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It was a beautiful day in Bluebell. A perfect day for a wedding. Just as with every event in the small town, everybody was invited, if not to the actual ceremony, then certainly to the reception. The whole of town square, including the gazebo, was taken over by flowers and ribbons and twinkle lights. To ten-year-old Zoe Wilkes, it looked like a fairy land.“I never saw anything so beautiful,” she said, staring in wonder at the whole display.“It’s alright, I guess,” replied her friend Wade, shrugging his shoulders and making a face.Zoe laughed and socked him the shoulder.“Boys just don’t understand,” she told him, rolling her eyes.Before he had a chance to counter that comment, the church doors burst open and the bride and groom stepped out in a shower of rice. Zoe’s eyes were all full of wonder as she stared at the scene, all the guests, including both her parents, were cheering and applauding as the happy couple shared a kiss.Zoe let out a sigh. “I hope I get married someday.”“Sure, you will,” said Wade, nodding his head. “In fact, I’ll marry you.”“You?” asked Zoe, turning to stare at him. “Why would you wanna marry me, Wade Kinsella?”“Because...” he said, turning towards her, quickly leaning in and planting a peck of a kiss on her lips.The next second, he was running away from Zoe towards the buffet table just as fast as his legs would take him. A moment after that, she went chasing after him, laughing all the way, as the church bells thundered, louder and louder....Dr Zoe Hart woke up with a start, almost falling from the break room chair. She glanced around to see two fellow doctors seated at the table with her, both smiling too much.“What?” she checked, trying to wipe the drool off her chin with one hand and hoping nobody noticed.“You know that Southern accent you try not to have really comes back when you talk in your sleep,” said Brandon, sipping his coffee.“Oh, yeah,” said Cathy sat beside him. “I’m just wondering who Wade is,” she said, one eyebrow raised as she watched Zoe squirm.“Nobody?” she tried, already sure they didn’t believe her, but hey, she didn’t have to explain if she didn’t want to.Guilt crept in anyway as she moved and felt the chain shift around her neck inside of her clothes. The engagement ring dangling on that chain tapped against her chest and Zoe sighed. What would her new fiancé think if he knew about that dream? Not much since he wouldn’t make any sense of it. He wouldn’t know it was a memory as much as anything. Zoe shook her head clear and looked at her friends still staring at her expectantly.“I think my break is over,” she said suddenly leaping up from the chair and heading for the door.She turned back at the last, retrieving her coffee mug from the table and taking a big slug, even though it was stone cold.“I love my job,” she said to herself as she finally headed back out into the fray, “but I hate double-shifts!”
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“Zoe, I just got your message,” said Candice in her daughter’s ear. “Why did you cancel our dinner plans tonight?”“Because I’m not in New York right now, Mom,” Zoe explained, trying to concentrate on driving the hire car straight as much as possible, hoping nobody would notice she was talking on her Bluetooth at the same time. “I’m in Alabama.”She winced even before her mother exploded, she was just that sure it was coming.“Zoe, why?” she gasped with shock. “Of all the times to go back to Bluebell!”“Now is the perfect time to come back, Mom, and you know why. Getting engaged, that’s fine, but you know I can’t actually get married until I get these papers signed.”Candice sighed heavily in her ear.“That’s what lawyers and the postal service are for, sweetheart. You know what’s going to happen when you see that man again.”The way she said ‘that man’ grated on Zoe more than a little. It was funny, because her mom really liked him once. Of course, that was a whole lot of years ago.“I know that I’m going to get him to sign these papers and then come straight home again,” said Zoe, pausing at the intersection to check for traffic and then driving on. “No problem.”“No problem?” her mother echoed. “I’ll believe that when I see it. Honey, if you had told me what you were planning, you know I would’ve come with you.”Zoe sighed, finally passing the sign that welcomed her back to Bluebell.“I do know, Mom, which is exactly why I didn’t tell you,” she explained. “I know this is the last place you want to come back to. It’s not exactly where I want to be either, but I don’t have much of a choice. I’ll see you in a couple of days, okay?”“Take care, sweetie,” said Candice and then the call ended.Zoe took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She needed to be calm and in control before she saw her so-called husband again. Ten years, it was a long time. She wondered vaguely if he had changed at all but doubted it somehow. He wasn’t the type for big change, not like her.Zoe was a very different person to the girl who had run away from Bluebell ten years before. She didn’t even have the same name anymore. Little Zoe Wilkes seemed like a whole other person to Dr Zoe Hart, but the moment she arrived on the plantation and got within sight of the house she and her husband once called home, she didn’t feel all that different anymore.“Just be strong,” she told herself, pulling up outside the carriage house.Getting out of the car with her purse on one arm and the divorce papers clutched in her other hand, she headed for the porch steps, stumbled up them in her too high heels and knocked loudly on the door. When that got no reply she did it again, and then a third time. She was about to start yelling his name in frustration when suddenly he appeared.“Geez, I’m coming. Where’s the damn... fire?”His sentence became disjointed when he spotted who was waiting for him on the doorstep and it was genuinely the very last person he had expected.“Wade Kinsella, you’re just as annoying now as you were when I left!” Zoe told him crossly. “Now would you please just sign these papers and let me go back to my real life!”It wasn’t quite how she planned on opening the conversation, but Zoe was having trouble focusing right now. Wade looked just the same, maybe even better than she remembered actually, and it really wasn’t helping at all that he was standing there in nothing but a towel, hair slick with water, presumably from the shower he had just taken, droplets running down those perfectly sculpted muscles that drew her eyes more than a bit even now. Yelling at him ought to remind her why she had reasons enough to be mad at him, instead of recalling how great things had been between them back in the day. She made herself look up, meeting his eyes, only to find them as wide as she had ever seen them in her life.“Well, if it ain’t the little missus,” he said, smirking wickedly and leaning on the door jamb, staring at her. “Nice of you to drop by. I mean, it’s only been, what? Ten years?”“We both know how long it’s been, Wade,” she said crossly. “We also both know that I have sent you these divorce papers at least a dozen times and each time they come back unsigned. You’re costing me a fortune in lawyer’s fees!”“From what I hear, you can afford it, doc,” he said, the smirk fading into an expression that held a little more anger. “That’s what you are now, right? Big time, fancy doctor at a hoity-toity hospital up north? Surprised you’d lower yourself to even come back here.”At least he wasn’t grinning at her like an idiot anymore, but Zoe wasn’t sure she liked the sarcasm and insults any better. To think she used to enjoy fighting with him once, but not like this. Honestly, she just wanted this over with so she could go back home to New York and forget all about Bluebell for the second and last time.“What choice do I have when you won’t sign the papers?” she said, pushing the very documents she spoke of right into his face.“I’ll tell you what, doc. Why don’t you take your dumb papers and feed ‘em to the alligator,” he said, whipping them from her hand and tossing them into the dirt behind her, “’cause I don’t sign a damn thing without my lawyer present,” he told her smartly, closing the door before she could stop him.“Wade!” she yelled again, slamming her hand against the door over and over.“What seems to be the problem here?” called a voice behind her.Zoe turned around so fast she almost overbalanced down the porch steps but caught herself just in time. Gripping the rail with both hands she looked down at the man staring at her and gasped with surprise.“Oh my God, Lavon Hayes!” she declared, staggering awkwardly down the stairs. “I can’t believe this. I mean, I knew you were from here, but you were the best line-backer. Two Super Bowls, five Pro Bowls.”“Four actually,” he corrected her, smiling widely.“Well, I rounded up. You got robbed in ‘06.”“Lavon Hayes likes your math,” he told her, grinning still. “But I’m still a little fuzzy on who you are and why you’re on my plantation?”“Your plantation? Wow, things sure have changed.” Zoe shook her head. “I’m sorry, I’m Zoe Hart, or Zoe Wilkes.”“Ah, now that name I do recall hearing,” said Lavon, eyes flitting up to the carriage house a moment, proving to Zoe just how much he really did know.“Great. You have his side of the story.” Zoe sighed heavily.“Hey, that’s okay. I’m a fair-minded kind of a guy. I have to be, I am the mayor of this town,” he explained. “I’m more than happy to hear your side too, if you wanna share. Maybe I could help with whatever’s going on here.”“I doubt it,” said Zoe, shaking her head. “But I don’t mind telling you what’s going on, if you have a few hours to spare?”“Right this way, ma’am,” said Lavon, smiling easily as he led her up to the main house.He brought her into his kitchen, offering her a stool by the counter and putting on some coffee. Zoe didn’t say much. Her mind was elsewhere for the most part. Lavon seemed like a really nice guy and she wondered at how kind he was being to her in the circumstances.“If Wade is a friend of yours,” she said after a while, “I’m amazed that you’re being so nice to me. He must’ve told you what happened with us.”“He told me some.” Lavon nodded, bringing the coffee over and sitting down beside her. “’Course I heard some things in town too. You know what Bluebell is like.”“Oh yeah.” Zoe laughed humourlessly. “I know about the gossips here, but I’m guessing you got most of your information from Wade and he wouldn’t have a great opinion of me.”“It’s not all bad,” said Lavon, glancing at her. “Sometimes he ain’t so complimentary, but other times... well, let’s just say that alcohol can be a truth serum.”Zoe smiled at that. “Wade was always kind of a sloppy drunk. Sometimes he would be way over the top happy, like a kid on a sugar high, and other times... well, he could go to some pretty dark places when the mood took him.”She looked so sad when she talked about it and Lavon had borne witness to Wade when he was that kind of drunk too. He knew the dark she spoke of was sad and self-deprecating rather than nasty or dangerous. Seemed it hurt her to think of him being that way even when she seemed so mad at him these days.“Well now, how about you tell me your side of this epic tale, Miss Zoe?” he suggested, smiling when she looked up. “Lavon Hayes is interested in knowing the whole story from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, right for the very beginning.”“Well, the beginning goes back a long way,” Zoe admitted, taking a sip of her coffee and then staring down into the drink. “I was born in New York and lived there with my mom and the guy I called dad until I was four. That was when the truth came out, that Ethan Hart wasn’t really my father at all, that my mom had an affair with Dr Harley Wilkes and he was my read dad. I don’t remember much about that time, I was too young, but that was when we moved here to Bluebell.“Harley was great but it was confusing for me to see him as my dad and really tough to adjust to being in a new place. My mom never really intended to be with my father, I don’t think, but she needed to escape New York and this seemed like a great change for her, maybe even a better place for me to be raised, I guess.“Anyway, this is where I met Wade, when we were just kids. We looked out for each other, I guess. He was always kind of an outsider too. His family never had as much money as the Breelands or the Tuckers or whoever else, and he wasn’t that great at school subjects, but he was always so nice to me.“By the time we were nine, we were practically inseparable, and then his mom got sick. God, it was just terrible. She had cancer and she suffered so much. I remember when she was gone, how my mom said that it was better that way, because as tough as it was for everyone to be without Jacqueline, at least she was at peace now.“I tried so hard to be there for Wade, especially when his dad turned to the bottle. Poor Earl just couldn’t cope, and Jesse - Wade’s older brother - he was no help. He couldn’t wait to get out, go and do his own thing. That was when Wade started down the same path as his father, or tried to. I was the one who tried to keep him on the straight and narrow, and I managed it, for a while.“We sort of transitioned from best friends to dating in high school without even discussing it. He’d told me when we were ten that he planned to marry me someday, and I don’t think it ever occurred to either of us that it wouldn’t happen, but it didn’t exactly go how we planned.”Her voice got quieter and quieter, until it disappeared altogether. Zoe didn’t know how to tell the rest of the tale, she didn’t even like to think about it, honestly. The happy times with Wade could still make her smile on occasion, but the sad times always made her cry if she wasn’t careful.