Callie Shaw scanned the crowd as she sipped at her drink. She suppressed a scowl at the loud music as a new song came on, which became even harder to suppress after seeing her boyfriend grin and continue dancing to it as it came on. They were in a new dance club outside of Bayport, celebrating another successfully solved case of Hardy Investigators. Frank and Joe had been working tirelessly to start up their own branch of their father's detective agency, and had finally done so with the help of one Nancy Drew. This time Callie couldn't help but scowl as the thought of the female detective crossed her mind.
"I hope that look is because your drink is too sour." Callie looked up to see Joe Hardy leaning against the wall, his blue eyes piercing as he scanned her. She quickly arranged her face to hide her displeasure.
"Just thinking of some unpleasant things," she said, smiling at him sweetly.
"You could at least try to pretend you're happy to be here," Joe's gaze was unwavering and steely, making her shift uncomfortably. Her eyes widened in realization.
"You're angry with me," she said quietly, and was hardly surprised by the snort in response.
"No shit." Joe continued to stare at her with a look she could not discern. "Four months ago you cheat on Frank and run away, leaving him utterly devastated and blindsided. After months of trying to piece his life back together, with the help of myself and Nancy, and he finally asks Nancy out. For the first time in a very long time, he's truly happy again. Then, all of a sudden, you drop out of the sky and God knows how convince him to break things off with her and get back with you. And now our entire business is on the verge of being ruined."
"What do you mean, the verge of being ruined?" Callie shot back, no longer trying to hide the disdain in her voice. "Seems to me like the three of you have been very successful so far." She couldn't help the sneer that crossed her face.
Joe took a breath, and she could see him trying to contain his anger. "Nancy is going back to work for my dad," he admitted, looking out at the crowd of dancers sullenly. "She told me this morning."
It was all Callie could do to suppress a grin. "And why on earth would she do that? You all worked so hard on this little project!" She scarcely contained the glee from her voice as she smirked at the exasperated detective.
"Damn it Callie, you know why!" Joe snapped, turning back to face her. "Everything was going great. We finally had our own offices, our own clients and cases, our own everything! Frank and Nancy had finally stopped dancing around each other and admitted their love, they were so happy! Everything was working out so well! I still have no idea how you convinced my brother to go back to you. Even before you left him, I could tell he was miserable. When he was with Nancy…I've never seen him like that before. He has never been so happy."
Callie scowled at the mention of Frank and Nancy, but it soon turned to a smirk as she realized that Joe had yet to discover her secret.
"You really haven't figured it out yet, Hardy?" she was no longer trying to contain the venom in her voice. "World famous detective, and you can't even solve a mystery right under your nose?"
Her grin widened as Joe continued to scowl at her, waiting for her to reveal whatever it was she was so amused by.
"I'm pregnant, Joe. And Frank is the father."