It Happens

Life don't go quite like you planned
We try so hard to understand it
The irrefutable, indisputable fact is
It happens.

 

“I don’t know, Freeman. I have a bad feeling about that new client. Maybe we should have stayed with Belden until after that last appointment.” Sean pulled up the zipper on his jacket, grateful that he had had the foresight to pull the heavy, fleece-lined leather jacket out of his closet that morning.

“She said she could handle it,” Amy reminded him as they left the restaurant. She carefully wound her long red scarf around her neck before digging for her gloves.

Trixie had sent the two of them off earlier, insisting the agency pay for their dinner out that evening.

“I just don’t like the idea of her being there alone for a new appointment. Who did you say made the appointment?”

“He said his name was Smith. He wouldn’t give me a first name. But to tell you the truth, he’s our third client named Smith.” Amy laughed. “The other two were both background checks. I think they were checking out potential girlfriends.”

“They’ll probably have quite a few of those,” Sean admitted. “Online match services seem to be the preferred method of meeting people. Have you ever used one?”

“Me? No. Haven’t really thought about it. Have you?”

“Yeah.”

Amy stopped and stared. “Really?” she said, shocked at the answer. “Why?”

“What do you mean? Why does anyone do it?”

Blushing, Amy stammered her explanation. “You, well, you’re a nice, attractive, professional man. You’ve never been married. You make good money. Why would you need an online service to meet people?”

“You’ve got to meet people somewhere. I’m not interested in hanging out in bars.” He shrugged. “But thanks.”

The two walked in amicable silence for a couple of blocks before Amy spoke up.

“Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“You just did,” Sean answered with an accompanying smile to let her know he was teasing. “But you can ask me another question. I don’t mind a bit.”

Amy watched the storefronts as they passed, not looking towards Sean. “Do you think I’ve got what it takes to cut it as an agent?”

“How many assignments have you had before this one?” Sean asked.

“What does that have to do with my question?” Amy stopped walking and put her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowing at Sean.

“If you want an honest answer from me, answer my question,” Sean replied patiently.

“This is my third assignment,” she replied. “The first outside the office.”

“I see.” They walked another block before Sean continued, “You’re a solid agent, Freeman. If you need help completing your assignments, you need to speak up. It’s not a sign of failure to need more time to get the answers, but it reflects poorly on you if you don’t let your team know.”

He turned his head slightly to see what she was doing. Her face was thoughtful, but he was unable to detect any resentment. He was relieved that she seemed to accept his feedback in a constructive manner.

“What do you say we go back and just check on things?” he suggested. “You didn’t leave your purse or anything, did you?”

“Of course not, but I don’t mind saying we had a bad feeling. It’s what good agents do, right?”

“Right.”

 

 

“You’re not seriously going to keep him as a client, are you?”

Jim’s question echoed in Trixie’s mind as the office grew strangely silent. She glanced at the clock on the wall and shook her head. “This isn’t a good time to talk, Jim.” She sighed in frustration. “I’ve got a new client coming in for an appointment any moment.”

“Jim Smith,” he replied automatically.

“Yes, that’s ---” she stopped and her eyes narrowed at him in suspicion. “How did you know that?”

“Because I’m Jim Smith.”

“You?”

Jim gave a small smile of satisfaction as Trixie studied him in disbelief.

“Why did you make an appointment with me using an alias?”

Jim shrugged. “It was one way to get you to talk to me.”

“Yes, well, calling me your fiancée to one of my clients might not have been the best way to get our talk started!” Trixie shot back at him.

Jim started towards her, took two steps, and stopped. His eyes narrowed. “Tell me right now, Trixie Belden, if you have a problem with how I handled that situation.”

“The thing is … I don’t have a problem with it at all.” She tossed her head and crossed her arms in indignation. “I just want you to know that I do not consider that a proposal.”

Jim bit back a laugh. “Good!” He took two more steps towards her. “Because I don’t consider it a proposal either.”

“And after Harold tells your parents that you told him we were engaged, what are we supposed to tell them?”

Jim laughed; his green eyes twinkled as he took another step towards her, closing the distance ever so slightly. “Do you really think that Harold Langham is ever going to mention this evening to my parents?”

Trixie’s mind processed Jim’s question at warp speed, and threw up her hands in surrender to his undeniable logic. “Probably not,” she admitted crossing and then uncrossing her arms nervously. “So when are you going to propose, then?”

“Do I need to schedule an appointment with you first?” he asked, half in earnest.

“No! Of course not!” she retorted.

“Good. Then you’ll know when it happens, won’t you?”

Trixie took a step towards Jim. “And you’re just assuming that I’m going to say yes. That I’ll recognize your proposal when I hear it?”

“You better believe you’ll recognize my proposal when you hear it!” Jim took one final small step. “When I propose to you, it will be a clear and unambiguous question proposing marriage between the two of us. And you can be sure that I am not assuming anything in terms of your answer to my question. After all, you’re on record as saying you wouldn’t marry me if I were the last man on earth.” His formal, emphatic tone shifted as he dropped his voice to softer tones before continuing. “But, whatever your answer is, I am always going to care about you. I can’t remember the last time you scared me like that, Trixie Belden. I thought for a minute that I was going to have to kill Harold Langham.”

Trixie took another step towards Jim. “I don’t want to talk about Harold,” she replied. “Besides, I had the situation under control.”

“Yeah, you did. I guess you don’t need me at all.”

“You’re wrong, you know. I need you in the worst sort of way.”

Jim pushed a frustrated hand through his hair, but he didn’t budge. “Then why are you over there when I’m over here?”