“Zoe...” Lavon began, reaching to put a hand over hers on the counter.A knock came on the back door before he quite made contact and they both turned to see who was there, half-expecting Wade. It was a real surprise when somebody else walked in.“Oh my God,” Zoe gasped. “George Tucker?”She leapt down from her stool then and threw herself into the arms of her old friend, who happily hugged her back.“Zoe, what are you doing here?” he asked, squeezing her tight. “God, it’s been... a while,” he said awkwardly, and only she knew why. “You’ve been gone for years.”Zoe decided to cut him a break.“Ten, in fact,” she said as they pulled apart. “Wow, you look exactly the same, or maybe even more handsome than before,” she told him, grinning wide.“You look pretty great yourself,” he assured her, momentarily confused but recovering fast. “But I’m still wondering what you’re doing back here after all this time. It’s funny I just got a call from Wade and... Oh.”He stopped smiling when he finally put two and two together and got the magic number four.“Yeah.” Zoe sighed. “I was hoping to finally get him to sign divorce papers,” she admitted, shaking her head. “He did say he wasn’t going to sign anything without a lawyer, so I’m guessing that would be you.”George nodded. “Certified and everything,” he admitted, holding up a hand that also alerted Zoe to one other revelation he hadn’t particularly been looking to reveal.“Oh my God,” she gasped again, reaching for his left hand and thrusting his own wedding ring in his face. “You did it, you actually married Lemon?”“Er, no,” said George, with an another, almost nervous chuckle. “Actually, Lemon’s husband is the man you were just sitting talking to when I came in,” he said, gesturing back at the counter.With wide eyes Zoe looked from George to Lavon and back again.“What? Then what is this?” she asked, waving George’s left hand around some more.“Well, I married Tansy Truitt,” he said, smiling wide.“Wow.” Zoe shook her head. “Things really have changed around here!”
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It took Zoe a little while to wrap her head around all that Lavon and George had to tell her about the happenings in Bluebell since she was gone. She noticed how little they mentioned Wade or Harley in their sharing of news and, quite frankly, she appreciated that. Eventually she was going to have to face her situation with both of those men, but for now, she could use thinking about other things, just for a little while.“Assuming you’re gonna be hanging around for a while, I’m more than happy to have you stay here,” Lavon told her easily. “I mean, we got the Whippoorwill in town, but I figure you’d be more comfortable in a real home.”“A real home,” Zoe echoed thoughtfully before literally face-palming. “I’m so stupid!” she declared then, reaching both hands into her purse and rifling around until she finally found her keys. “He can’t keep me out of the carriage house. I still have my key!” she said triumphantly.“He was trying to stop you from getting into the carriage house?” asked George, frowning hard. “Why would he even care? Wade hasn’t lived in that place since... well, since real soon after you left.”“What? He was there just a couple of hours ago,” Zoe told him, shaking her head. “Where else would he live?”“Well, actually, Wade lives in the gate house now,” Lavon told her. “He’s been in there since before I bought the place, rented it from the previous owner. Not that I ever had anybody take the carriage house. Probably looks much like how you left it. Wade only goes over there once in a while to use the shower and such - the one in his place tends to play up if we got any kind of water pressure issue around town.”Zoe was a little bemused by that. She just assumed that Wade stayed in the house they had once shared. Now she wondered if the memories were too rough for him. After all, nobody in their right mind would choose the gate house over the carriage house, it was so small and tumbledown in comparison.“Zoe? You okay?” asked George, his hand at her shoulder.“Sure, I’m fine,” she said, forcing a smile. “I, er... Well, I guess since I still have a key and you just said I could stay, the carriage house would work for a few nights,” she said, looking to Lavon. “I don’t exactly intend to be here too long.”“You want it, you got it,” he told her easily. “Happy to have you around for a while.”“Excellent. Thank you,” she said, smiling up at him. “Well, if it’s okay with you guys, I’m going to take myself over there, take a shower, settle in. I’d like to think Wade has vacated by now.”“I’ll walk across with you,” said George, waving goodbye to Lavon as they left. “Just in case. I really don’t want the two of you coming to blows.”“Not going to happen,” Zoe promised as they walked together. “Wade was never perfect, but he would never raise a hand to me. The closest I got to hitting him was throwing a bottle of shampoo that missed his head by an inch, and I was provoked,” she said definitely.George bit his lip and said nothing for fear he might laugh. He really had missed Zoe and even her relationship with Wade. The two of them were kind of hilarious back in the day. It was a shame how things had turned so sour.Arriving outside the carriage house, Zoe opened up the trunk of the car and George lifted her case out for her. They headed up the steps and Zoe unlocked the door, peering inside and looking around. All evidence suggested that Wade was gone and Zoe sighed with relief.“Okay,” she said, heading into the bedroom with George on her heels. “Thanks for your help, George,” she told him, smiling as he placed her case down on the bed for her.“No problem,” he assured her, “but I should probably get over to the gate house now, before Wade starts to wonder what’s taking me so long.”Zoe nodded her understanding then pulled out a folder and pressed it into his hands.“I just need him to sign these, that’s all,” she said simply. “I don’t want any trouble, with anybody,” she said pointedly.She was determined not to mention that one time she and George had seen each other since she left Bluebell. They had promised to pretend it never happened and she would stick to that if he would.“I understand.” George nodded. “But you and Wade... kind of seems a shame though. Sorry,” he apologised, seeing the look that came over Zoe’s face.“Some things just aren’t meant to last,” she said sadly. “I mean, you know that. You and Lemon didn’t work out either.”“I’m not sure Lemon and me was ever supposed to, not once we grew up.” George shook his head. “In high school, we were happy, but as adults? We just wanted very different things. I mean, back when we were kids, I never could’ve imagined being married to Tansy, but she makes me happy. Crazy-happy.”“Then I’m happy for you, George.” Zoe smiled widely. “Honestly, I am.”George headed for the door then, before turning back at the last.“You know, we should all have dinner while you’re here. You, me, and Tansy. I’d love to catch up and I’m sure she would love to get to know you too. I mean, I tell a lot of stories about high school sometimes and your name comes up a lot. Pretty much all my best memories have you and Wade in them.”“Yeah.” Zoe nodded. “I know what you mean. We’ll figure something out for dinner,” she promised, smiling still.“Okay then.” George gave her a salute-like wave and then finally left.Alone at last, Zoe sat down heavily on the bed and took a look around. The place really did look a lot like it had been when she left. The paint was peeling a little and there was a musty, unaired smell hanging around, but it was still the home she had known so well, the one she and Wade had planned to make theirs forever.“Do not get nostalgic,” she told herself firmly, opening up her case and pulling out her toiletries and a change of clothes.Pulling off her shirt, she stopped when she felt the chain around her neck catch for a second and then the weight of her engagement ring bounced against her chest again. Taking a hold of the ring, she stared down into the diamond and sighed. It should be on her finger. She only wore it around her neck for work, for hygiene reasons and everything. It could be on her hand now where it belonged, it should be, and yet Zoe unfastened the chain and placed it in the drawer of the nightstand, not even considering that it might go on her finger at all any time soon.Shaking her head, she finished taking off her clothes then headed into the bathroom, determined to wash off not just the flight but also the one fight she had already had with Wade. No doubt it wouldn’t be the last while she was here because, try as he might, Zoe was already pretty sure that George would have no more luck than she did in getting her stubborn so-called husband to sign those divorce papers!Lavon came over to the carriage house to ask Zoe if she would like to join him and Lemon for dinner. Since she couldn’t cook for herself and had no wish to go into town to eat, she eagerly accepted, despite the fact she and Lemon had never been what anyone could call close. She figured it still might be nice to see her again and get to know Lavon a little better.“Well, bless my soul, Zoe Wilkes,” said Lemon the moment she saw her. “I swear I wondered if we would ever see you back here again.”Somehow she made it sound like she would have been happy if Zoe never came back at all, but there was no way she would rise to Lemon’s bait.“I actually go by Zoe Hart now,” she corrected her with an awkward smile.“Yes, well, I apologise if I offend,” said Lemon, not exactly looking sorry, “but you have to understand, I will always think of you as a Wilkes. Dear Harley was just so proud of his little girl.”Zoe bit her lip and nodded slowly. The last thing she needed right now was to be reminded how much her biological father loved her.“Well, you look exactly the same, Lemon,” she said, desperate to change the subject and sure that complimenting her old frenemy was the best way to go. “I swear, you haven’t aged a day since I left.”“You are too kind, I’m sure,” she said, smiling wide as she led Zoe through to the dining room and encouraged her to take a seat. “I have to admit you do look somewhat different yourself, but then I suppose all the stress of your doctoring and that polluted New York air would play havoc with your complexion.”“Hey, the guest has arrived,” said Lavon as he entered the room.Zoe turned to smile at him, glad for any kind of buffer between her and Lemon, to be honest. Talking to Lavon about his football career took up the next ten minutes until Lemon began to serve the meal, and then conversation more or less dried up. Lavon kept trying to find topics to discuss, to no avail, and all Lemon seemed too willing to do was mention how happy Wade was since Zoe left. It was very, very annoying.“You know, I think I might just skip dessert,” said Zoe when the main course was done. “Gotta watch the figure.”“Oh, really?” asked Lemon, smiling overly sweetly. “Of course, I do understand, but I have made my famous lemon meringue pie.”“Which I’m sure is delicious.” Zoe smiled right back, placing her napkin on the table. “But I really couldn’t.” She got up quickly and headed for the door, determined to make her escape. “Thank you so much for the meal and the scintillating dinner conversation, but I really should be... going.”Her sentence became disjointed as she opened the door and found Wade on the other side. The two of them just stared at each other a moment, neither sure what to say, and then he smirked at her, that annoying, too sexy smirk that had always made Zoe want to slap him and kiss him all at once.“Well, hey there, sweetheart,” he said, squeezing past her to get into the house. “You still here?”“Of course, I’m still here,” she said, arms folded over her chest as she turned to face him. “I can’t go home until you sign the papers!”“Wow, you’re real obsessed with that paperwork of yours.” Wade shook his head, helping himself to whatever it was he had wanted out of the fridge.Zoe looked at Lemon as if she expected her to admonish him. She didn’t bat an eye, just said something about clearing the table and disappeared back into the dining room, dragging Lavon with her.“I didn’t think it was possible but you have become even more annoying than you were before,” said Zoe through gritted teeth, watching Wade drink down the rest of a carton of orange juice without a moment’s pause. “Are you even listening to me?” she yelled, stamping her foot for good measure.Wade finished drinking, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and shook his head.“Y’know, I don’t remember you bein’ this tightly wound before,” he said, stepping up close to Zoe and grinning too much. “What’s the matter? Need to get laid?”“Ugh! Of course, you think every problem everybody ever has comes back to sex,” she said, shoving him back out of her personal space with both hands against his chest. “For your information, sex does not cure everything. I’m a doctor, I should know.”“Still pretty sure it’d cure you, doc,” he said, brushing past her towards the door and tossing the juice carton into the trash as he went. “If you could find anybody who would go there these days.”He was heading out the door before Zoe quite realised what he had said, but she was hot on his tail the moment his comment hit home.“Wade Kinsella,” she yelled, following him out into the dark, “you are an ass!”“I’m sorry,” he said, turning back with his hand at his ear as he was trying to better hear her, “did you just say I am an ass or you still want my ass?” he asked with a filthy grin.