At that moment Nancy Drew appeared in the doorway between the living room and the dining room, and she struck a model’s pose. She was wearing a two-piece blue bathing suit that matched her eyes. Her reddish gold hair was piled on top of her head.
“Like it?” Nancy asked.
“Like it? It’s fabulous!” Bess exclaimed. She was Nancy’s age—seventeen—and had the same blue eyes, but Bess’s hair was curlier and blonder than Nancy’s.
“Is this your surprise? A new swimsuit?” George asked. Although she and Bess were cousins, George had brown eyes and chestnut hair. Unlike Bess, who constantly struggled with her weight, George was athletic and had a lean and muscular build.
Nancy laughed and entered the living room. “Well, no—but it’s part of it,” she said. She plopped down on one of the plush sofas. “Have a seat and I’ll explain.”
Bess and George sat down across from Nancy. Nancy picked up a large manila envelope and shook the contents out onto the sofa beside her. “Three tickets for a Great Lakes cruise, from Chicago to Toronto. Dad’s treating us!”
“All right!” George cried.
“Nobody can beat your father for great surprises, Nancy,” Bess said. “What are the other ports of call?”
Nancy picked up the cruise line’s brochures. “Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin; Alpena and Port Huron in Michigan; and Lake Erie Beach in New York. When we get to Toronto, Dad is going to show us the sights.”
“But why didn’t you call us before, so we could all go shopping together?” Bess asked. “You know how much fun that is! And I could really use a new swimsuit.…”
“I know,” Nancy agreed. “It just sort of happened.”
“How so?” George asked.
“I was in Dad’s office this morning when he told me that he was going to a convention of trial lawyers in Toronto. Then he told me that he had booked passage for the three of us on the SS Great Lakes, sailing from Chicago to Toronto,” Nancy explained. “When I was walking back to where I had parked my car, I noticed this new boutique. It’s called This Is Not Your Mother’s Store. This swimsuit was in the window. I decided that I had to get it for thecruise. When I walked into the store, I found lots of other things I thought would be perfect. By the time I stopped shopping, I almost had a suitcase full of clothes!”
Bess put her hands on her hips. “Is there anything left for us to buy?” she asked with a grin.
“Plenty!” Nancy replied. “They were opening up new shipments when I left.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Bess said. “Let’s go!”
Nancy quickly changed into street clothes, told Hannah Gruen, the Drews’ longtime housekeeper, that they were going shopping, and then they left the house. But just as they started to get into Nancy’s car, a taxicab pulled up into the driveway behind them—and Ned Nickerson jumped out.
“Ned!” Nancy cried. “I thought you were in New York.”
Nancy’s boyfriend gave her a big hug. “I’m on my way to talk to some clients in Oklahoma City, but I was able to get a layover in River Heights,” Ned said. “I just had to see you, if only for a few minutes!”
Bess and George came over to join the reunion.
“How’s the internship going?” George asked.
“Great,” Ned said. “I think I may have a job with the company after it’s over.”
“Super,” Bess said.
Ned handed Nancy a package. “This is for the cruise,” he said.
Nancy gave him a puzzled look. “How did you know about that?” she said. “Dad only told me this morning.”
Ned grinned. “Your father and I talk about all kinds of things,” he said.
Just then the taxi driver honked his horn. Ned looked at his watch. “Gotta go. I can’t miss the flight to Oklahoma City.” He gave Nancy a big hug. “I’ll call you later,” he said.
Ned jumped into the backseat of the taxi. The driver backed out of the driveway and sped down the street.
“Oh, Nancy—that was so romantic of Ned. Just like in a movie!” Bess said. “Hurry! Open your gift. I want to see what he brought you from New York.”
Nancy, still somewhat dazed by Ned’s surprise visit, tore the brightly colored wrapping from the box. “It’s Torino!” Nancy gasped.
“That perfume is so expensive!” Bess said.
“Ned probably can’t even afford to eat now,” George said. “Maybe you should send him a box of canned food.”
“Oh, you two!” Nancy said. “Come on.”
The three of them got into Nancy’s Mustang and headed for downtown River Heights. Nancy found a metered parking spot just two doors down from the boutique, and she put in two hours’ worth of coins.
“Uh-oh,” George said as she surveyed the crowd of people inside the store. “I guess the word about those new shipments is out.”
“We need to find Janine,” Nancy said. “I told her I’d be back with two friends.”
Janine was just finishing with another customer when Nancy and the girls located her. She gave Nancy a tired smile. “I had no idea our first week would be like this,” she managed to say. “We’ve put in three frantic calls to the home office for rush shipments on several items in the store.” She looked at George and Bess and added, “But we should still have your sizes in most things.”
Nancy was impressed that Janine could just look at someone and know what size she wore. Everything she showed Bess and George fit them perfectly.
While Bess and George were looking at evening gowns, Nancy wandered over to a shelf of shorts and tank tops that she hadn’t noticed when she had been in the boutique earlier.
Just beyond the shelf, standing at a rack of jeans, were another salesperson and a woman whom Nancy calculated was in her middle twenties. She was very athletic-looking and had red hair and light freckles.
