As Nancy opened her jewelry box, her eyes caught a diamond ring
glittering inside. She lifted out the ring and studied it. It was a
reminder of happier times. She and two of her friends, Frank and Joe Hardy,
along with Bess, had posed as married couples in a case they had
investigated in Egypt many years ago.
Nancy closed her eyes and relished in the memories of that case. She and Frank had always shared a special bond, and it wasn't difficult to pretend to be his wife. Even though she was still with Ned at the time, and Frank had been with his girlfriend, Callie Shaw, they were still attracted to each other. Nancy smiled at the memory of a kiss that she had Frank had shared shortly before they left Egypt.
'Should've picked Frank after all,' she thought to herself. As she put the ring back in the box she wondered how he was doing. It had been almost a year since the two had spoken and she was curious as to what her friend was up to. 'I'll call him tomorrow after Ned leaves,' she promised herself.
With the ring back in it's place, Nancy padded to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of white zinfandel. Nancy normally wasn't a drinker, but she did enjoy a glass of wine on occasion, and boy was tonight ever an occasion. She needed to relax and forget about the troubles of the day.
After she poured the wine, she stopped by the living room to pick up the cordless phone. 'If Bess or George don't call to check on me, I'm sure Ned will try to call and apologize.' Nancy thought, making her way to the spacious bathroom and turning on the water. She poured in some bubbles and within minutes she was enjoying the nice hot water and the soft bubbles. As she attempted to relax and let her worries float away with the bubbles, the phone rang.
"Grr," Nancy growled. 'Just when I was forgetting about everything!' She sat up and reached for the phone that she had placed next to the tub.
"Hello?" she answered rather impatiently.
"Nan, did I catch you at a bad time?" came the smooth voice that belonged to none other than Frank Hardy.
"Frank!" Nancy exclaimed. "Not at all, well actually you did interrupt my bubble bath," she laughed.
"Need some help washing your back?" he retorted playfully.
"Sure do, Hardy. But I think I'd be a rather cold prune by the time you made it all the way from New York to Chicago." Nancy said laughing at the conversation.
"Well, lucky for you, I just happen to be downstairs in front of you building. I can be washing your back in a manner of minutes." Frank smiled as his mind wandered to thoughts of Nancy in the tub.
Nancy leaned back in the tub as she said, "Oh, Frank, stop playing. I know you're not serious."
"Wanna bet, Drew?" he retorted. "I can put," Frank squinted at the doorman's name badge, "Carl, the doorman, on the phone to vouch for me if you'd like."
"You are serious!" she exclaimed as she sat up once again. "Frank, what in the world are you doing in front of my apartment building?"
"I take it you haven't checked your messages yet." Frank began. "I'm in town for business meeting, and I called the apartment around noon today and left you a message about meeting for lunch tomorrow. But when you hadn't called back, I tried your cell phone thinking maybe you were out of town," he explained.
"But, I didn't hear it ring," Nancy interrupted.
"That's because you apparently left it in Bess's car. She answered and when I told her that I was in town, she said that you might want to see a friendly face right now. So, here I am," Frank finished.
"Good old, Bess," Nancy said. "Always watching out for me."
"She did say that you were upset when she dropped you off, but she didn't tell me why. You okay, Nan?" Frank asked, concern evident in his voice.
Nancy sighed, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Give me a minute to get dressed and then come on upstairs, and I'll tell you all about it."
"So much for me washing your back," Frank laughed.
"Maybe next time, Hardy," Nancy retorted with a small chuckle. "See you a minute." With that she clicked off the phone and quickly got out of the tub. She dried off and proceeded back to the bedroom to put some clothes on. She had just finished slipping on an old t-shirt and a pair of shorts, when she heard the knock on the door.
"Coming," she hollered. Before reaching the front door, she stopped briefly to check her reflection in the mirror and ran a hand through her hair. "I look like crap," she muttered to herself. 'He's seen you looking worse than this,' she reminded herself.
Reaching the door, she took a deep breath and flung the door open. "Hey!" she exclaimed as she launched herself into his arms for a bear hug.
Frank hugged her back ferociously as he said, "It's good to see you,
Nan."
Pulling back she looked up into his chocolate brown eyes. "It's good to see you too, Frank. Come on in."