“Why can’t you just sign the papers and let me go home?” asked Zoe, continuing to follow him towards the gate house. “Why do you have to be so infuriating?”“I don’t know,” said Wade, making a thoughtful face that Zoe wasn’t quite buying. “I guess you just bring it out of me, baby,” he told her, smirking hard.He turned to head into his home then, only to stop short of the door when he heard a loud bang. When he looked back, Zoe was standing by his car, rubbing her foot which she had clearly just used to kick the driver’s side door.“Hey now, you put a dent in my girl and we’re really gonna have a problem,” he told her, suddenly not joking anymore.Zoe’s eyes widened as he continued to glare at her. All this time she had tried to get him to take her seriously and when he finally did, it was only because she had frustratedly kicked his precious car?“Oh, your girl?” she said, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, I forgot how much you love her. Well, think about this, Wade,” she yelled at him, “you don’t sign those papers and maybe your best girl here will find herself with a few new beauty marks.”She was pretty sure Wade had never looked so shocked, or at the very least, not for a good long while. With a triumphant smile, she turned away from him and strode around the lake towards the carriage house.“You wouldn’t dare!” she heard Wade call behind her.“I might!” she threw over her shoulder.She was almost at her door when he yelled to her again.“Well, maybe I will sign your damn papers!”“Good!” she countered.“Good!” he threw right back.Both their doors slammed, almost at the exact same moment, and back at the house, Lavon winced at the sound.“Wow,” he said, shaking his head as he moved away from the window now the fireworks were over. “They’re a real happy couple,” he said with a look.“They always were a little like that,” said Lemon knowingly, “even in the good times. It’s a funny thing,” she went on, scraping dishes and piling them up to be washed, “I always suspected he still loved her. Now I think there’s every chance she still loves him too.”“You don’t really think they can figure this out, do you?” asked her husband, frowning some.Lemon turned from her task to smile at him.“I don’t know for sure, but stranger things have happened in Bluebell.”
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Lavon had warned Zoe that she shared a fuse box with the gatehouse and that he wasn’t sure how much it could take. She didn’t worry about it. There were never any problems when she and Wade both lived in the carriage house years ago and plugged in as much as they wanted, although she supposed the fuse box was newer back then and nobody had as many gadgets.After a day spent in town, catching up with some people that were pleased to see her, but many more that weren’t, Zoe didn’t much care about anything but the relaxing bath she just had and getting herself looking half decent before she would probably have to join Lavon and Lemon for dinner again or face going out some place.Maybe she had thought about it. Maybe, subconsciously, she knew exactly what was going to happen when she added her curling iron to the socket that was already mostly filled up with her cell phone charging, her laptop, a lamp, a bug zapper, and the hairdryer too. At the flick of a switch, all the lights went out. Zoe grumbled about it, but a smile broke through when she heard Wade yelling frustratedly from across the lake.“Damnit, Zoe!”“Maybe it was worth it,” she said to herself, slipping on her shoes and heading outside.She found Wade standing by the fuse box, already halfway done in dealing with the problem, she supposed. One thing she could say for her so-called husband, he always had been good with his hands, in every sense of the words.“You’re just bound and determined to do every damn thing to screw up my day, aren’t ya?” he checked, eyes focused on the task at hand even as he complained.“I plugged in my curling iron,” Zoe countered, arms folded across her chest. “Not exactly a crime last time I checked.”“Yeah, well, I know Lavon warned you about the fuse box, so how about you try not to blow the damn thing again?” he said, slamming the door shut with a clang.“How about you sign those divorce papers like you said you would, then I’ll take my curling iron, and every other appliance I have, all the way back to New York where they won’t bother you anymore.”“Papers?” said Wade, making a face as if he was thinking really hard about what she meant. “I was supposed to sign something?” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Y’know, you’d think I’d remember something like that. Guess I musta got distracted or something,” he said, grinning too much as a woman came storming down the path from the gatehouse.“Wade, did you fix it already? I thought we were going out,” said the skanky looking blonde. “Who’s this?”Zoe opened her mouth to answer but Wade cut in first.“A pain in the ass neighbour, that’s all,” he said, wrapping an arm around the blonde who was now glaring daggers at Zoe. “C’mon, Joelle. I promised you a night out and that’s what you’re gonna get. We’re goin’ to the Rammer Jammer to have some real fun,” he told Zoe. “I know you don’t know what that is anymore, so I won’t bore you with the details, but you just have yourself a great night, doc,” he said smartly, giving a salute-like wave before turning to walk away with his date.Zoe watched them go, anger and frustration bubbling up inside her. She hated Wade sometimes, really hated him. Of course, yelling at him never did her any good, he always made a joke out of it, but two could play that game.“I have to get dinner somewhere,” she said to herself, heading back to the carriage house to finish getting ready. “The Rammer Jammer is as good a place as any,” she realised, smiling a little too much about her idea.The place hadn’t changed much from what Zoe recalled. Bluebell was that kind of town, she knew. Nothing changed because most people liked everything just as it was. Zoe had to admit, it was comforting to find things much as she left them, except perhaps for a lot of couples she used to know back in the day. It still messed with her head that George and Lemon never got married. She could almost make sense of Lemon being with Lavon, after all, he was the mayor and she did always love to be high and mighty at times. It was George and Tansy that really blew her mind!“Zoe Wilkes, hi!” a red-head greeted her with all the enthusiasm she possessed, running around the bar to hug her tight.“Hey, um... you,” she said, hugging the supposed stranger back.“It’s me, Wanda” she explained as they parted. “Oh, good lord, you don’t even recognise me, but then I guess it has been a long time.”“Oh, wow. Wanda Lewis,” Zoe realised suddenly. “You were just a kid when I left town.”“Thirteen, as I recall,” she agreed, nodding her head. “But you were always my favourite babysitter back in the day. I just loved when you and Wade came over to watch me,” she said, giggling madly.“Right, yeah.” Zoe nodded, recalling those days with some real mixed emotions. “So, how are things with you?”“Well, I grew up, obviously.” Wanda rolled her eyes. “And I work here at the Rammer Jammer, and of course, I’m engaged,” she said, flashing the diamond ring on her left hand. “You remember Tom Long? He just proposed a couple of weeks ago. I swear, being engaged to the man you love is the best feeling.”“Oh, I know, I... I mean, it must be great,” she said, stopping short of what she was really going to say.It was so stupid, but Zoe just wasn’t quite ready to admit to anybody here that she was engaged to another man. The ring which usually sat on a chain around her neck, always hidden under whatever shirt she was wearing, was even further from her now. It was back at the carriage house in the drawer still, and it hadn’t even occurred to her to take it out.She hadn’t told Wade that a new guy and an engagement was why she wanted a divorce. She hadn’t mentioned it to Lavon, Lemon, George, nobody. It made her feel bad, as if she was ashamed or something, which she absolutely was not, but somehow it seemed easier to keep it all a secret for as long as she was Zoe Wilkes of Bluebell. Zoe Hart of New York could enjoy her engagement when she got home, there was plenty of time. For as long as she was here, it was just easier to be someone else.“Ooh, sorry, customers to serve,” said Wanda then, “but we’ll talk more later,” she insisted, rushing back to work.“While you’re back there, I’d love a glass of wine!” Zoe called, taking the thumbs up she got as a good sign.“Zoe Wilkes, they told me you were back but I didn’t altogether believe it until I saw you with my own two eyes!”“Annabeth, look at you!” Zoe exclaimed, turning to look at her old friend. “You... have a baby. At the bar,” she said, eyes wide as anything at the sight.“Yes, ma’am. Got me the baby and then got rid of the no-good husband,” said Annabeth out of the side of her mouth. “Oh, that Jake Nass, I swear, he was useless in every way that mattered, but I got what I wanted out of him in the end, and then just kicked him to the kerb, as they say on the TV.”“Well, then good for you,” said Zoe, eyeing the baby on her friend’s hip with some concern.Sure, there was no smoking in the bar these days, but it was still a bar. Of course, this was Bluebell where the abnormal was normal. It took some readjusting too after so long away.“You know this town has really missed you,” said Annabeth then. “It is just wonderful to have you home.”“Oh, I’m not staying,” said Zoe, thanking Wanda when her drink finally arrived. “This is a flying visit, really.”“Well, that’s a shame because so many people were just giddy at the idea of having you back with us,” her friend insisted, taking a long pull on her own, hopefully non-alcoholic drink. “Some more than others I hasten to add,” she said, with a significant look over Zoe’s shoulder.She turned in time to see Wade make a truly great pool shot and get all kinds of congratulated by Joelle. Zoe felt her face screw up with disgust and hated herself for the green-eyed monster that stirred somewhere in her gut. Turning back to the bar, she quickly downed the rest of her wine and asked for a refill.“No, on second thoughts, a shot of bourbon,” she said definitely.“Wow,” said Annabeth, eyes a little wide. “You mean business.”“Yes, I do,” said Zoe, nodding her head. “I really, really do.”Maybe she should’ve eaten something before she started drinking the hard stuff. There was also a good chance Zoe shouldn’t have decided to raise her hand when Wade asked who would dare to take him on next since he was on fire at the pool table tonight. It wasn’t like she was playing badly, but Wade had taught her just about everything she knew about pool. Besides, it was all getting a little hard to remember the more she drank, but the bourbon had seemed to be helping at first, helping numb the pain and frustration, helping her to relax. Now she felt so relaxed, Zoe was surprised her legs were still under her, but there was no way she was going to quit. No frickin’ way.“You doin’ okay there, doc?” asked Wade, smirking too much.“Just fine, thank you,” she said primly, trying to figure out her next shot and wondering why there suddenly seemed to be more balls on the table than there had been a few moments ago.They had quite the audience by now, though Zoe had hardly noticed. At least not until one of the crowd moved up behind her and told her so.“You sure you’re fine, Zoe?” asked George gently. “You do seem a little... wobbly.”“You’re wobbly,” she countered lamely, batting him away. “I am fine.”“Really not so sure that fine is the word,” he muttered, turning away.“Really?” she said, rounding on him and almost falling off her high heels in the process. “That’s funny, George Tucker,” she said pointedly. “You seemed to think I was more than fine that night in New York when you took me to dinner!”She said it loud enough for the whole bar to hear. In fact, they probably heard her several streets away, but Zoe didn’t care much anymore.“What is she talking about?” asked Tansy, frowning hard.Zoe could hardly believe it when George had reintroduced them. She remembered Tansy Truitt from their high school days. She lived outside of Bluebell, but they saw each other at away games and such. She made a pretty good cheerleader but had always been lacking in real brains and common sense. Why George had married her, Zoe couldn’t imagine. Still, right now, she could almost feel sorry for poor little Tansy. She had no idea.“Oh, I guess that was before you two were married, huh?” she said, shaking her head. “Pretty sure you must’ve been engaged though, right, George?”“Zoe,” he said, looking pained. “We agreed never to talk about that night.”“We did?” she checked. “Hmm, I don’t remember. What I do recall is you making a pass at me over dinner.”“What is she talking about, Tucker?” asked Wade from somewhere behind Zoe, though she didn’t feel steady enough to turn and see exactly where.“Yeah, I think I’d like an answer to that too,” said Tansy, glaring at George.“It was nothing,” he insisted. “Honestly, baby, it was just... it was a long time ago, and it was nothing.”“Wow, I’m flattered.” Zoe snorted a laugh, carefully moving back towards the pool table and considering her shot some more. “Well, there goes another crazy Bluebell marriage, I guess,” she said to anyone who cared to listen.“Don’t be so fast to judge all marriages in this town, Zoe Wilkes,” said Lemon crossly. “There’s a lot you don’t know. Besides, people in glass houses didn’t ought to throw stones. Your own marriage didn’t work out so well, now did it?”