Authors Notes:
Field Elementary is where I went to grade school.
I admit it, the apartment is basically describing the one Jon and I have.
McLennan is our realty company
The eateries I include are my favorites in the area
A Chicago Love Story
by Stephanie Weiland
Trixie Belden, age 22 and just graduated from college, received an offer to intern and work with the Chicago office of the FBI. She would have to commit for at least two years. She couldn’t help but be intrigued by it.
She thought, Chicago: second city, Michael Jordan, Al Capone, Mayor Daley, the Cubs. She had never been there but had always been intrigued by seeing it on TV on her favorite shows ER and Early Edition. She always thought it sounded like a wonderful place to go.
Trixie decided that she was going to take it and thought about breaking the news to her family that she was going to be leaving Sleepyside for at least a couple of years and moving halfway across the country. At least she knew her best friend, Honey Wheeler wouldn’t mind too much. They were still going to have their detective agency, but a few years down the road. Meanwhile, Honey had decided to go on to law school at NYU, specializing in criminal law. She also knew that Honey had another reason to stay in Sleepyside named Brian Belden, Trixie’s older brother.
When she thought about Brian and Honey she couldn’t help but think that they were perfect together and knew that they were deeply in love. She had the feeling that their wedding would be one of her first visits home and couldn’t wait.
Meanwhile one of her best friends, Jim Frayne was accepted for the last two years of graduate school by Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago. He also received a job offer to teach in Park Ridge, a suburb just northwest of the city.
He loved both offers. He could finish his education while getting valuable actual teaching experience teaching at Field Elementary in Park Ridge. He decided to take them. He knew that he was at least three years away from being able to open his school.
Trixie and Jim had been close friends for years but had always hid the fact that they both had stronger feelings for each other. They both had been thinking that maybe now that they were adults they could pursue them.
Trixie sat her parents down and explained the opportunity. They both told her to follow her dreams and go for it and they would help her in any way that they could financially. She would be paid by the FBI but she still would need some help.
She decided to call all the members of her old club, the Bob-Whites, and invite them for dinner the next night. When she called Jim, he said he had some news of his own to share.
The next night everyone gathered at Crabapple Farm. Trixie couldn’t help but smile as she looked at everyone. Mart was teaching agricultural science at the community college. Di was moving up at the Sleepyside art museum. Brian was in his first year of internship at NYU Medical School and was home on break. Dan was Deputy Chief of Police in Sleepyside waiting to take over when their old friend, Molinson retired.
Finally, after they ate, Trixie broke her exciting news. They all were very excited for her but Trixie said, "I’m really going to miss you all so much. You better write and call often!"
Jim said, "You won’t have to miss me because I’m heading that way too," and he told his exciting news and they all hugged and congratulated him.
Trixie said, "Maybe we can go apartment hunting together and live close by."
Jim said, "I was just thinking that maybe we could find a two bedroom somewhere and live together. We could be platonic roommates, just like that old show Three’s Company but just two of us."
Trixie said, "I like that idea."
Everyone said they thought it was a great idea, sharing expenses and chores. Trixie said she hoped that they could find someplace with a dishwasher.
After some talk with their friends and families, Trixie and Jim decided they would definitely go for it and the next couple of weeks were full of plans and packing and excitement about moving. Mr. and Mrs. Belden were going with them to help them find a place and everything. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were out of town but sent him best wishes and said they would visit when they were in Chicago of course.
Finally it was the day before the big departure. Mrs. Belden helped Trixie with her last minute packing, packing everything she could just leaving a change of clothes and her morning stuff out. Mrs. Belden said, "I’m so proud of you. This is so exciting but I just wish you were going to be in New York or somewhere much closer but it’s better than LA or Europe."
Trixie said, "I wish it were closer, too, but at least I’ll have Jim around to keep me company. It’s going to be weird living with someone outside the family. Even in college I had a single room."
Mrs. Belden said, "I wonder though at this platonic relationship. I think things may develop while you live together."
