark never would have been made if Di had been stone cold sober, but the tequila had worked its chemistry on her brain. Di’s statement had the opposite effect of the tequila, quickly sobering up Trixie and Honey; they sat straight up and yelled in unison.

“What?” Honey said at the same time that Trixie yelped, “When?”

Di giggled again and rolled over. “Sorry, I’ve said too much already, let’s just leave it at that.”

“Diana Lynch Belden, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Honey asked incredulously.

“Nope,” she smiled foolishly. “I’m not saying anything about that, but it was fabulous.”

“I can’t believe you never told us this before,” Trixie told her in amazement. “Does Mart know?”

“It’s a secret, but yes, Mart knows, he was there.” She giggled uncontrollably; she wasn’t too far gone to realize she had said too much already.

“Oh my,” Honey gasped in shock, “it just hit me; you’ve seen my brother naked and your husband was there. I’m not sure I can handle this.”

“Details!” Trixie demanded, “We want some details, Diana!”

Try as they may, Honey and Trixie couldn’t get anything else out of Diana that evening. She realized what she had let slip and shut up. It didn’t take long before the talk returned to Trixie and Jim. Trixie told the whole elevator story including how Jim thought she knew he loved her back at graduation and she had totally misunderstood what was going on.

Diana’s eyes filled with tears. “All that time wasted,” she said sadly. She was so glad that she and Mart had always been up front and honest with each other about their feelings for each other. Diana’s tender heart felt so bad for Jim and Trixie and so thankful that they had pulled the stunt with the elevator when they did.

Trixie shook her head, “I don’t think so, Di,” she told her friend honestly. “I needed to do the things that I did the last few years, I don’t think I could have ever appreciated Jim if I hadn’t been apart from him all those years.”

“But, Trixie,” Di protested. “You know you have always loved him.”

“I know, Di, but leaving Sleepyside and New York and working with the FBI, I learned so much; I wanted to get out of Sleepyside and see the world. If I had never done that, I don’t think I would have ever been satisfied with my life,” Trixie explained. “Jim was right, my heart was here, but I just needed to see and experience for myself what was out there.”

Honey nodded; she understood. Trixie had a lot of energy, she was so full of life and joy and back at high school graduation she had been on the jumping off place in her life. She remembered giving Trixie Dr. Seuss’s ‘Oh the Places You’ll Go’ for graduation; she and Trixie knew when they made the crucial decision to attend different colleges, the following seven to eight years would be a challenge for their friendship and their ultimate goal of opening the business. But they had done it, they had stayed close. A million emails and instant messages, hundreds of phone calls and all the visits they could wangle - but they had done it.

“You know, Trixie,” Honey said carefully, “Maybe it was fate that you didn’t understand Jim. We, all of us, always knew you were meant to be together. Maybe what we didn’t know was it needed to be now, not nine years ago, or five years ago.

“Well maybe a year ago,” Di giggled before she clamped her lips shut. She resolved one more time to be careful; she was way too tipsy to say too much about what had happened with the elevator at Syracuse.

“Maybe,” Trixie admitted. She thought there could be a lot of truth in what Honey had said. “When does it get better though?”

“When does what get better?”

“The want, that desire to see him all the time and be with him all the time and to hell with the rest of my life.” Trixie said in one hurried breath.

Honey and Di shared a look before Honey finally answered quietly, “I don’t know, Trixie, I think when you’re with the one you should be with it never gets better.”

Trixie looked at her sharply and then at Di who was also nodding. “Sorry, sweetie,” Di told her. “The only time it gets better is, well, during sex, but other than that, it’s still there all the time.”

Trixie moaned and flopped down on her back, staring up at the ceiling. That was not what she wanted to hear.

Di and Honey shared another look before Di asked what they were both thinking - after all, Jim wasn’t her brother. “Is the sex a problem?”

Trixie moaned again, put her hands over her face, and answered, “How would I know? I haven’t had any!”

Something about the way she said it, had Diana crawling over to her and pulling Trixie’s hands off her face, “With Jim or ever?” she demanded.

“Ever,” Trixie whispered, her face as red as her favorite strawberry pop.

“Oh my!” Honey said staring down at the pillow she was grasping in her lap. “You mean, none of those guys you brought home, you never…”

“No, when I brought them home that was the test and none of them passed.” Trixie told her. “Between Brian, Mart and Bobby they managed to run them all off and I didn’t want to be with a guy that could be scared off by one of my brothers.”