“That’s right,” said Zoe, spinning to face her, having to put a hand out fast onto the pool table so she didn’t fall. “Now, why do you suppose that was? Anybody have any ideas?” she asked the folks in the bar in general, who had all fallen silent watching the display.“Zoe...” said Wade, his hand on her arm but she quickly snatched it away.“What about you, Wade?” she asked, turning angry eyes to meet his own. “You got any light to shed on the breakdown of our marriage?”His eyes begged her to let it go but he ought to have known that wasn’t going to happen. Drunk as she was, she was liable to say anything, maybe a few of those things that they’d miraculously managed to keep secret the first time around.“Hey, why don’t we get out of here?” said Joelle behind him, pulling on his arm.Wade didn’t move an inch. Neither did Zoe. It was as if his date wasn’t even there. Joelle got bored after a few seconds, rolled her eyes and left alone.“Zoe, don’t,” said Wade in a low voice. “Please.”“Why not?” she countered, turning back towards the crowd. “You all want to know why Wade and me got married? Because I got pregnant. Romantic, huh? Knocked up in the back of a car on prom night-”“Okay, you’re done,” said Wade angrily, turning Zoe around and throwing her over his shoulder.It was a move he had made a million times when they were young, and she still weighed nothing at all. Sure, she protested more about it on this occasion than ever before, yelling and hollering, railing against his back with her tiny fists. Wade never even flinched. He carried her right on out of the Rammer Jammer and over to his car. He had the passenger door open easily and then unceremoniously dumped Zoe into the seat.“Ass!” she yelled at him the moment she was the right way up.“Shut up,” he told her shortly, slamming the door.The second he moved, she opened it again, and before Wade could protest at all, she threw up spectacularly onto the ground, narrowly avoiding his shoes.“Geez, Zoe,” he complained, stepping back and watching her heave some more.“I hate you,” she muttered, coughing yet.“Yeah, I got that part,” said Wade with a sigh.Mad as he had been with her for what she said in the bar, he never could hate her. He would like to think Zoe was exaggerating when she said she hated him too, but it was tough to tell with her sometimes. After ten years, people changed, he supposed, though Zoe seemed the same in all the ways that really mattered.“You okay?” he asked, crouching down to her level and mindful of the mess she had made. “Hey,” he tried again when she didn’t answer, lifting her hair out of the way to see her face.“I’ll live,” she told him, shifting into the car and letting her head loll back against the seat.“Good to know.” Wade rolled his eyes, getting up and shutting the door again.He ran around to the driver’s side and got in, looking across at Zoe, who was all kinds of pale and just a little bit green. It wasn’t the first time he saw her drunk, nor the first time he saw her throw up either, though if she got her way with those divorce papers, it might be the last on both counts.Wade put his attention on starting the car and tried not to think about anything else. He realised, almost too late, that he was going to have to put a seatbelt on Zoe, since she was seemed altogether incapable of doing anything for herself. Between the drink and bringing her guts up, she was a real mess, half-conscious in the passenger seat with her eyes closed, all the anger and pain replaced with sick and tired.“You got problems, girl,” he muttered, strapping her in. “You know that, don’t ya?”“You’re the problem,” she told him sleepily, pushing her forehead against the cold glass of the passenger window.Wade sighed and shook his head then set about driving them both home. She was asleep before they ever reached the plantation and he doubted trying to wake her up was going to do any good. The irony wasn’t lost on Wade that he got Zoe out of the car and carried her bridal style to the carriage house they used to call home. Out of it as she was, she didn’t even try to fight him. In fact, she curled her body into his and sighed a contented sort of a sigh as he took her into the house.It still made his heart ache to be in that place. When he had to, he ran across to use the shower or something, but never dawdled or took the time to think too much about where he was. It hurt too much to be reminded about how happy they had been in the beginning and how wrong everything had gone later on. Right now, with Zoe sleeping in his arms as he carried her to bed, it was that much harder for Wade to avoid the ghosts of the past that wanted to creep up on him.“Time for bed, baby,” he said, laying her down on top of the covers.She made some noise that sounded like a complaint when he let go of her, reaching out a hand that hit him in the chest as he leaned over her. Grabbing the spare blanket, Wade covered Zoe up and couldn’t resist planting a kiss on her forehead.“Sleep it off, sweetheart,” he told her softly. “Maybe you’ll feel better in the morning.”When he turned to leave, something stopped Wade from quite making it to the door. On the nightstand, he spotted a copy of those divorce papers that Zoe was so eager for him to sign. Good old George must’ve given them back after he refused to sign, though now Wade was wondering what the point was in being so stubborn. After tonight, it was clear enough that whatever they once had was over, at least for Zoe. Hanging around Bluebell was already making her miserable and even more crazy than she ever had been before. Truth be told, it wasn’t doing much for Wade either.“If I thought it’d really make you happy...” he said, glancing back at Zoe’s sleeping form.Grabbing up the papers, he looked around for a pen too and signed his name before he could change his mind. Wade put the papers on the pillow next to Zoe’s head and then left without another backward glance.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When Zoe woke up in the morning, she felt like death. As a doctor, she was more familiar than most with the causes of a hangover and the best way to deal with one, but unfortunately, no amount of medical knowledge made the headache any less intense or the churning in her stomach any better. The feeling on her tongue and the taste that went with it suggested she actually ate garbage right out of the nearest dumpster, or more likely she threw up, a lot.“What was I thinking?” she asked herself, sitting up very carefully.She put her hand down on what felt like papers and frowned at the feeling. Shifting to look, Zoe fought to focus her eyes on what was lying next to her in the bed. The divorce papers, and there on the line where the husband’s signature should go, Wade’s name, written in his own hand.“Oh my God!” she gasped . “You actually did it,” she said, shaking her head and immediately regretting the action.She needed a shower, and a gallon of water to drink, then Zoe had a feeling there were apologies she needed to make, to quite a few people. She should probably thank Wade too. Not only had he finally signed the papers, she had a feeling he was the one to bring her home safely last night, after what she was pretty sure had been a crazy display at the Rammer Jammer.“You were never really a bad guy,” she said, turning to look out of the window and across the lake to the gate house.It was strange how she felt oddly tearful when she headed to the bathroom then. Zoe blamed the hangover and the weird sentimentality and nostalgia combined that came with being back in Bluebell, and the carriage house in particular. She wanted to cut all ties with Wade and this place, it was the very thing she had come back to do, so it made no sense to have regrets or doubts now.Today, Zoe would make her apologies and say her goodbyes. By tomorrow, she could be on a plane home to New York, to her own apartment, her job, her mother, and her fiancé. A wonderful reality awaited her, she just had to get through the next couple of days.“Well, aren’t you a pretty picture this morning?” said Lemon, smiling too much and raising her voice far beyond a level that was comfortable for Zoe’s head - she had to know it too.“Good morning, Lemon,” she said, one hand on her aching forehead.“Feeling a might delicate, are we?” said Lemon, grinning yet. “Well, how about some ham and eggs to make you feel like a new woman?” she offered, swinging the skillet around so the smell and grease hit Zoe full-force.“I couldn’t.” She winced, barely holding in a gag. “I... I didn’t come here for breakfast, exactly. Although, some coffee might be good,” she admitted, helping herself to a cup. “I actually came to... to apologise,” she said shakily. “Look, Lemon, I know you and I haven’t always been great friends, and I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure what I said last night, but I get the feeling I owe you an apology, so-”“I’m not the one you hurt, Zoe Wilkes,” said Lemon sharply as she met her eyes. “All that was said between us was a few general words about the institution of marriage. It was others you turned on with your vicious tongue. You know George Tucker slept in our guest room last night? Tansy wouldn’t have him within a mile of her after what you implied.”“Oh God!” Zoe let her forehead fall onto the counter and covered her whole head with both arms. “I really didn’t mean to do that.”“Well, you did,” said a voice, making her look up again fast, immediately regretting the quick movement when her head swum terribly.“George, I am so, so sorry,” she apologised, looking at him and then beyond to Lavon. “And if I said anything to you that I shouldn’t-”“Relax, Z. I ain’t the injured party,” Lavon assured her, hands held up in mock-surrender. “It’s mostly George here. Wade too, but I’m guessing you remember that part.”“Not entirely,” she admitted, “but I can guess what I said.”Her hand went to her head again as she fought the pain, both physical and emotional. To think Zoe had come here to get things fixed and straightened out so she could move on with her life. The last thing she had wanted was for her past to come back to haunt her, to be dragging up old stories that shouldn’t even matter anymore.“I really should not drink, ever,” she declared, running both hands over her face. “George, I swear to you, I will talk to Tansy. I will make her understand that nothing happened.”“Zoe, it’s not all your fault.” George shook his head. “You know, the truth is that I should’ve told Tansy myself what really happened with us, not that anything really did happen, but... well, the fact of the matter is, I was never honest with her about the feelings I had for you at one time. Took a while for me to even be honest with myself about it,” he admitted, looking just a little embarrassed. “Things are different now, of course. I never would’ve married Tansy if I wasn’t totally sure about my love for her.”“I know.” Zoe nodded carefully. “You’re a good man, George Tucker, you always were. I never should’ve said anything about New York. Like you said, nothing really happened anyway.”“We’ll figure it out,” George assured her. “In the meantime, should we even ask what happened with you and Wade after you left the Rammer Jammer?”“If I knew exactly, I would tell you.” Zoe sighed. “All I do know is that when I woke up this morning, the divorce papers were on my pillow and Wade had signed them.”There was a loud clatter then that made everybody wince, Zoe most of anyone, and Lemon quickly apologised.“It came as such a surprise,” she admitted, looking more sad than shocked somehow.“To me too,” Zoe agreed, “but I guess he’s the same good guy he’s always been underneath all the flannel and snark. He did the right thing in the end,” she said with a smile.“Well, I guess I should be heading home now,” said George, moving towards the door, “see how much damage has really been done in the cold light of day.”“George, I could come with you if-”It was as far as Zoe got when suddenly George opened the door and a stranger, with his fist still raised ready to knock, blinked in at the assembled friends.“Ah, good morning,” he said, smiling at them all. “My name is Mr Hines, I’m from the Alumni Committee. I’m here to see Dr Zoe Hart?”All eyes went to Zoe then and her own went wide as anything. Of course, she knew the alumni magazine wanted to do a piece on her, she remembered clearly arranging for them to visit her to do an interview. Her mind raced through the haze of her hangover until she realised the arranged date had been the 24th, which would have been yesterday. How had she forgotten such a thing?“Mr Hines,” she said, scrambling from her stool and rushing as best she could to greet him. “You’re here, in Bluebell,” she gabbled, feeling overcome and knowing that it must be showing too.“Well, of course, I tried to contact you in New York yesterday but you didn’t seem to be around, and then some very helpful lady at the hospital told me you had come back to your roots and I saw a golden opportunity. Dr Zoe Hart relaxing in her old family home before heading back to her job in New York. The readers will love it, a chance to see this wonderful plantation where you grew up and everything.”“Is it just me,” said Lavon in a low voice to his wife, “or does he seem to think this is Zoe’s place?”“I can’t deny that is how it appears,” replied Lemon, just as quietly. “Well, I do believe if George Tucker wanted some kind of revenge upon little Zoe Wilkes for her embarrassing him so badly last night, he has just found the perfect opportunity.”“Think he will?”“George Tucker?” Lemon rolled her eyes. “Gosh, no.”As if right on cue, Mr Hines asked George who he had the pleasure of meeting and the Golden Boy of Bluebell put on his best smile, wrapping an arm around Zoe’s shoulders.