He followed her into the apartment and into the living room. "Forgive my appearance, but someone interrupted my bath," she called over her shoulder.
"Sorry about that, Nancy," he apologized. "But you look great as usual."
Nancy felt her face blush slightly, as she sat on the couch. Frank's compliments always caused that reaction. "Thanks," she replied simply. "So do you." And he did. In khaki pants and a button down French blue shirt, Frank looked well, good. Patting the cushion next to her, she invited Frank to have a seat.
"So, where's Ned tonight?" he asked, unaware of what had transpired earlier that evening.
Nancy's face darkened as she heard his name mentioned. "He's why Bess said I might need a friend right now," she answered, with her head lowered.
Lifting her chin up with his finger, he looked at Nancy with concern. "Nan? You okay?" Pushing the tears away once again, Nancy nodded. "Yeah. I'll fill you in, but it might take a while. You want something to drink?" she asked, rising from the couch.
"Whatcha got?"
"Well, I just opened a bottle of wine earlier. Care for a glass? Or do you want something else?"
"Wine's fine," he replied. He watched her retreating form and wondered what in the world Ned had done to upset her so much. He knew from past conversations that the two had been living together for about a year now and that they were even toying with the idea of getting married. Frank and Ned had always been cordial around each other, but had never truly gotten along. Ned resented Frank's presence in Nancy's life and Frank thought Ned was too possessive of her.
"Here you go," Nancy said, handing Frank a glass. She had poured another one for herself as well.
"Thanks. So Nan, spill it. What's going on?" he asked.
Nancy toyed nervously with the glass stem. "I caught him out with another woman tonight," she said softly.
Frank's face fell as he heard Nancy's words. 'Asshole,' Frank thought. 'He doesn't realize what a good thing he just lost.' Reaching out and covering her hand with his, he simply said, "I'm sorry, Nan. You don't have to tell me the gory details if you don't want to."
"No it's okay," she said. "It's a pretty simple story actually. Bess, George, and I went to this new sushi restaurant tonight to catch up with each other. Towards the end of the meal, I guess Bess noticed Ned and some girl I recognized from his office, sitting in a corner booth, looking pretty romantic. They asked me if I knew where he was, and I told him that he had told me he was having a working dinner tonight. Sure didn't look like a working dinner to me," she laughed bitterly.
Taking a deep breath, she continued. "So, I went over to the booth they were in, sat down next to Ned. They were so into each other they didn't even notice me until I sat down." At this point, a single tear begins to fall down Nancy's cheek.
Frank looked worriedly at his friend and softly wiped the tear away and motioned for her to continue.
"So, I introduced myself to the girl as Ned's girlfriend, and Ned said that he could explain. Well, there's obviously no excuse for what he did, and I told him to save his explanations. Then, I demanded his keys and told him not to come home tonight. I told him that he could come over tomorrow at noon to pick up his stuff. He finally gave in and handed them over, and tried to apologize. Then I walked off and we left." Nancy let out a sigh as she finished rehashing the story. "That's it. End of story."
Frank leaned forward and gathered her in his arms for a hug. He softly kissed the top of her head in comfort. "I'm sorry, Nan. He's a fool, you know."
Nancy nodded in agreement. "I know." She pulled back and leaned back against the couch. "I just can't believe I didn't see it. I guess I was so preoccupied with my job, that I didn't see the signs. All of the late nights at the office, the working dinners. Right now, I feel like the queen of fools."
Frank laughed, "Well if you're the Queen then I'm the King. Wanna hear my story?"
Curious, Nancy nodded. "Don't tell me you and Callie..."
Frank held up his hand to stop her. "Broke up?" he finished for her. "Oh yeah, big time. Hate to tell you Nance, but I win the award for catching a significant other with someone else." Nancy's eyes widened in shock. Surely he didn't mean that he walked in on Callie in bed with another man.
As if reading her mind, Frank answered, "Yep, I didn't just catch her with someone else, I walked in on her with someone else." Frank shook his head at the memory.
Nancy's hand went to her mouth. "Oh Frank, I'm sorry. I can't even imagine. Do you want to talk about it, or not?"
