Frank and Joe Hardy get a new neighbour. Who will it be? Will a mystery ensue?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Hardys.
Eighteen-year-old Frank Hardy got out of the shower one early Monday morning and went to wake up his brother. He opened the bedroom door. The radio alarm was playing, but Joe slept on. Frank walked over and pulled the covers off his blond head. He shook Joe's shoulders. "Wake up, Joe, wake up." Joe mumbled a reply. "Wake up."
Joe rolled over and sat up. "I'm awake already," he complained.
"And good morning to you, too," commented Frank. He never understood why it took Joe so long to get up in the morning. "Oh, and I saw the new nanny next door, taking the kids to school." He left the room.
Joe sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the doorway. The Hardys' next-door neighbours had been called away on some project suddenly, and apparently they had hired a nanny to take care of their two boys. Frank and Joe had speculated in great detail about whether the nanny would be an old bag of a lady, or whether she might be a young, beautiful college girl. Their father's sister, Aunt Gertrude, had overheard the conversation and pointed out that the nanny could be male. "That wouldn't be any fun at all," Frank had said.
"It'd be better than another Aunt Gertrude," Joe had pointed out.
And now the new nanny had arrived, and Frank had seen it, and wouldn't tell Joe who it was. Joe sighed and went to the bathroom.
As the Hardys drove home from school, Joe continued pestering Frank about the mysterious person next door.
"Tall? Is she tall? Is he short? How about fat?"
Frank shook his head and smiled. "Mom said this morning that she'd make cookies or something that we could take over to welcome the nanny. We could do that at about four o'clock. To make sure that they're home from school and all."
Four o'clock rolled around, and not a moment too soon. The brothers, plate of goodies in hand, walked next door and rang the doorbell.
Frank could hear Patrick, the nine-year-old, shouting. "I'll get it!"
"No!" shouted another voice, a few years older. "Let Lach get it!"
Joe looked at Frank. "Lach? Is that a girl or a guy?"
"You'll see." The door opened partway, and Patrick's face appeared.
"Hello," he said.
"Hey," said Frank. The James family had lived in the neighbourhood for three years, but they didn't really get to know their neighbours very well.
"Hi," said a female voice. Joe paid close attention. The voice's owner was about his age, and short. Probably ten inches shorter than his six feet. She had dark brown hair, tinged with red. Her eyes were green behind thin metal-framed glasses. There were hollows in her cheeks, and she was slender though square-shouldered.
"Hello, I'm Frank Hardy from next door, and this is my brother Joe." They shook hands.
"I'm Lachlan Nolan, the new nanny."
"We've got some baking for you," said Joe. He decided that Lachlan wasn't beautiful, but she was attractive nonetheless. Even features, a good smile, grinning eyes.
"And our mom wants to invite you for dinner tomorrow night," added Frank. Joe turned to his brother, surprised. He hadn't heard that. Frank gave him a warning look, and Joe dropped it.
"Um, sure," said Lach. "What time?"
Dinner went well. Laura Hardy was taken by her new neighbour. She insisted that Lach call her Laura, rather than Mrs. Hardy like Lach wanted, because they were both adult women, raising boys. Lach had grinned at that. She didn't mention that she was the same age as Frank.
Lach wasn't a big talker, but she was the focus of the meal, and all five Hardys peppered her with questions.
That evening, after Lach and the children had left, Frank and Joe went upstairs and talked.
"What do you think of her?" asked Frank, grinning at his brother.
Joe grinned back. "What do you think of her."
"I like her. So do you. First time we've both fallen for the same girl," he said lightly.
Joe nodded. "Wonder what she's thinking right now…"
Lach was putting Patrick into bed, but her mind kept turning to Frank and Joe Hardy.
"Come on, Pat, you already went to the washroom. Get in bed. I'll tuck you in, and you'll stay there this time. Okay?"
"Yup."
"You sure?" Lach looked into Pat's eyes.
"Yup."
"All right." The boy climbed into bed, and Lach bent down and kissed him on the forehead. Lach wasn't demonstrative, but the first night she'd been with the boys, Pat had informed her that she was to kiss him first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Lach supposed that his mother was ritualistic about this.
"Good night, Paddy."
Lach left the room, and went downstairs and sat in front of the TV with Michael. She tried to decide which Hardy brother she liked better. She could tell that Joe was the more out-going, louder, and impulsive of the two, and this appealed to her. However, she liked Frank's restraint and logic. She figured that she'd have to get to know them better before she decided.