“I am Zoe’s cousin,” he said, just as easy as falling off a log. “Name’s George.”He held out a hand for Mr Hines to shake and then ushered him into the kitchen. Lemon never missed a beat, moving to offer her own hand to the gentleman and welcoming him to their not-so-humble abode.“Lemon Hayes,” she introduced herself. “And this is my husband, Lavon,” she introduced.“Oh, you also live here on the plantation?” he checked, looking to Zoe. “You have tenants, of course?”“Tenants?” she echoed, momentarily thrown.“Heavens, no.” Lemon giggled. “You don’t see the family resemblance? Well, dear Zoe is a cousin of mine too. You know how it is in the south, I’m sure, Mr Hines. There’s just an acre of us Harts down here in Alabama,” she said pointedly, glancing at Zoe with a dangerous smile.“Um, yeah. That’s true, cous,” said Zoe, smiling right back. “Um, Mr Hines, if you could just give me a minute with my cousin-”“Don’t worry, Zoe,” said George easily. “I’m sure me and Lavon here can give Mr Hines the tour of the place while you get yourself dolled up for pictures or whatever.”“Yeah, we can do that,” Lavon agreed, nodding quickly.Zoe wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or afraid as the two guys led Mr Hines away. Her hands covered her face as she forced herself to breathe. As if she hadn’t felt sick enough before.“No better cure for a hangover than a boatload of lying,” said Lemon, still wearing that dangerous grin. “Good thing Wade didn’t join us all for breakfast. I can’t see him getting in on all of this. You and I both know how he hates shenanigans.”“This is ridiculous.” Zoe sighed. “We can’t keep up this charade.”“And what exactly is the alternative?” Lemon asked her, pouring more coffee for them both. “Are you really willing to tell this gentleman the truth? That you’ve been living a lie these past ten years? What would your fancy friends in New York say about that, do you think?”Zoe opened her mouth to answer and closed it again fast. She had to keep up the pretence she was better than she was, what choice did she have? Bad enough if her friends in New York discovered the whole truth of her beginnings, worse yet if Joel got to hear about it. Maybe a marriage based on lies was a bad idea, but even if she wanted to be truthful at some point, she did not want it to be forced upon her this way.“I need to go get dressed,” she said eventually, moving towards the door, though she stopped short of leaving and looked back at Lemon. “You’re really not gonna screw this up for me?”“Not at all, Zoe Hart,” she said definitely, confirming she had nothing to fear.After all, if Lemon was going to screw around, she would’ve called Zoe by the name she had called her before, Zoe Wilkes, or maybe even Zoe Kinsella. Nodding her understanding and appreciation, Zoe muttered a ‘thanks’ before hurrying to the carriage house to get herself dressed in something more suitable for photographs and such. She moved fast, hoping Wade wouldn’t notice what was happening, sure if he came up to the house everything would go to hell in a handbasket.Within fifteen minutes, she got back herself, to find George, Lavon, and Lemon all sat around in the living room with Mr Hines, laughing over stories of a past that Zoe did not recognise as her own.“She has been quite the asset to the Belles, of course,” said Lemon, as if she didn’t know Zoe was there. “Ladies like ourselves have to set an example, after all.”“And nobody could do more for the community than our Zoe,” said George definitely, glancing at her over Mr Hines' head only when he was sure the alumni guy wasn’t paying attention. “Well, just last night she was the very life and soul of a gathering we had here in town. She put on all the entertainment, all by herself,” he said smartly, delighting in the way Zoe squirmed, she was sure of it.“Wow, I’m going to get a fat head listening to you guys talk me up so much,” she said eventually, getting Mr Hines' attention.He greeted her, all kinds of enthusiastic about the house he had been given the full tour of, and practically gushing about all the wonderful things he had been hearing about Zoe’s life and family. She sat down with him on the couch, and Lemon insisted they should be left alone to conduct their interview. Once again, Zoe was caught between relief and panic as she watched her friends walk away, mouthing a ‘thank you’ to George and smiling genuinely when he nodded and grinned at her. At least they were friends again and that meant a lot right now.Mr Hines asked questions about Zoe’s medical career which required minimal lying or remembering of previous fabrications, for which Zoe could not be more grateful. A half an hour later, they seemed to be coming to the end of the questions and she felt like maybe this was not going to be the disaster she had originally envisaged when Mr Hines first arrived.Then the door opened and Wade walked in.“Oh my God,” she gasped, leaping up from her seat without thinking.“Is something wrong?” asked Mr Hines, turning to see. “Oh, who is this?”“Wade,” said Zoe quickly, rushing at him and throwing her arms around his neck.If he was startled, he managed not to show it and Zoe quickly whispered in his ear.“Thank you so much for signing the papers, I am beyond grateful, but I need one more favour,” she said fast, switching to a louder volume as she continued. “It is so great to see you. Lemon, you didn’t tell me your brother was coming by.”“Well, of course not,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Silly, Cousin Zoe, that would have ruined the surprise of dear brother Wade’s visit.”Wade’s eyes were a little wide as he looked between the girls, clearly understanding the pleading in Zoe’s face and the stern ‘don’t screw this up’ vibe coming from Lemon. It felt as if everybody in the room, except maybe Mr Hines, was holding their breath until Wade spoke at last.“And hey, nobody wants a spoiled surprise, now do they, doc?” he said to Zoe, hauling her up off the ground into his strong arms before she had a chance to protest. “Well, good old Cousin Zoe. ‘S been too long since we’ve seen you round these parts. Guess that New York hospital keeps you all kinds of busy, huh?”“It sure does,” she told him, slapping him too hard in the back. “Come on, cous,” she said through a smile full of gritted teeth. “Let me down already.”Wade complied with a smirk that Zoe wanted to slap right off his face, but at least he was playing along, she had to be grateful for that. Mr Hines seemed grateful to be able to meet so many members of Zoe Hart’s ‘family’ shaking hands with Wade and asking questions about what it was like growing up with Zoe. She was holding her breath all over again, waiting on his answer.“Well, she always was a little firecracker,” he explained to the stranger. “Real ambitious too. She set her mind to this whole doctoring thing and I had no doubts she’d make it. See, she wanted to be like her daddy, a lot of folks do, but with Zoe, it was more than that. She just cared about people,” he said, looking at her over Mr Hines' head, “sometimes too much, I guess.” Zoe swallowed hard, a little overwhelmed by his words and the look in his eyes when he said them. Wade knew her way too well, and as much as she would like to say she had changed a lot over the years, it wasn’t entirely true. She could go by a new name and make up all this stuff about her background, but deep down, she was still Zoe Wilkes, the girl who had grown up with Wade and even been in love with him once.Not long after that, Mr Hines excused himself to go and it was Wade who offered to walk him out. Zoe caught his arm as he passed by her, whispering a genuine thank you for his help. She got a nod and a brief smile out of him as he finally left, taking the guy from the alumni committee with him. There was a collective sigh from the remaining people the moment the guys were gone.“Well, that was fun,” said Lemon, smiling yet. “Nothing like a little deception to really wake you up in the morning.”“That’s the kind of wake up I could do without,” George admitted, rubbing his forehead, “but I gotta admit, kinda fun too,” he said, smiling then. “Reminded me of old times.”Zoe laughed, she couldn’t help it, covering her face with both hands for a moment before looking around at her friends.“You guys are the best, and I really did not deserve any of your help,” she said, reaching to hug George and Lavon with one arm each.“No, you did not, Zoe Wilkes,” said Lemon definitely, folding her arms over her chest as if she were cross and yet a smile spread across her lips, “but we go back a very long way, and a Belle such as myself has some respect for an acquaintance of such long-standing. Besides, I won’t have the good name of Bluebell sullied in any kind of press.”“It’s not really press, Lemon, just an alumni magazine,” Zoe assured her, “but I still really appreciate the help, thank you,” she said, smiling widely at her.Lemon nodded once in response, just as the door opened again and Wade returned to the scene.“Well, you sure are bringing all kinds of interesting fun back to town with you, doc,” he told Zoe as he moved past her to reach for the coffee pot. “’Course, I figured you’d be long gone by now, cous,” he said, smirking terribly.“Thank you for playing along, Wade, and for... the other thing,” she said awkwardly. “I really appreciate it.”He shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal, but they both knew it really was, every part of it. It was a funny thing, but Zoe had thought, much like Wade had, that as soon as the divorce papers were signed, she would be on the next flight out. Now it almost seemed like a shame to run away. It had been fun getting into shenanigans with George and Lemon and Wade, plus Lavon of course. It really was a lot like old times.“So, I really should go this time,” said George, moving towards the door. “Say goodbye before you leave, okay, Zoe?” he said, looking to her for a response.“Oh, sure. It won’t be today or anything,” she told him, shaking her head. “I have a couple of free days, I figure I may as well hang around,” she said with a smile.She didn’t notice the significant look that passed between Lemon and Lavon then, or the one after that Lemon gave Wade, only for him to glare back at her.Zoe Hart hanging around town for a couple more days didn’t mean anything at all.Unless it did.
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Not long after George left the plantation, Wade said he had to get to work and disappeared too. Lavon had mayoral duties to attend to, so he said, and kissed Lemon on the cheek before heading to his office to make calls and such. Zoe had said she needed to go into town and ensure she hadn’t offended any more people last night. She still wanted to talk to Tansy on George’s behalf, but he had seemed pretty determined that she shouldn’t, at least not today.“I can drive you into town,” Lemon offered, “if you can wait a while for me to clean up here.”Zoe said she could and even pitched in with the dishes and everything, a small amount of payback for the big favour Lemon and the others had done for her already that morning. Within the hour, they were in the car, headed into town. There was an eerie silence between them at first, until one question on Zoe’s mind finally forced its way out.“I’m sorry, I know it’s probably none of my business, but I have to ask,” she said, looking sideways at Lemon, “what happened with you and George? I mean, Lavon is great and it’s obvious you two are so happy together, but how did it happen? When did it happen?”A smile came to Lemon’s lips for a few moments, clearly either pleased to have managed to shock Zoe with her change in partners, or perhaps just glad to know the happiness of her marriage was so plain. The happy expression slipped a little when she finally began to explain it.“I don’t think George Tucker and I were ever really going to last much past high school,” she admitted with a sigh. “You know, you and Wade played your part in our ending too. George always saw your point of view over anyone else’s, and I... I’m afraid I gave all my sympathy to poor Wade. After all, right around that time, my mother had upped and left us same as you’d left him. We had that in common and we supported each other. We needed family and looked to each other to find it.”She looked too sad for a minute and Zoe was about to say something comforting or apologetic when suddenly Lemon seemed to recover and continued on with her story.“Anyway, eventually, Lavon came back to Bluebell. He wanted to run for mayor and he approached me as head of the Belles and a leading member of our community to assist in his campaign. I don’t know exactly when our working relationship became something more. One day I just found myself in love with that sweet man and lucky enough to have him loving me back. We’ve been married coming on for two years now.”She was smiling again as her story came to it’s close, complete with happy ending, and Zoe was smiling too, she couldn’t help it.“I’m so happy for you, Lemon,” she told her honestly. “I really am.”A few minutes later, Zoe was stepping out of the car into the streets of Bluebell, no longer smiling but wincing instead as she realised she was quite literally the talk of the town.“You may have changed in some ways, Zoe,” said Lemon, meeting her on the sidewalk, “but Bluebell hasn’t. Right now, I can almost guarantee that every person breathing in this town has your name on their lips. From Delma Warner telling tales on that bench right over there, to good old Frank at the Dixie Stop, and just about every person in every place in between.”“Great.” Zoe rolled her eyes. “Because who doesn’t want to be the centre of attention of the Bluebell gossips?”