"I'm okay, now. It happened, I guess it's been about six month's ago now." Frank downed the glass of wine and stood up. "Mind if I have another? I'm gonna need it."
Nancy looked at her friend in sympathy. "Why don't you just bring the bottle in here?" she suggested.
"Good idea." Frank headed to the kitchen and returned a minute later with the bottle. He poured himself and Nancy a second glass and began to tell his story.
"We were at Joe and Vanessa's engagement party and we were having a great time until Callie started in on me about when we were going to get engaged. I told her that I didn't want to have this conversation then, and we would talk about it later. She told me that she was tired of waiting until later, because later never seemed to come. Suddenly we're having this huge fight in the middle of the party, and I got so upset that I just walked out the door. Joe came outside to check on me and I told him that I was sorry that I ruined his party and to go back inside and enjoy the rest of the evening."
Frank paused for another sip and then continued. "Well, I walked around town for hours. I figured that one day Callie and I would get married, I just didn't want to be pressured into it. I finally went back to the party to talk to her and Vanessa said that she had already left. So, I headed over to her apartment. I knocked a few times, and when she didn't answer, I pulled out my key and let myself in. Hell, I figured she was just so mad that she didn't want to talk to me. I walked through the apartment calling out her name, but she didn't answer. I finally reached the bedroom door and I saw a light coming from underneath it. Not thinking about it, I pushed the door open and well, found her in bed with some guy."
"Oh, God," Nancy gasped.
"Apparently after I had left the party, she had a lot to drink and hooked up with one of Vanessa's cousins. When I saw them I started screaming and the guy jumped up and started fumbling for his clothes. I was screaming, Callie was crying, and the guy just wanted to get the hell out of there. In my anger, I got in one good punch before letting him leave."
Frank polished off his second glass and poured himself another one. "Long story short I broke it off right there. She kept calling to try to apologize and get me to forgive her, but it didn't work. She finally stopped trying after a month. I couldn't believe that after one stupid fight she'd go and jump in bed with the first guy that talked to her. Made me wonder how many more times she had done that and I hadn't found out about it. So, like I said, my story beats yours," he finished.
"Oh, Frank," Nancy said sympathetically, placing a hand on his arm. "God, I'm so sorry."
"Don't be," he replied. "Better to have broken up with her then, than finding out later and filing for divorce."
Nancy chuckled. "I said the same thing to Bess and George earlier." She cocked her head slightly and looked at Frank. "Scary how much we think alike, huh?"
Frank grinned back, "Great minds and all."
"You know, it's really strange that you showed up tonight. I was just thinking about you," Nancy commented.
"Oh, really?" Frank asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Oh stop," Nancy said as she swatted him playfully. After downing the rest of her wine, she stood up and made her way to the bedroom and retrieved the ring from her jewelry box. She handed the ring off to Frank and asked, "Remember this? I saw it tonight when I was taking off my jewelry and it made me think of you."
Frank studied the diamond ring in between his fingers. "I can't believe you still have this," he stated.
"Like I'd throw away a good piece of jewelry," Nancy retorted with a smile.
"Wanna hear something else that's scary?" he asked reaching into his pants pocket. He pulled out his key chain and handed them to Nancy. "Look," he prompted.
Nancy glanced down at the keys in amazement. There in between all the keys, was the wedding band that Frank had worn on their trip to Egypt. Her face softened as she looked at Frank. "You still have yours, too."
"Sure do," Frank replied. "Callie hated it, though. Never could understand why I kept it on there. I always told her that I never knew when I might have to pretend to be someone else while on an investigation, but she didn't buy it."
"So, why did you keep it there?" Nancy asked softly.
Frank paused to refill their glasses before answering her. "It reminded me of you, Nan. Whenever I felt down about something, I just pulled out my keys and reminded myself of all the good times I had when we were younger. You, Joe, and me traipsing across the world in search of who and god knows what. Boy have things changed," Frank sighed.
"They sure have, haven't they?" Nancy, drink in hand, shifted on the couch a little closer to Frank as she handed him back his keys. "I miss you guys all the time."
"We miss you too, Nan," he replied, throwing his arm around her shoulders. "One of these days, Joe and I are gonna open up that agency we've always talked about, and you're gonna come work for us."