Trixie admitted that she was kind of hoping for that but didn’t really know how Jim felt about it. They would have to take it as it came so to speak.
Later, both her older brothers came to talk to her and said they thought she would do great and wished her luck and both also said they thought that she and Jim wouldn’t remain too platonic for too long and when her father talked to her he echoed the sentiments.
Meanwhile Honey was helping Jim pack his last minute things. "We’re all going to miss both of you a lot," she said. "But I plan to visit sometimes"
Jim hugged her. "You better!"
"How long do you think your relationship with Trixie is going to remain just friends? Living together could be interesting."
Jim said, "I kind of hope that we can become more than friends over time but I don’t know how she feels. We’ll have to see."
Honey said, "I think she’d be very receptive and happy if you told her you’d like to start dating or something. I know she gets this goofy look on her face when she talks about you."
Jim laughed. "And I have heard I get a goofy look when I talk about her. We’ll have to see what happens."
They each would have to spend their last night in rooms other than their own because everything had been packed and was on a moving van to Chicago already. They only had their clothes and other essentials.
That night everyone gathered at Crabapple Farm for a goodbye party for both of them. They received many nice presents including a big gift certificate at Sears sent by his parents to help them buy all the essentials for their apartment. They had arranged to send their old bedroom sets and some other things their parents were giving them by truck and store until they found a place to live.
Finally at the end of the party Di went over to the piano and played while everyone sang "Til We Meet Again" and "That Old Gang Of Mine" and then the party broke up with a lot of tearful hugs and promises to call and write after one last picture of the seven Bob-Whites together as a group.
The next morning they took off for Chicago and as they descended into O’Hare, Trixie grabbed Jim’s hand and said, "We’re here. This is so exciting." They had, as always, decided to sit together on the plane with her parents across the aisle from her.
When they got off the plane they took rented 2 cars and drove them to their hotel, the Westin O’Hare. Trixie and Jim had gotten a few ads off the Chicago papers on the internet and wanted to find an apartment right away. Their furniture was arriving the next day and they certainly didn’t want to have to store it right away. Since it was July 28th they had a few August 1st openings in mind.
First they drove to Park Ridge and went to the school where he would be teaching. He loved it immediately. Built in the 1920’s, Field was a large, brick kindergarten through 6th grade school that had been expanded again. The building was closed of course since it was summer vacation but they took a walk around. There were two full playgrounds and large nice fields for play.
They had a few apartments in Park Ridge in mind so they went to the McLennan reaty office and went with Realtor Nancy Gilhooly to look at them.
They fell in love with the first one they saw. It was walking distance from the train she would take downtown every day to work and also on a major bus route. His car was being driven to Chicago for them by a friend of Tom Delanoy.
The apartment had two large bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nice kitchen, a dining area and a living room and was very reasonable at $850 a month. The only bad thing was it didn’t have a dishwasher but Jim said he would wash all their dishes for her and she laughed.
They applied for the apartment immediately and they did a quick check of their histories and signed the lease right away. Then they called the moving company to tell them they had an apartment and they said they would be there with the stuff the next day.
They would spend the night at the hotel and move into the apartment the next day and they were getting very excited. They would have three weeks to enjoy and explore Chicago before they had to hunker down to work and finding an apartment right away helped a lot.
After they finished the paperwork with Ms. Gilhooly , they decided to explore Park Ridge a little. She had told them it was a nice town of about 40,000 and had a lot to offer.
They first drove to the central shopping district, anchored by the Pickwick Theatre which they recognized from watching Siskel and Ebert on TV as the marquee at the beginning of the show a few years back.
They fell in love with the town touring through the district which was walking distance from their apartment. They went to the Merle Norman store where Trixie and her mother brought a few things and spoke with the owner, Sue, a nice 60ish woman who told them of her daughter’s wedding about a month earlier. They also noticed the Starbucks, a few clothing stores and Sue recommended they buy their meat from Kelly’s Meat Market which was across the railroad tracks along with their potato salad and they wrote everything down in a little notebook Jim had.