“Come on now, it’s not as if it’s your first time.” Lemon smirked wickedly. “Now, I have an appointment of my own to keep. Annabeth and I are meeting for sweet tea at The Butter Stick. If you need a ride back home, I should be there for about an hour, and then I’ll drop in on my daddy for a while after that.”“Thanks, Lemon.” Zoe smiled at her. “For everything.”“Honestly, anybody would think I quite saved your life today, instead of just your New York reputation.” Lemon rolled her eyes. “Such a shame you couldn’t manage such a feat for yourself within the bounds of dear Bluebell,” she said then, sashaying away down the street before Zoe could retort.Honestly, she didn’t want to fight with Lemon anyway, not after how she helped her out so much. She claimed that Bluebell hadn’t changed much, but as far as Zoe could tell, it really had. Lemon was nicer than she remembered, that was for sure. However, some things definitely didn’t change, as she found out fast when a yell went up a ways away across the town square.“Hey, pretty lady!”“Oh my God!” she gasped, unable to keep from grinning as Wade’s father, known for years now as ‘Crazy Earl’, came barrelling towards her.Of course, he was more than a little out of breath when he reached her, bending double with his hands on his knees as he tried to force out words.“Well,” he eventually gasped out, “if it ain’t my favourite daughter-in-law. You’re even prettier than I remember, Zoe.”“Thank you,” she said, smiling yet. “Earl, it is so great to see you,” she admitted, reaching to hug him.It was a little disconcerting to realise that he smelt quite so strongly of booze this early in the morning, but Zoe ought to have expected nothing else. Poor Earl had been one side of drunk or the other on a pretty permanent basis ever since his wife died almost twenty years before. How he was still alive after the abuse he had given his liver, Zoe couldn’t fathom, but she was genuinely glad to see him again. He was always so nice to her.“Makes a heart glad to see you, darlin’,” he told her, holding her at arm’s length to get a good look at her now. “Wade must be so happy to have you back again.”Zoe’s smile faltered at that remark, but she pulled it back as best she could.“Oh, well, I guess so,” she said awkwardly. “Why don’t we sit down for a while and talk?” she suggested, encouraging him over to a bench, mindful that he was wobbling even now.“How long has it been since I saw you last?” he asked, scratching his head as he thought on it. “Must be a year or more.”“Earl, it’s more like ten years,” she said, smiling fondly at him. “Your perception of time was never that great, was it?”“Ten years?” he echoed. “A whole ten? Now, that can’t be right.”“I promise, it is,” Zoe insisted. “How have things been with you?”“Oh, can’t complain.” Earl shrugged. “I just keep on keepin’ on, the way us Kinsellas always do. I try to be there for my boy if I can. He gets himself in some real scrapes sometimes.”“Oh, really?” said Zoe trying not to sound too interested.“Well, now that I think, not so many now as he used to,” Earl considered. “Say, didn’t I hear you got to be a doctor or some such?”“That is true. One fully qualified doctor, sitting right here,” she said, smiling brightly.“Just like your daddy.” Earl sighed. “Poor Harley, he was a good man. That Dr Breeland, well, I wouldn’t go to him even if I was dying. Man’s an animal. Nope, I have not set foot in that doctor’s office since Dr Wilkes drew his last, and I won’t ever, less of course you might be taking over.”“Oh, no.” Zoe shook her head. “I’m not staying long. You know I live in New York now, right?” she checked, knowing that Earl should have that information, but less clear on whether he could retrieve it as needed.“New York?” he said, frowning some as he thought very hard about it. “You know, Wade went there one time.”“Wade in New York?” Zoe laughed. “No, Earl, that was me. I went to New York. It’s where I live now,” she insisted, her hand on her chest as she emphasised ‘I’ until he understood.“Well, that is exactly why Wade went there,” Earl told her, speaking slowly as if to an infant, which to be fair was how she had been speaking to him too. “What man wouldn’t chase after his wife if’n he could?”Zoe didn’t know what to think when she heard those words. She felt enormously sad for Earl who was clearly now thinking about his own wife. He couldn’t follow her where she had gone, at least not without taking some very drastic action, but was he really just saying that Wade had tried to follow Zoe, to New York?It occurred to her to ask Earl for the when and how of it all, but she doubted he would know in this state. In fact, the next thing she knew she was being forced right to the edge of the bench by her father-in-law’s feet as he got himself laid down comfortably for a nap.Zoe stood up and just stared at him for a minute. Sleeping it off was probably the best thing for Earl, but Zoe wondered what the best thing was for her. Earl had to have got it wrong. He was confused more often than he wasn’t, that she knew for sure. If it were true when she saw him last, it was probably doubly so now. Of course, she could ask Wade about New York, but there was every chance this whole chasing after her thing only existed inside of Earl’s head. He was so devoted to Zoe and Wade being together forever, always had been, probably always would be.Turning to walk away, Zoe wasn’t really looking where she was going and soon ran headlong into a couple coming the other way.“Well, good morning,” said a cheerful voice.“Wanda and... oh my goodness, Tom Long?” she gasped. “Look at you, you’re so... tall.”“My Tom grew up good,” said Wanda happily. “I told you we were engaged, didn’t I?” she said, giving another flash of her ring.“You did. Wow, and you both look so happy about it too,” said Zoe, smiling genuinely. “Um, since you’re actually being nice to me, I’m going to go ahead and hope that I didn’t say anything awful to you last night?”“Oh no, not to me.” Wanda shook her head. “And Tom wasn’t even there.”“I kind of wish I was now,” he admitted. “After what I heard.”Wanda slapped his arm and told him to hush.“Yeah, apparently I put on quite the show,” said Zoe, shifting awkwardly. “I feel really bad about George and Tansy.”“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be just fine,” Wanda insisted.Tom dutifully nodded. “They fight all the time, but they always make up. Tansy is great but she gets a little ‘blah’ about things is all.”“Well, hopefully, George has talked to her and everything is okay by now,” said Zoe, hoping rather than believing that was true. Only then did her eyes fall on the sign over The Butter Stick and she got an idea. “Um, will you excuse me? I need to go meet some people.”Zoe hurried straight for the bakery, knowing exactly who she would find inside. Lemon and Annabeth were at the corner table, with AB’s little one in a baby seat alongside her. If anyone could confirm or deny Earl’s story, and give details as appropriate, it would be Lemon. Zoe knew she shouldn’t ask for any more favours, but it was just one more, and it might be a long time before she was around to ask for any others anyway.“Zoe Hart, I said I would be one hour and then I had to call on my daddy,” said Lemon huffily, the very moment Zoe pulled a chair up to the table.“I know and I’m sorry,” she said quickly, “but I really, really need to talk to you about something.”“Well, you look pretty good considering everything you’ve been through,” said Annabeth with a grin. “After that show you put on last night, and then everything I’ve been hearing about this morning,” she said with a look. “Zoe Wilkes, you are just the most fun person in Bluebell these days.”“It’s almost a shame that New York will be calling you home so soon,” said Lemon, sarcasm in evidence as she sipped her tea.“Funny that you should mention New York,” said Zoe, pausing to order a sweet tea for herself before continuing. “I was just talking to Earl in the square. He said something really weird, and I know that’s not so strange for Crazy Earl, but this one I have to check with people who would know. He said... he said that Wade came to New York, sometime after I went there.”The look that passed between Lemon and Annabeth proved that this was not one of Earl’s crazier theories. In fact, it seemed as if there was an awful lot of truth to it.“I’m sure I’m not supposed to say anything about that,” said Lemon primly, “and if you’ll excuse me, I need to speak with Cricket a while.”She got up from the table and strode away, leaving Zoe to turn sad and imploring eyes on Annabeth.“AB, if you know something, please tell me.”“Well, I don’t know everything,” said Annabeth, squirming terribly as she glanced over to where Lemon and Cricket were now in deep conversation. “It is Lemon who would have all the details. You know she was really there for Wade after you were gone. It wasn’t long after that she and George had their problems and then, well, misery does love company.”“Lemon and Wade?” said Zoe, eyes wide with shock.“Oh, Lord, no.” Annabeth shook her head violently as she realised what her friend was thinking. “No, nothing like that. They sort of became more like a brother-sister team, I guess you could say,” she said thoughtfully. “They leaned on each more than a bit, shared war stories, acted like a shoulder for one another.”“Well, that’s good, I guess.” Zoe nodded. “I’m glad Wade had someone to turn to. Lemon too, actually. But about New York?” she prompted then.“Right, New York.” Annabeth nodded, reaching to pick up her baby when he fussed. “Well, all I know is one day Wade didn’t show up for work, or the town meeting, or any place he would usually be. The gossips started up, of course, with all the usual stories, but Lemon, she didn’t seem worried at all. Then she told me that she knew just exactly where Wade had gone, off to New York, in search of you.”“But he never found me.” Zoe shook her head. “I mean, not that I was hiding but I guess... well, within a year, I had changed my name to Hart.”“Maybe that was it.” Annabeth nodded. “Well, this was all a long while back now. Maybe a year or two after you first skipped out on us? All I know is he was gone from town maybe three days, then he was back, no explanation, and everything went on like normal in Bluebell, as if nothing at all ever happened.”Her attention was taken by the baby again then and soon AB was excusing herself to the bathroom since the little one needed a diaper change. Zoe barely acknowledged her friend leaving the table, she was too busy thinking about Wade and New York and what it all meant.She could hardly believe he had gone all the way up north to the big city to look for her. It was so not a Wade thing to do and yet, clearly, it had been at one point. After all this time, it couldn’t really matter anymore, but Zoe almost couldn’t help but want to ask Wade about it, why he had decided to follow her, why it had taken him so long to try, and why he had apparently given up so easily.It was probably best if she didn’t say anything, just kept it to herself, pretended she never heard about Wade’s trip. Of course, Zoe was well aware of her own inability to stick to doing what was best. Curiosity was bound to get the better of her in the end, it always did.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Despite her plan to ride back to the plantation with Lemon as soon as she was done in town, Zoe ended up telling her friend to go without her and she would find her own way. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was hanging around the square for, only that she had a lot on her mind and being back in the place that she and Wade had once called their marital home probably wasn’t going to help at all.It was weirdly comforting to walk the streets of Bluebell that she knew so well, greeting old friends and neighbours she hadn’t seen in years. Though some were all for giving her scornful looks for her behaviour at the bar the night before, many were pleased just to see her back, happy to hear about her new career and such.It was getting late before Zoe even realised and she started considering her options for dinner. She wasn’t dressed for Fancie’s, The Butter Stick had closed for the evening, which meant her only real choice was the Rammer Jammer. Somehow, Zoe just couldn’t face it, couldn’t face him. Her mind was no clearer on the Wade situation than it had been in the morning.Even after so many years in New York, after all she had seen in her role as a doctor, a surgeon even, Zoe still wasn’t so great at facing her fears. She had always been a little too good at running away.“Come on, Zoe,” she told herself, facing herself in the right direction to go to the Rammer Jammer. “You can do this.”She took a step then stopped again, she swallowed hard, hearing her own words echoing in her head in the voice of someone else entirely. It was her father, Harley Wilkes, a man who had always encouraged her and had such confidence in her too. He never let young Zoe feel that she was incapable of anything. She couldn’t help but think it was probably a good thing he couldn’t see her now, except she knew he probably could.Turning her eyes Heavenward, she heaved a sigh and then headed towards the cemetery. Facing Wade would be tough enough, facing this might actually be worse somehow, but she had to do one or the other.“Hey, Daddy,” said Zoe, voice cracking with emotion as she laid eyes on his headstone for the first time. “I’m so sorry that it took me this long to come back.”The words ran out on her then as the tears came pouring from her eyes. On her knees in the dirt, Zoe sobbed like her heart would break, letting out so much that she had held in for far too long.Finally, when she was done, she faced the words written on the stone, her fingers tracing each letter as she read them all. Harley Wilkes had been a great man, an excellent doctor, and an amazing father, when given the chance. He deserved better than a daughter who ran away from him, as well as everyone else, when things got rough.