Nancy shot him a dirty look, "You mean with you, not for you."
Frank's eyes danced with laughter. "You know what I meant," he said squeezing her shoulders. "Those were the good old days, weren't they though?" Frank reminisced fondly.
"Sure were. Though, I didn't like how many times I came so close to losing you to some stupid stunt you pulled while we were investigating."
"Hey, Drew, don't forget how many times you were almost a goner too." Frank sighed and hesitated before continuing. He took another sip of his drink before he said, "You don't know how often I thought I was never going to get to tell you how I felt before I lost you."
Nancy's blue eyes met Frank's brown ones as she lowered the glass from her mouth. She bit her lip slightly and softly prompted, "And that would be what?"
Frank took both of their drinks and set them on the coffee table next to the now empty wine bottle. He twisted around to face her and said, "I didn't think sometimes that I would ever get the chance to tell you how much I care about you. You've always been special to me, Nan."
"I've always felt the same about you too, Frank," she answered honestly. "But there was always Callie and Ned waiting for us back at home. I didn't to want to hurt either of them like that."
"They didn't seem to have a problem hurting us though, huh?" Frank snorted.
Nancy shook her head ruefully and agreed, "No, I guess they didn't."
Picking up her hands and clasping them gently he asked, "So where does that leave us, now?"
She smiled a soft smile and leaned in closer to Frank. Wrapping her arms around his neck and looking him deep in the eyes, she paused and asked coyly, "How about here?"
Frank's lips descended up on hers and all thoughts quickly left her brain. She felt him pull her tighter against him and savored the feeling of being wrapped securely in his arms. They kissed passionately until they had to pause to breathe.
Pressing his forehead against hers, Frank asked her, "Are you sure about this?"
"Positive," Nancy replied before reclaiming his lips with hers. Minutes seemed like hours until they parted again.
This time, Nancy was the one to speak first. "Admit it, Hardy. You came here tonight just to seduce me," she laughed.
Frank's laughter joined hers, "Is my diabolical plan working?"
"What do you think?" Nancy asked as she grabbed his hands and stood up. She cocked her head towards the bedroom and she started to pull him in that direction. Suddenly, she felt herself being scooped up in his strong arms. Nancy giggled with delight as he carried her towards the bedroom.
Nancy closed her eyes and relished in the memories of that case. She and Frank had always shared a special bond, and it wasn't difficult to pretend to be his wife. Even though she was still with Ned at the time, and Frank had been with his girlfriend, Callie Shaw, they were still attracted to each other. Nancy smiled at the memory of a kiss that she had Frank had shared shortly before they left Egypt.
'Should've picked Frank after all,' she thought to herself. As she put the ring back in the box she wondered how he was doing. It had been almost a year since the two had spoken and she was curious as to what her friend was up to. 'I'll call him tomorrow after Ned leaves,' she promised herself.
With the ring back in it's place, Nancy padded to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of white zinfandel. Nancy normally wasn't a drinker, but she did enjoy a glass of wine on occasion, and boy was tonight ever an occasion. She needed to relax and forget about the troubles of the day.
After she poured the wine, she stopped by the living room to pick up the cordless phone. 'If Bess or George don't call to check on me, I'm sure Ned will try to call and apologize.' Nancy thought, making her way to the spacious bathroom and turning on the water. She poured in some bubbles and within minutes she was enjoying the nice hot water and the soft bubbles. As she attempted to relax and let her worries float away with the bubbles, the phone rang.
"Grr," Nancy growled. 'Just when I was forgetting about everything!' She sat up and reached for the phone that she had placed next to the tub.
"Hello?" she answered rather impatiently.
"Nan, did I catch you at a bad time?" came the smooth voice that belonged to none other than Frank Hardy.
"Frank!" Nancy exclaimed. "Not at all, well actually you did interrupt my bubble bath," she laughed.
"Need some help washing your back?" he retorted playfully.
"Sure do, Hardy. But I think I'd be a rather cold prune by the time you made it all the way from New York to Chicago." Nancy said laughing at the conversation.
"Well, lucky for you, I just happen to be downstairs in front of you building. I can be washing your back in a manner of minutes." Frank smiled as his mind wandered to thoughts of Nancy in the tub.