For dinner they went to Panera bread and then had ice cream at Oberweiss, right down the street the other way from the Pickwick. Trixie said, "I love this town already and we haven’t even really gone into the city. I think I’m really going to like it here. There’s that big grocery store two blocks away and a McDonald's almost across the street and the food at these places is delicious."
Jim said, "It’s everything we could want and even better than we expected and we have all this time to explore Chicago together, too. We have so much to see. I definitely want to go to a Cubs game and go to the top of the Sears Tower."
They returned to their hotel and settled in for the night. The next day they arrived bright and early at the apartment and found the van had just arrived and they got everything put away and left their suitcases on their beds to unpack when they returned from their shopping expedition to Sears.
At Sears they bought all the electronics they would need along with a microwave, toaster, blender and various other things. They returned to their apartment and put everything away. Then they went to a grocery store down the street and bought their first load of groceries along with cleaning supplies and other essentials.
When they got back to the apartment, Mr. and Mrs. Belden helped them put everything away and decide for sure where everything was going with a little haggling mixed in the discussion. In the living room they had a couple of nice couches around a table with the home theatre set in against the wall with TV, VCR and a small stereo. They had a nice table and four chairs in the dining room which had a nice big ceiling fan/light overhead.
The two bedrooms were different of course. Trixie had her desk with computer system, her nice double bed from her childhood, two dressers and two nightstands. Jim had his old single bed, a table with his computer on it and one dresser and nightstand. They each also had a TV and VCR and small stereo in their rooms. They were glad that they weren’t going to have to share a bathroom.
They also went down to the basement and put some of their things, including Christmas and other holiday decorations given to them by their parents in their storage locker along with laundry things since the buildings laundry machines were down there. They couldn’t help but wonder at how 6 machines of each were enough for eighteen apartments!
Jim admitted that he hated doing laundry in college and Trixie said she’d do their laundry since he was doing the dishes and he agreed.
Mr. and Mrs. Belden smiled as they watched them banter back and forth, knowing that this arrangement was going to work out better probably than anyone ever thought and it was time that Trixie and Jim started being more than friends. It had been about nine years after all!
That night they made dinner in the apartment and all settled in front of the TV. McClennan had arranged everything so the cable, phone and electric people had been there already and installed everything for them so it was fully ready to be moved into.
They discussed plans for the next day. They were going to go downtown and see Chicago finally. Mr. and Mrs. Belden had three more days before they returned to Sleepyside. Mr. and Mrs. Belden spent that night in the hide-a-bed that they had given them since they had worked so late.
The next morning they got up early and got on the Metra train downtown to the main station on Madison and Canal. They thought the building, also known as the Citibank building, was beautiful with its blue tinted windows as they walked through it and out into the sunshine and warmth of a Chicago summer.
They first walked over to the Sears Tower where they took the elevator after a video and exhibit tour. They saw the magnificent view of the city from a hundred stories up, looking out all four directions, keeping calling each other over to point out this and that that they saw and looking through the viewers to see better and thought it would be really cool to come back at night one time and see all the lights. Trixie and Jim agreed that that would be on their to-do list.
They both couldn’t help but think that it sounded very romantic and couldn’t wait to see it together. Especially if their relationship moved in that direction.
After they left the Sears Tower they went to lunch and then went to the Art Institute where they saw all the magnificent displays and walked past the famous Lions that flanked the entrance. Afterwards they went to the Field Museum which was nearby and then went to dinner and headed back to Park Ridge where they said good-bye to her parents as they headed back to their hotel saying they’d see them first thing in the morning.
Trixie and Jim were all alone for the first time and both felt suddenly a little awkward and both realized that until they figured out what exactly they were to each other everything would be a little awkward between them. But neither was ready to broach the subject yet, each was trying to get some read on the other’s feelings.
Finally Jim said, "Are you tired? I certainly am. This has certainly been quite a whirlwind, moving to Chicago, finding an apartment and moving in."
Trixie said, "You have a good point. Let’s go to bed."
They said goodnight and got ready and went to bed.