“I should’ve come back when you were sick,” she said sadly, wiping the back of her hand across her face. “But you said you’d be okay, you promised you’d be fine and it was nothing to worry about, and then... and then you were just gone. I was going to come to the funeral, I swear that I was. I know most people around here think I just didn’t care, but you know that’s not true, right?”“He knew,” said a voice behind her.Zoe gasped as she leapt to her feet and turned to see Wade standing behind her. Swallowing hard, she found she still couldn’t speak, she just didn’t have the words.“Any time we got to talking about you, he’d get that same smile on his face he always had for his little girl, even when we were kids,” Wade explained, smiling himself as he recalled it. “Old Harley would tell anyone who would listen about his amazing daughter and all the good she was doing in the world. He never blamed you for leaving, Zoe. He understood and he loved you so much.”“I loved him too,” she forced out, nodding her head, “and I miss him now he’s gone. I missed him before, but at least then he could come visit me, even when I didn’t bother to come to him. Now, it’s just...”She shook her head, not even sure what she was trying to say anymore. Wade looked just about as awkward as she had ever seen him, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets and that look he only ever got when women cried near him. It was almost nice to see it, to know he hadn’t changed that much. For all that he drove her crazy sometimes, Zoe wasn’t sure she ever really wanted Wade to change from being exactly how she remembered him.“Um, what are you doing here anyway?” she asked eventually, the thought occurring that her father’s grave was a strange place for him to just show up.“Came to talk to Momma,” Wade admitted.Zoe blinked at that. “You still do that,” she said, not a question because he had just said as much, more a pleasant realisation. “Can I?” she asked, gesturing vaguely in the right direction.Wade only nodded as they walked together to Jacqueline’s plot. Zoe felt like she was travelling back in time when she returned to Bluebell, when she saw Wade again, but this was something else. This was like immediately being turned back into her teenaged self as she and Wade sunk down together by his mother’s grave.“Hey, Momma,” he said, smiling slightly as his hand ghosted over the top of the headstone. “Look who’s finally back.”“Hi, Jacqueline,” Zoe said softly. “It’s been a while. I’m sorry about that.”She didn’t know what else to say and found she didn’t need to. Wade talked to his mother just as he had since they were kids, keeping her up to date on what was going on, even though he was sure she saw it all, telling her he loved her and thought of her every day still. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world to Zoe, even after so many years.“It’s funny,” said Wade then, looking sideways at Zoe. “Somehow I never did find anybody I could talk to as well as her... ‘cept for you.”Zoe couldn’t look at him, even though she could feel him staring at her. She focused on her own fingers digging into the earth as she leaned her weight on one arm.“It always helps to talk to someone and hope we can be heard,” she said softly. “When there’s some place to go, a place to grieve...”The emotion took her once again as tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. She felt Wade’s hand on her shoulder, for comfort, she was sure, and yet it just made her feel worse. She didn’t deserve any help that he wanted to give her, not now.“Zoe-”“I’m so sorry, Wade,” she said fast, turning to look at him, “for what I said last night, about-”“Zoe, let’s not do this,” he told her, shaking his head and quickly getting to his feet.She knew that if he didn’t want to talk, she should respect that, but Zoe couldn’t let it alone, not now, not after all this time, not after the last couple of days and how things had been between them.“I’m sorry but I have to Wade,” she insisted, scrambling up beside him and grabbing his familiar red and black plaid sleeve before he could get away. “I have to explain. I think a part of me has been waiting for ten years to really tell you why I left the way I did.”He turned back to meet her eyes and Zoe immediately wished he hadn’t. It was too much. This whole thing was so overwhelming, but she had to press on.“I know why you left,” he insisted, but Zoe shook her head.“No, you don’t,” she said definitely, her fingers sliding away from his sleeve and twisting together with those from her other hand instead. “Losing the baby, our baby, it... it was too much,” she explained, eyes on the ground. “I felt so stupid and useless.”“But it wasn’t your fault.”“I know, but I also couldn’t help feeling like... like it was my fault, because... because I didn’t want that baby enough,” she admitted painfully, making herself meet Wade’s eyes again then. “I wanted my career. As much as I loved you and the baby, I wanted more, and I got selfish and then... and then...”She couldn’t go on anymore. She wanted to, Zoe really wanted to make all her apologies and give all the explanation she could in the vain hope that it would help somehow, but all she could do was cry. Once again, she was aware that she deserved no comfort or support, especially not from him, and yet Wade was there, as he always had been, to take her in his arms and let her know everything would be okay.“Hey, come on now,” he said, holding her tight as she sobbed into his chest. “What happened... it is not your fault, Zoe. It never was. And I get it, all of it. I never blamed you for our baby, you shoulda known that. And I guessed that you felt like you had to leave here after everything. Hell, it’s not like I never thought about it myself, but... well, I just couldn’t ever be anywhere but Bluebell, I guess.”“But you came to New York,” she said, prising her head from his chest and looking up at him through hazy eyes, full of tears yet.Still, the way Wade was looking at her was unmistakable and so wonderfully, painfully familiar. He always cared about her so much, loved her so deeply it was almost frightening, and yet she had loved him just the same. Zoe sometimes wondered if she ever really stopped, if she ever truly could.“Yeah, I went to New York once,” said Wade, hands moving to her face, thumbs gently wiping tears and running make-up from her cheeks. “And I fast realised I was an idiot for running after you when I saw that new life you made for yourself. You and I both know, I couldn’t ever have fit into that. So, I walked away and I let you find that happiness you were looking for. It’s all I ever wanted for you.”Zoe didn’t even know what she was supposed to say to a speech like that. Honestly, she was barely breathing anymore, so caught up in this moment that reminded her of a hundred others that had come before, so many years ago. So achingly familiar and yet so different to anything else she had known. Wade was as he had always been and completely changed all at the same time. Zoe wished she knew how to handle this.“You are happy, aren’t you, Zoe?” he asked her then, one hand still at her cheek as he waited for her reply.With no words to give all she could do was slowly nod, disappointment creeping into her heart and a shiver of cold running through her when Wade’s touch was suddenly gone, his hands back in his pockets, a couple of feet of distance between them again.“That’s good,” he said, nodding his head, as reality seemed to come rushing back to the both of them at the same time. “Uh, so, I guess I should drive you back to the plantation,” he realised aloud. “Can’t stay here all night,” he said, one hand coming up to rub the back of his neck now.“No, I guess we can’t,” Zoe agreed.There was a couple of seconds of awkward shifting in place, and then they started walking out of the cemetery, back up to the road where they climbed into Wade’s truck and he drove them home.Home. It was so weird for Zoe to even consider that this was where she belonged. Weirder still perhaps to think she could ever really belong anywhere else. New York was supposed to be home now, and yet.Wade parked the truck outside of the carriage house and Zoe stared out of the passenger window at it. When she looked, she didn’t see the place she was staying for just a few days. Coming home this late, in the truck with Wade, the same old music playing on the radio and all the familiar feelings welling up in her chest, what she saw was her marital home, and she felt like she was eighteen all over again.“Home sweet home,” said Wade from the driver’s side.Zoe looked around at him so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. He couldn’t possibly have read her mind, but it almost seemed like it, just for a minute. When he got out of the truck, she did the same. They met at the front of the vehicle.“Thanks for the ride,” she said, mostly just for something to say.“Not like it was out of my way,” he reminded her, gesturing vaguely to the gate house that was so very close by.Zoe nodded and then meant to move away, yet it never happened. They both seemed less than eager to turn from each other, even though it was inevitable. In the past, they had been so good at evading, turning and running from each other right when they needed each other most. Zoe was more inclined to do that than Wade, but right now, she couldn’t bear to.“Wade...” she began, though she really had no idea what else she wanted to say.Even if she had, he wouldn’t have given her the chance, as his hand slipped behind her head and he leaned down to plant a gentle kiss on her forehead. It was so sweet and so disappointing all at the same time, Zoe could hardly bear it.“Goodnight, doc,” he said with a smirk, backing up a few steps towards the gate house.“Goodnight, cowboy,” she replied with a similar look, glad to see him smile at the old joke, so well remembered.His hand formed a gun that he fired into the darkness with a ‘pow’ before he mimed blowing smoke from the barrel.Zoe laughed, watching Wade turn and head home at last, just a little tempted to run after him somehow. Maybe coming back here hadn’t been her worst idea ever. Maybe it was leaving in the first place that had been the bad choice. Zoe wasn’t sure she knew anymore and could only hope a good night’s sleep after an over-emotional day would make things a little clearer. She hoped, but she didn’t really believe it.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“What exactly do you think you’re doing, Wade Kinsella?”He glanced up from the piece of paper he was poised to sign and stared at her for a second.“Well, Lemon, I call this ‘taking delivery of some beer,’” he said, with no lack of sarcasm, “but in the larger sense, it’s basically just what’s known in the trade as ‘work’.”“Do not even try that with me, Wade, because you know I do not have the patience for your jokes, especially after what I saw out of my window last night. Why, you and Zoe Hart - as we are now expected to call her - seemed awfully close for two people who just signed divorce papers.”The whole conversation stopped being any kind of amusing to Wade when he heard those words. He signed his name to the receipt in his hand and then looked up at Lemon one more time, a hardness in his eyes that she ought to understand.“I don’t like bein’ spied on, Lemon,” he told her plainly, not that it bothered her one bit.“And I don’t like to see a good friend of mine get themselves hurt,” she said, voice a little softer than it had started out in this whole thing. “Wade-”“Lemon, before you start, please, just don’t.”He turned to walk away from her then, straight back into the sanctuary of the Rammer Jammer and enough work to keep him busy. Of course, Wade ought to have known that Lemon was going to follow and keep on pushing until she was done. That was just the way she was built and since he had known her so long he couldn’t recall life without her in it, he ought to realise she wasn’t going to change any time soon.“I don’t know why you’re being so foolish about this,” Lemon continued on from her side of the bar as Wade stacked boxes and generally organised on his side. “It’s almost like you forgot how that girl stomped all over your heart so many years ago. Now, you may forget yourself all too easily when she flutters those pretty eyelashes of hers at you, but believe me when I say, Wade Kinsella, that I am right here to remind you just what you stand to lose if you get mixed up with Zoe again.”“I am not getting mixed up with her, Lemon,” Wade suddenly snapped, looking her right in the eye. “And even if I was, it’s not like she’s gonna be hangin’ around here too long. C’mon now, you know Zoe has her supersonic space surgeon job or whatever it is. This ain’t where she really wants to be, and I’m not...” he stopped and shook his head, before turning back to the task at hand.He heard Lemon huffing and stomping in her high heels before she was suddenly on the wrong side of the bar, hustling him into the back office before he could hardly blink.“Have you gone nuts, girl?” he asked, shaking her hands off his arms. “Geez, Lemon, what is wrong with you?”“What’s wrong with me is I see bad things coming your way, Wade. Heartbreak and pain and sadness. You recall the state you were in after Zoe left you the last time? You remember how hard she was to get over?”“Like I could forget.” Wade rolled his eyes.