Nancy leaned back in the tub as she said, "Oh, Frank, stop playing. I know you're not serious."
"Wanna bet, Drew?" he retorted. "I can put," Frank squinted at the doorman's name badge, "Carl, the doorman, on the phone to vouch for me if you'd like."
"You are serious!" she exclaimed as she sat up once again. "Frank, what in the world are you doing in front of my apartment building?"
"I take it you haven't checked your messages yet." Frank began. "I'm in town for business meeting, and I called the apartment around noon today and left you a message about meeting for lunch tomorrow. But when you hadn't called back, I tried your cell phone thinking maybe you were out of town," he explained.
"But, I didn't hear it ring," Nancy interrupted.
"That's because you apparently left it in Bess's car. She answered and when I told her that I was in town, she said that you might want to see a friendly face right now. So, here I am," Frank finished.
"Good old, Bess," Nancy said. "Always watching out for me."
"She did say that you were upset when she dropped you off, but she didn't tell me why. You okay, Nan?" Frank asked, concern evident in his voice.
Nancy sighed, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Give me a minute to get dressed and then come on upstairs, and I'll tell you all about it."
"So much for me washing your back," Frank laughed.
"Maybe next time, Hardy," Nancy retorted with a small chuckle. "See you a minute." With that she clicked off the phone and quickly got out of the tub. She dried off and proceeded back to the bedroom to put some clothes on. She had just finished slipping on an old t-shirt and a pair of shorts, when she heard the knock on the door.
"Coming," she hollered. Before reaching the front door, she stopped briefly to check her reflection in the mirror and ran a hand through her hair. "I look like crap," she muttered to herself. 'He's seen you looking worse than this,' she reminded herself.
Reaching the door, she took a deep breath and flung the door open. "Hey!" she exclaimed as she launched herself into his arms for a bear hug.
Frank hugged her back ferociously as he said, "It's good to see you,
Nan."
Pulling back she looked up into his chocolate brown eyes. "It's good to see you too, Frank. Come on in."
He followed her into the apartment and into the living room. "Forgive my appearance, but someone interrupted my bath," she called over her shoulder.
"Sorry about that, Nancy," he apologized. "But you look great as usual."
Nancy felt her face blush slightly, as she sat on the couch. Frank's compliments always caused that reaction. "Thanks," she replied simply. "So do you." And he did. In khaki pants and a button down French blue shirt, Frank looked well, good. Patting the cushion next to her, she invited Frank to have a seat.
"So, where's Ned tonight?" he asked, unaware of what had transpired earlier that evening.
Nancy's face darkened as she heard his name mentioned. "He's why Bess said I might need a friend right now," she answered, with her head lowered.
Lifting her chin up with his finger, he looked at Nancy with concern. "Nan? You okay?" Pushing the tears away once again, Nancy nodded. "Yeah. I'll fill you in, but it might take a while. You want something to drink?" she asked, rising from the couch.
"Whatcha got?"
"Well, I just opened a bottle of wine earlier. Care for a glass? Or do you want something else?"
"Wine's fine," he replied. He watched her retreating form and wondered what in the world Ned had done to upset her so much. He knew from past conversations that the two had been living together for about a year now and that they were even toying with the idea of getting married. Frank and Ned had always been cordial around each other, but had never truly gotten along. Ned resented Frank's presence in Nancy's life and Frank thought Ned was too possessive of her.
"Here you go," Nancy said, handing Frank a glass. She had poured another one for herself as well.
"Thanks. So Nan, spill it. What's going on?" he asked.
Nancy toyed nervously with the glass stem. "I caught him out with another woman tonight," she said softly.
Frank's face fell as he heard Nancy's words. 'Asshole,' Frank thought. 'He doesn't realize what a good thing he just lost.' Reaching out and covering her hand with his, he simply said, "I'm sorry, Nan. You don't have to tell me the gory details if you don't want to."
"No it's okay," she said. "It's a pretty simple story actually. Bess, George, and I went to this new sushi restaurant tonight to catch up with each other. Towards the end of the meal, I guess Bess noticed Ned and some girl I recognized from his office, sitting in a corner booth, looking pretty romantic. They asked me if I knew where he was, and I told him that he had told me he was having a working dinner tonight. Sure didn't look like a working dinner to me," she laughed bitterly.