“Not even John?” Honey asked incredulously. John had by far the best body of any guy she had seen in a long, long time, not to mention a face that was made for the movies.

Trixie and Diana both burst out laughing. “Definitely not John,” Trixie finally managed to get out. “Honey, John is gay. He was hanging out with me because he wanted to meet Dan.”

“Oh my,” Honey whispered, “what a waste for the women of the world.” She paused before continuing; the tequila had impaired her thought process as well. “Dan is gay? How come no one ever told me?”

Trixie and Diana couldn’t stop giggling then. “Oh, Honey,” Diana finally managed wiping her eyes. “Dan’s not gay, John just thought he was a hottie and was hoping he might be interested.”

“Besides, I already know the girl Danny is going to marry,” Trixie giggled. “They just don’t know it yet.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Honey sighed. “Too bad about the sex though, Trixie, I mean it’s bad enough just missing the nights Brian’s on call, I can’t imagine being in your situation.” Honey gave Trixie an evil grin.

“Honey!” Trixie wailed. “How could you, this is my brother you’re talking about!”

“Yeah Honey, how could you?” Diana teased. “After all it’s an indisputable fact that Mart is the superior lover of the Belden men, I mean he’s just so romantic and he has such a way with words!” She shot Honey a look that told her to keep it going.

“Right, Di, well, you want to have a contest or something? I know! A bet; you know we have a long history of making bets. We could bet on which one of us---“

“STOP! I’m begging you both stop!” Trixie put her hands over her ears. “No sex bets that involve my relatives, it’s more than I can handle!”

“Come on, Trixie, you didn’t tell us to stop when we told you about the alphabet game the boys were playing in college, now did you?” Honey teased her best friend.

“That was different, that didn’t involve us being involved with them, it involved them, and well, it was just different.” Trixie sniffed.

“You didn’t tell us to stop when I was telling you about what I saw,” Di reminded her. “In fact, I kind of think you wanted to hear more about Jim’s supple physique and his buns of steel.” Di bit her bottom lip hard to keep from laughing.

“You certainly didn’t tell us to stop when we both told you how your brothers proposed.” Honey spoke up.

“That’s different! That was romance, not sex!” Trixie protested.

“Who said it can’t be both?” Di asked her innocently.

“I’ve told you both, no sex talk about my brothers. It’s just too much information for me to handle.”

“Well, that’s really not very fair is it?” Honey pouted. “What are we supposed to do then? Go off and have sex with someone other than your brothers and come talk about it?”

“You know, I’m beginning to think you two are bragging,” Trixie sniffed. “It’s not like I haven’t seen both of them naked before. Trust me they don’t have any hidden assets like you’re making out.”

“Oh, and when did you see them naked?” Honey demanded.

“You know a couple of times, people forget to lock the bathroom door and maybe once or twice I forgot knock before I went into their rooms.” Trixie mumbled her reply, still embarrassed over what had happened years before.

“What, when they were all of nine and ten?” Di asked in disbelief.

“No, this was while they were in college; you know I kind of got used to there being just me and Bobby, so maybe I got careless about knocking and stuff,” Trixie admitted.

“So you don’t think they were, attractive or sexy or whatever?” Honey spoke up.

“No, they just looked angry and wet to me.”

“You mean you saw them in the bathroom, what - after they got out of the shower?” Di said.

“Well, yes, it was nothing impressive.”

Honey and Di giggled as they exchanged a look. Trixie was still such an innocent, no matter how hard boiled she might pretend to be. “Whatever you think, Trixie,” Honey finally said. “But just a word of caution, I wouldn’t use that as a gold standard or anything like that. Trust me, Brian has all the right equipment and he certainly knows how to use it.”

“Ditto that for Mart, in fact one night we had some wine and we decided to get out a ruler…”

“STOP, STOP, STOP!” Trixie yelled. “Diana, so help me if you tell me anything more about what you and Mart measured with that ruler, then I’m going to be sick right here in front of you. I implore you on all our years of friendship; this is something I can go to my grave without knowing.”

Honey and Diana rolled with laughter; they had tears coming out of their eyes. They knew exactly what buttons to push with Trixie. Girls’ night had been everything Honey had hoped for, and more!