Trixie immediately closed the remaining gap between them, throwing herself into Jim’s arms. “Because,” she answered when she could finally speak. “You said you wanted to talk. If I had been over here, we wouldn’t have been talking.”

 

 

“The lights are on,” Amy remarked as they exited the elevator. “I guess Mr. Smith is still around.”

Sean glanced at his watch and frowned. “Yes, I guess so. I’m glad we came back.”

He pushed the door open and motioned for Amy to precede him. He gave a discreet tap to the weapon he carried in his shoulder holster to convey to her she should be alert. She responded with a similar tap of her own.

Amy took two steps into the offices before she froze, causing Sean to whisper, “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

Amy shook her head. “I’m not sure. I just heard an odd noise coming from Belden’s office,” she whispered. “Her door is open.”

“Yeah, I don’t think she’d leave the outside office door unlocked and then shut her door.”

“Makes sense. Should we just go knock and let her know we’re back from supper?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Sean strode confidently towards the lead agent’s office. Sticking his head inside, he started talking. “Hey boss, Freeman and I just wanted to let you know –” he stopped abruptly.

“Barnes!” Trixie said, struggling to push away from Jim’s arms. The couple had been locked in a passionate embrace. “I thought I told the two of you to take the rest of the night off!”

“You did,” he replied, looking everywhere but at his boss, who was struggling to locate both her shoes and her composure. “We just didn’t like the idea of you meeting a new client alone.” He paused. “I take it Mr. Smith has already left.”

“Um, not exactly. Mr. Smith was sort of a no show,” Trixie prevaricated. Sliding her left foot into her right shoe, Trixie scrambled to her feet and promptly tripped, sprawling headlong on the floor. Nobody said anything for a long moment as she lay there.

Sean started toward his boss, but Jim was already there, helping her up. His strong arms helped Trixie to her feet. As he settled her back on the chair he said, “Do you feel as though you broke any bones when you salaamed to us so gracefully?”

Trixie glared at him. “I didn’t salaam or break any bones, smarty. It’s these shoes.”

“Of course. The shoes,” Jim easily agreed, somehow managing not to smile. It had been a while since he had seen Trixie lose her composure. He gave a nod towards the couple, standing awkwardly in the door of Trixie’s office. “You must be Sean Barnes.”

“Yes.” He moved towards Jim, his hand extended as he motioned for Amy to follow him. “You must be Jim Frayne. This is Amy Freeman, who handles our front office.”

Jim shook hands with them both.

“You … you’re the appointment, aren’t you?” Amy asked. “I recognize your voice.”

“Busted,” Jim admitted with a sheepish glance at Trixie. “I was trying to surprise, Trixie.”

Sean attempted to hide a smile and failed. He was not in the least surprised that the redheaded man had bested his boss.

“Trixie?” Amy echoed automatically. “You call her Trixie?”

“Uh, yeah. A childhood nickname. Do you call her Beatrix?”

“Hello.” Trixie waved her hand at the trio. “I’m not sitting here or anything. Just keep talking like I’m not in the room.”

“We, uh, I we call her Age – ” Amy started, unsure how to answer.

“We call her boss,” Sean interrupted smoothly. “Sometimes Beatrix, but usually Belden. It’s a holdover from the Bureau. Speaking of our boss.” He gave Trixie an apologetic look. “I guess you’ve finished for the night.”

“Yes. By the way, Harold Langham stopped by. He wants us to figure out who’s stealing from him.”

It felt to Sean as if the temperature in the room dropped several degrees as Jim froze at Trixie’s words.

“You’re seriously going to keep that jerk as a client?” Jim asked.

Sean groaned. “He didn’t try something again, did he?”

“Again?”

Even Amy winced at the ice in Jim’s word.

“We’re going to have to make it clear to him that you’re his point of contact, Barnes,” Trixie explained. “Otherwise we’re not going to be able to help him.”

“Got it, boss.” He quirked a brow at her in question and in response to her tiny nod, he turned to his colleague. “Come on, Amy. We’ll let Belden close up shop for the weekend. Do you need us in here on Sunday to get started on Langham’s stuff?”

“No. I told him he wouldn’t hear from us until next week,” Trixie replied, standing up, both shoes now on the correct feet.

“Got it. See you Monday.”

Trixie watched as her agents left. As the faint click of the outer door echoed through the quiet office, the silence grew uncomfortable.

Trixie studied her fingernails, refusing to look at Jim.

“You know I don’t like it, don’t you?” he finally spoke.

She nodded in reply, biting her lip.

He sighed audibly. “When I think about it, I imagine are all kinds of situations in the private detective business. The kind that involve jerks like Harold or, even worse, criminals like Dick the Dip.”

Trixie maintained her silent stance on the topic. There was nothing she could offer to alleviate Jim’s concerns on what was involved in the daily operations of her business.

“But at the end of the day, it’s your business. I can’t run it for you.” He turned and looked around. “Let’s get out of here and go somewhere we can talk.”

“That’s it?” she stammered, finally looking up. “That’s all you’re going to say about it?”

“Say about what?”

“About Harold, about the business.”

Jim frowned. “Trixie, you’re not thirteen. You’re a trained Federal agent. I’m not going to pretend that I like it, but I respect it’s your decision. I have to trust you to make the right decisions for your business. And let’s face it. Although it felt good to help Harold out the door tonight, you did have the situation under control. You didn’t need my help in the least.”

She was stunned into silence yet again.

“You trust me to make the right decisions for the school, don’t you?”

“Yes! Yes, of course,” she answered quickly. “I just didn’t think you felt the same way.” She moved towards a cabinet unit and pulled her coat out. “But you’re wrong about one thing,” she said as she reached for her briefcase.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“It definitely felt good when you helped Harold out the door!”