Taking a deep breath, she continued. "So, I went over to the booth they were in, sat down next to Ned. They were so into each other they didn't even notice me until I sat down." At this point, a single tear begins to fall down Nancy's cheek.
Frank looked worriedly at his friend and softly wiped the tear away and motioned for her to continue.
"So, I introduced myself to the girl as Ned's girlfriend, and Ned said that he could explain. Well, there's obviously no excuse for what he did, and I told him to save his explanations. Then, I demanded his keys and told him not to come home tonight. I told him that he could come over tomorrow at noon to pick up his stuff. He finally gave in and handed them over, and tried to apologize. Then I walked off and we left." Nancy let out a sigh as she finished rehashing the story. "That's it. End of story."
Frank leaned forward and gathered her in his arms for a hug. He softly kissed the top of her head in comfort. "I'm sorry, Nan. He's a fool, you know."
Nancy nodded in agreement. "I know." She pulled back and leaned back against the couch. "I just can't believe I didn't see it. I guess I was so preoccupied with my job, that I didn't see the signs. All of the late nights at the office, the working dinners. Right now, I feel like the queen of fools."
Frank laughed, "Well if you're the Queen then I'm the King. Wanna hear my story?"
Curious, Nancy nodded. "Don't tell me you and Callie..."
Frank held up his hand to stop her. "Broke up?" he finished for her. "Oh yeah, big time. Hate to tell you Nance, but I win the award for catching a significant other with someone else." Nancy's eyes widened in shock. Surely he didn't mean that he walked in on Callie in bed with another man.
As if reading her mind, Frank answered, "Yep, I didn't just catch her with someone else, I walked in on her with someone else." Frank shook his head at the memory.
Nancy's hand went to her mouth. "Oh Frank, I'm sorry. I can't even imagine. Do you want to talk about it, or not?"
"I'm okay, now. It happened, I guess it's been about six month's ago now." Frank downed the glass of wine and stood up. "Mind if I have another? I'm gonna need it."
Nancy looked at her friend in sympathy. "Why don't you just bring the bottle in here?" she suggested.
"Good idea." Frank headed to the kitchen and returned a minute later with the bottle. He poured himself and Nancy a second glass and began to tell his story.
"We were at Joe and Vanessa's engagement party and we were having a great time until Callie started in on me about when we were going to get engaged. I told her that I didn't want to have this conversation then, and we would talk about it later. She told me that she was tired of waiting until later, because later never seemed to come. Suddenly we're having this huge fight in the middle of the party, and I got so upset that I just walked out the door. Joe came outside to check on me and I told him that I was sorry that I ruined his party and to go back inside and enjoy the rest of the evening."
Frank paused for another sip and then continued. "Well, I walked around town for hours. I figured that one day Callie and I would get married, I just didn't want to be pressured into it. I finally went back to the party to talk to her and Vanessa said that she had already left. So, I headed over to her apartment. I knocked a few times, and when she didn't answer, I pulled out my key and let myself in. Hell, I figured she was just so mad that she didn't want to talk to me. I walked through the apartment calling out her name, but she didn't answer. I finally reached the bedroom door and I saw a light coming from underneath it. Not thinking about it, I pushed the door open and well, found her in bed with some guy."
"Oh, God," Nancy gasped.
"Apparently after I had left the party, she had a lot to drink and hooked up with one of Vanessa's cousins. When I saw them I started screaming and the guy jumped up and started fumbling for his clothes. I was screaming, Callie was crying, and the guy just wanted to get the hell out of there. In my anger, I got in one good punch before letting him leave."
Frank polished off his second glass and poured himself another one. "Long story short I broke it off right there. She kept calling to try to apologize and get me to forgive her, but it didn't work. She finally stopped trying after a month. I couldn't believe that after one stupid fight she'd go and jump in bed with the first guy that talked to her. Made me wonder how many more times she had done that and I hadn't found out about it. So, like I said, my story beats yours," he finished.
"Oh, Frank," Nancy said sympathetically, placing a hand on his arm. "God, I'm so sorry."
"Don't be," he replied. "Better to have broken up with her then, than finding out later and filing for divorce."