The next two days were a lot of fun spent with her parents discovering their new town. They loved every second of it. They went back downtown to Michigan Avenue where they saw the magnificent Tribune Tower and Wrigley Building. They were told the little piece of trivia that when the Wrigley family sold the Cubs to the Tribune Company in 1981 they signed the first part at the Wrigley Building and finished it up at the Tribune Tower.
They even walked by the showcase studio on the first floor of the Tribune Tower where WGN Radio broadcasted from and saw Spike O’Dell, the afternoon host, holding court. They even got on the radio when he saw them standing out there and called out through the speaker. They found out the Tribune Company owned WGN Radio and TV as well as the newspaper and Spike told them that WGN actually stood for World's Greatest Newspaper. They took an immediate liking to him and decided that they had found a good show to listen to.
They also ordered a Tribune subscription since they wanted to know everything that was going on in the city of course and heard that it was far superior to the Sun-Times.
Naturally Mrs. Belden had to go shopping on the Magnificent Mile and even Trixie really wanted to go and see the stores. Mr. Belden and Jim went along with Mr. Belden saying, after seeing the prices, that he would have to take out a mortgage on Crabapple Farm if his wife only wanted to buy one blouse. They spent a lot of time in Water Tower Place.
On the last day her parents were there, they attended a Cubs game at Wrigley Field and saw the Cubs win behind a shutout by Steve Trachsel. There was a lot of excitement as the team had rebounded from a 5-9 start to be in first place on their way to the playoffs. Mr. Belden and Jim, both being huge baseball fans, had always wanted to go to Wrigley and Trixie and her mother both had a lot of fun and thought the park was beautiful.
Finally Mr. and Mrs. Belden had to go back to Sleepyside and there was a very tearful goodbye at the airport with promises to call and write and of course admonitions to Trixie to be careful with her work and she said that some things never changed!
After dropping her parents off, Jim sensed that Trixie was a little sad and needed to be alone so when they got back to their apartment he went running and left her alone with her thoughts. She was a little nervous that they were now alone without her parents around and couldn’t help but wonder what would happen. She knew what she hoped would happen with them.
As he ran through Park Ridge, Jim thought about Trixie and how they were now alone together in a big city. He wanted so much to take her in his arms and assure her everything was all right and maybe even someday kiss her but he knew he had to take it slowly and who knew how she felt – she might not want him to do anything.
A week later they welcomed Ned Schultz who was visiting from Iowa for an interview for a job at the Chicago Board of Trade. They went out on the town with him finally stopping at Dave and Buster's, an entertainment palace about half an hour from Park Ridge in nearby Schaumburg, which Trixie and Jim heard of from their neighbors.
They had a wonderful time there playing all the games as Jim and Ned competed for Trixie’s attention. Jim thought back to their trip to Iowa when he had been dancing with another girl but had been so jealous to see how Trixie and Ned were getting along. It made him think about the bracelet he had given her and wondered if she still had it. He wanted to ask her but was a little shy about it. He hadn’t noticed her wearing it recently.
That evening he took a look at her wrist and noticed she did have it on.
They spent the next couple of weeks settling into a nice routine. They joined the Park Ridge recreation center which had pool and workout facilities and was walking distance from their apartment. They liked going together and working out but sometimes went separately because they had a lot to sort out.
They were going to start working a couple of days apart with Trixie starting first. She loved her job from the first minute as she settled into her desk and met her coworkers and boss along with her teachers and other staff members. During introductions they asked her for her emergency contact and she blushed when she gave Jim’s name and same phone number as her home number. They assumed he was a live-in boyfriend but she said that they were just friends from her hometown and had gotten positions in Chicago at the same time and wanted to save money.
She tried to hide her telltale blush but everyone noticed it and wondered what was going on.
After she got off work Trixie headed back to her apartment and noticed that Jim had bought her a nice bouquet of flowers with a note that read "I bet you knocked em dead. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Dinner tonight at Bailey’s? I went to meet some of the teachers I’ll be working with and I’ll be back at seven to pick you up."