Nancy chuckled. "I said the same thing to Bess and George earlier." She cocked her head slightly and looked at Frank. "Scary how much we think alike, huh?"
Frank grinned back, "Great minds and all."
"You know, it's really strange that you showed up tonight. I was just thinking about you," Nancy commented.
"Oh, really?" Frank asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Oh stop," Nancy said as she swatted him playfully. After downing the rest of her wine, she stood up and made her way to the bedroom and retrieved the ring from her jewelry box. She handed the ring off to Frank and asked, "Remember this? I saw it tonight when I was taking off my jewelry and it made me think of you."
Frank studied the diamond ring in between his fingers. "I can't believe you still have this," he stated.
"Like I'd throw away a good piece of jewelry," Nancy retorted with a smile.
"Wanna hear something else that's scary?" he asked reaching into his pants pocket. He pulled out his key chain and handed them to Nancy. "Look," he prompted.
Nancy glanced down at the keys in amazement. There in between all the keys, was the wedding band that Frank had worn on their trip to Egypt. Her face softened as she looked at Frank. "You still have yours, too."
"Sure do," Frank replied. "Callie hated it, though. Never could understand why I kept it on there. I always told her that I never knew when I might have to pretend to be someone else while on an investigation, but she didn't buy it."
"So, why did you keep it there?" Nancy asked softly.
Frank paused to refill their glasses before answering her. "It reminded me of you, Nan. Whenever I felt down about something, I just pulled out my keys and reminded myself of all the good times I had when we were younger. You, Joe, and me traipsing across the world in search of who and god knows what. Boy have things changed," Frank sighed.
"They sure have, haven't they?" Nancy, drink in hand, shifted on the couch a little closer to Frank as she handed him back his keys. "I miss you guys all the time."
"We miss you too, Nan," he replied, throwing his arm around her shoulders. "One of these days, Joe and I are gonna open up that agency we've always talked about, and you're gonna come work for us."
Nancy shot him a dirty look, "You mean with you, not for you."
Frank's eyes danced with laughter. "You know what I meant," he said squeezing her shoulders. "Those were the good old days, weren't they though?" Frank reminisced fondly.
"Sure were. Though, I didn't like how many times I came so close to losing you to some stupid stunt you pulled while we were investigating."
"Hey, Drew, don't forget how many times you were almost a goner too." Frank sighed and hesitated before continuing. He took another sip of his drink before he said, "You don't know how often I thought I was never going to get to tell you how I felt before I lost you."
Nancy's blue eyes met Frank's brown ones as she lowered the glass from her mouth. She bit her lip slightly and softly prompted, "And that would be what?"
Frank took both of their drinks and set them on the coffee table next to the now empty wine bottle. He twisted around to face her and said, "I didn't think sometimes that I would ever get the chance to tell you how much I care about you. You've always been special to me, Nan."
"I've always felt the same about you too, Frank," she answered honestly. "But there was always Callie and Ned waiting for us back at home. I didn't to want to hurt either of them like that."
"They didn't seem to have a problem hurting us though, huh?" Frank snorted.
Nancy shook her head ruefully and agreed, "No, I guess they didn't."
Picking up her hands and clasping them gently he asked, "So where does that leave us, now?"
She smiled a soft smile and leaned in closer to Frank. Wrapping her arms around his neck and looking him deep in the eyes, she paused and asked coyly, "How about here?"
Frank's lips descended up on hers and all thoughts quickly left her brain. She felt him pull her tighter against him and savored the feeling of being wrapped securely in his arms. They kissed passionately until they had to pause to breathe.
Pressing his forehead against hers, Frank asked her, "Are you sure about this?"
"Positive," Nancy replied before reclaiming his lips with hers. Minutes seemed like hours until they parted again.
This time, Nancy was the one to speak first. "Admit it, Hardy. You came here tonight just to seduce me," she laughed.
Frank's laughter joined hers, "Is my diabolical plan working?"
"What do you think?" Nancy asked as she grabbed his hands and stood up. She cocked her head towards the bedroom and she started to pull him in that direction. Suddenly, she felt herself being scooped up in his strong arms. Nancy giggled with delight as he carried her towards the bedroom.