Trixie blushed and put the flowers in water and put them on their table. She decided to change even though her business suit was okay for the nice casual Bailey’s, a restaurant about half mile from their apartment that was medium fancy and medium priced that they both loved. She put on a nice dress and did her hair and makeup really nice.
They had a great dinner and she told him all about her new job and all the people she was going to work with. She smiled ruefully. "I always worry that being 5’3 with blonde curls may hurt their perception of me but nobody seemed to think anything of it. I remember sometimes growing up people looked at me differently."
Jim said, "They will learn quickly not to underestimate you as everyone who knows you has. You know I think you’re perfect especially when it comes to detective work. Would you like to dance? This music is really nice."
She said, "That sounds really nice," and they headed out to the dance floor together and danced to the beautiful soft and romantic music and couldn’t help but both feel safe in each other’s arms and how everything felt so right when they were in each other’s arms.
The third song in the set was "Friends" which was a song they both loved and each were beginning to think that it described their relationship perfectly especially the lines "Looking into you, slightly scared it’s true, but I’m hoping that you’ll say I’m lonely please stay and let’s be friends, let’s be lovers, let’s be all there is between, close your eyes, I’ll show you colors that you’ve never seen".
They stayed out pretty late having a wonderful time talking, dancing and being together. They returned late and Jim, on impulse put his hand under his chin and started bending down to kiss her when the phone rang. They both thought "Darn it" to themselves as Trixie ran to get the phone. What made it worse was that it was a wrong number but the mood was broken and they got ready and both went off to bed.
A few days later Jim went to his first day of teaching. He was teaching fourth grade and was impressed with his group of students who were in the upper level of the grade, having been the best of the third grade class the year before. He loved the students right away and was so happy to be teaching that he came home whistling.
Trixie was just getting home herself when he walked up to their door and she opened it and they sat down and talked about his first day. She noticed how his eyes lit up when he talked about teaching like hers did when she talked about everything she was working with and learning already in her job. He said he was looking forward to his classes which would be Monday and Wednesday nights and most of the day on Saturday. He said the schedule would be tough and was wondering if he could handle it.
"You’ll do great," Trixie said, "because you always do perfectly when you set your mind to something. I’m going to be here supporting you all the way like we always have been for each other especially since you started liking my detective work a few years ago."
Jim said, "When we were younger I always worried that something really bad would happen to you and I still do but now I realize that this is your dream and if we are going to be friends forever, which I hope will happen, I have to accept it and I think you’re great at it and should be doing it since it’s what your best at."
Trixie touched his cheek. "Thanks, I really needed to hear that. It used to drive me crazy when you seemed so overprotective but I realize why now and we are always going to be friends. I can’t imagine my life without you in it."
Jim said, "And I can’t imagine not having you as part of my life. We are meant to be together forever as friends and you never know. Trixie, I do know this. I like you a lot and would like us to start thinking about having a romantic relationship and seeing where it goes."
"I’d really like that too. I am beginning to think we have always meant to be together and now we can start without a lot of interference from our families and friends and inevitable teasing from Brian and Mart."
"I think a great way to start would be a kiss. I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long ever since we were teenagers."
Trixie said, "I would really like that."
Jim wrapped his arm around her and bent over and kissed her and she put her arms around him and kissed him back. They kissed for a few minutes, both a little overwhelmed with the way their hearts started racing and the depth of feelings that the kiss brought both of them. They only pulled apart when the phone rang and it was Brian and Honey at the same time on two different phones and telling them to each pick up an extension because they had exciting news.
Trixie and Jim weren’t surprised at all when they learned immediately that Brian and Honey had called to announce they were engaged! They were getting married on New Year’s Eve at Manor House. They congratulated them and Trixie said she was off from December 22nd through January 3rd and Jim said he was off starting December 16th through January 3rd so they would definitely be there for the wedding.
After they hung up, Trixie said, "That’s great. They belong together."
Jim said, "So do we." They kissed again.
The End (for now)