“Well then, start acting like it,” said Lemon firmly, smacking him across the shoulder. “You signed papers saying you were prepared to divorce Zoe Wilkes and she is going to go home soon and live her life and leave you free to live yours. You start acting like that same idiotic child you were ten years ago or more and this is all going to end in tears, because... because you are one of the good guys, Wade,” she told him, all the steel going out of her voice and eyes again as she stared at him. “I’m not sayin’ Zoe is such a monster. I know she went through a lot back then too, but the way she left you without a word, and then comin’ back here now all smart and fancy, making eyes at you again. You’ll fall for her, you’ll be in love before anybody can blink, and then she’ll be gone and... and I just don’t wanna see you suffering that way again, not for anything.”She looked so genuinely sad about it and Wade knew why. Sure, she cared about him. Lemon could come off all stuck-up and such, and she was that way much of the time, but when she cared about people, she really cared. She and Wade had sort of become best friends for a while, almost like brother and sister, he reckoned. They loved each other, in their own way, though neither one of them ever said it at all.Still, all this wasn’t about how much Lemon cared for Wade and he knew it. Some of it was her recalling how broken up she had been back then by George Tucker leaving her. They had taken care of each other in those days, Lemon and Wade against the world. Then she got together with Lavon and Wade focused on his work, they didn’t need a shoulder quite so often, but that didn’t mean they weren’t still right there waiting to be a friend if they were needed, just as Lemon was proving now.“You’re one in a million, Lemon Breeland,” he told her, using her old name because it just seemed right somehow. “And I appreciate you looking out for me. You know me too well, I reckon, and yeah, you got just about everything you said about me and Zoe absolutely right, ‘cept for one detail.”He paused, half expecting her to guess what it was, and yet she remained clueless and he took pity on her.“I can’t fall in love with Zoe all over again,” he said, moving to drop a kiss on her forehead before he passed by back through to the bar, “I never fell out of love with her.”Wade took a breath and painted on a smile before he got where anyone else could see him. He pulled the same trick often enough, it didn’t seem so hard anymore. Even when he was at his lowest, most folks never knew it, save for maybe Lemon or George who had known him longer than everyone else. His only concern was Lemon following back out where the public could see and hear and kicking up more of a fuss. It was a pleasure to spot a stranger wander into the place looking lost, just because it took the attention away from Wade himself.“Welcome to the Rammer Jammer,” he said as the dazed man in glasses turned towards the bar. “Something I can help you with there?”“Um, maybe, yeah,” said the stranger, struggling a moment with his luggage before sitting down hard on a stool. “I’m Joel, and I was actually looking for someone, a woman.”“Well, my name is Wade, and may I say, if a woman is what you’re looking for, we got ourselves some fine specimens in Bluebell,” said Wade just as Lemon emerged from the back, “though I do always advise you check for the wedding bands before you get carried away, because we also get quite the number of jealous husbands too,” he said grinning at the new patron.“Oh, no. I’m sorry.” Joel chuckled, waving away Wade’s wrong idea about the situation. “I didn’t mean... I’m looking for a specific woman. Actually, my fianceé. She’s down here visiting some friends or family. The truth is, I’m not really sure.”Wade started to get an uneasy feeling that was only made worse by the fact that Lemon had stopped half way to the exit when she heard what Joel had said. Maybe she was thinking the same thing he was, and that couldn’t be good.“Well, it’s a small town here. What’s the name of this fine fianceé of yours? Maybe I know her.”“Zoe,” said Joel, smiling widely. “Dr Zoe Hart.”Lemon squeaked but Joel had his head in his bag by then and didn’t seem to notice. Wade shot her a warning look so she didn’t say or do anything stupid and then reached under the bar for two shot glasses and a bottle of whiskey.“Zoe Hart, huh?” he said to Joel, pouring drinks. “That’s not ringing any bells with me. Although, I did know a Zoe once, a girl I grew up with, but her name was Zoe Wilkes. Man, she was a firecracker.”He pushed one glass of whiskey towards Joel and picked up the other for himself. The other guy squirmed a little.“Um, I didn’t order-”“On the house,” said Wade definitely. “Never let it be said we don’t know how to welcome a stranger to good old Bluebell. Cheers, Jack,” he said, raising his glass and waiting for the other guy to do the same.“Joel,” he corrected, picking up the glass and clinking it against Wade’s own. “Cheers,” he intoned, watching Wade down his shot and following suit.Of course, he immediately regretted it. Somehow, Wade had a feeling he would, which was why he poured the guy the drink in the first place, and why he immediately poured another right after.“Yeah, Zoe Wilkes. She really was something else,” Wade reminisced with the biggest grin on her face. “Had quite the reputation when we was coming up together. All the other girls, they were happy enough in their fancy dresses, learning to be little ladies and what not, but Zoe wasn’t like that. She liked a good adventure did our Zoe, wasn’t willing to sit back and let life pass her by, no, sir.”He had barely finished speaking before he downed the next shot, waiting for Joel to catch up before he poured another round. Wade was well aware that Lemon wanted to stop all this, but he also knew she wouldn’t dare. All she could do was sit at the end of the bar and watch the scene unfold, because it was how Wade wanted it to be. This was his business, after all, not hers.“You two were clearly close as kids,” said Joel, already looking a little overwhelmed by the booze. “I’m guessing you grew apart later?”“Nah, we didn’t grow apart. Grew closer together if you know what I mean,” said Wade with a wink and a filthy expression that there was no mistaking, even if the guy he was talking to was half-drunk already and on only three shots of half-decent whiskey. “Yep, there was no getting between me and Zoe Wilkes. We were as in love as two teenage fools could be, for a while anyway.”Joel downed his fourth shot then looked curiously at Wade.“For a while?” he slurred slightly. “Well, she didn’t leave you, did she? I mean, look at you, with those arms and everything.”“I know, right? Can’t hardly believe it myself,” said Wade shaking his head. “I guess sometimes it’s possible to just be too much man for a girl, you know what I mean? I guess, sometimes what a woman really needs is somebody a little softer, weaker, nerdy kinda, to make ‘em feel more superior and high and mighty.”Lemon had heard the door open and close a moment before and barely paid any mind to it until Wade’s attitude started to shift. Certainly there was nothing Joel had said to trigger him off, which could only mean...“Oh, fudge sticks up a fudge tree,” Lemon muttered to herself, not sure where to look as Zoe Hart strolled right by her and into the fray.“Well, would you look at that. After all these years, Zoe Wilkes, right back here in Bluebell,” said Wade, very loudly.Joel turned clumsily on his stool to look and almost fell off completely when he saw who was there.“Nooo, this is Zoe Hart,” he said, looking from her to Wade. “This is... What?” he said, completely confused and getting dizzy too, there was no doubt about that.“Joel? What are you doing here?” asked Zoe, reaching instinctively to steady him when he lurched to one side. “Wade?” she said then, looking to him instead. “What is going on?”“You tell me, Dr Hart,” he said acidly. “Looks to me like you might want to introduce your fiancé here to your husband,” he said, not feeling as amused as he hoped he would when Joel looked wide-eyed with shock at that remark. “And hey, while you’re at it, maybe let him know your real name sometime, because Joel here seems to be under the impression that you’re not the girl I used to know at all. Of course, right now, I’m starting to wonder if maybe he’s right about that.”Before Zoe could barely get her mouth open to say a word, Wade was gone and Joel was leaning all his weight on her, to the point where she felt ready to topple over. This was not at all how she thought today was going to turn out.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Zoe almost hoped that Joel was drunk enough that he didn’t fully understand what Wade had told him in the Rammer Jammer today. Sure, he was really confused, as anyone in his position would be, especially after a few too many shots of whiskey, but Joel wasn’t a stupid man. By the time Zoe had driven him back to the carriage house, and he had mostly drained his to-go cup of strong black coffee, Joel had sobered up some and no doubt the horrible truth-telling conversation that Zoe had avoided too long was bound to happen.“So, I guess you’re looking for an explanation right about now?” she said, looking sideways at him.“I guess I am.” Joel nodded slowly before rubbing his forehead. “For one thing, I’d love to know how anyone drinks shots of whiskey like that without falling down.”“Some people have had more practice than you,” said Zoe, smiling fondly at him. “I’m so sorry about Wade, he’s just... he used to be... my neighbour,” she ended lamely when Joel finally met her eyes.“Your neighbour?”“When we were kids,” she said, nodding her head. “And we were friends, for a while.”She squirmed terribly in the driver’s seat and then finally decided they should really get out of the car already. If they had to do this, she would prefer it was behind closed doors, not least because Wade was also her very close neighbour right now and she really, really didn’t want him to decide to come home right in the middle of all this.Scrambling from the car, she was glad to realise Joel was following her. Of course, the moment they got into the house, Zoe wished they had stayed outside. Now she had to tell her fiancé all about her past, including her first marriage, inside the house that she and Wade had called home back then.“Really bad planning,” she muttered to herself, turning around fast to face Joel when he asked her what she said. “Nothing important, yet,” she insisted. “Um, you should probably sit down,” she urged him, wincing when he chose the edge of the bed for his seat, but unwilling to explain why it bothered her.“So, you and the guy from the bar, Wade, you were friends as kids... but I thought you were from New York?” he said, shaking his head slightly.“I am, originally, sort of,” Zoe explained. “See, my mom is a New Yorker and so is Ethan Hart, but the truth is... well, he’s not so much my real father. That was a guy named Harley Wilkes, Dr. Harley Wilkes,” she said pointedly, “of good old Bluebell, Alabama.”“O-kay,” said Joel awkwardly. “So, hold on a second,” he continued, waving his hand as he tried to make sense of any of this. “Wade from the bar, he was talking about Zoe Wilkes. That was you?”“It was. It is still, I guess. By birth, I’m Zoe Wilkes, but my mom was still using Hart, even after she and Ethan divorced, so I used it too. When I left here, I wanted to be somebody else, leave my past behind.”“Including Wade?” Joel checked. “Did he...? Did he say he was your husband?!”He asked so loudly he even made himself wince, as well as Zoe who had hoped that maybe that last part had sailed over her fiancé’s drunken head. Clearly not.“It’s really not the way it sounds,” she insisted, biting her lip for a moment. “We were young, really young, and stupid and... well, yes, we did get married, but we’re not married now. Well, we kind of are, but the papers are signed. I’m getting it all fixed because I want to marry you. Joel, you know how much I want to be with you,” she said, rushing forward as if to hug him.Joel’s hands came up, his arms outstretched to keep her at bay for a while longer.“Zoe, you can’t... you can’t just tell me you have a husband and this whole other life and expect me to be okay with it,” he insisted. “I mean, it’s like you’re a whole other person that I don’t even know.”“No, that’s not true,” she said, coming to sit behind him, as close as he would let her. “I’m still me, I’m Dr. Zoe Hart. All that stuff from before, Zoe Wilkes from Bluebell, it feels like somebody else to me. I don’t want to be her or have anything that she had. I love you and the life we’re going to have together. That’s all I want, Joel.”She was trying to meet his eyes, trying to make him believe her, and at the same time trying to decide whether he was buying it or not. He should believe her because Zoe was telling the truth, at least, she thought she was. She had no doubts about her love for Joel and she did want the life they had been planning together, so much, and yet there was a voice in the back of her head that wouldn’t quit. It reminded her of the life she used to have in Bluebell, of the person she used to be and the friends and family she had in Alabama. She wondered why she cared so much after so long and tried in vain to ignore that voice, no matter how loud it got, and it got pretty loud.“This might all be a little easier to process if my head hurt less,” Joel realised aloud, taking off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose.“Something else I can yell at Wade for later,” Zoe muttered. “I can’t believe he did that to you, or to me. He knew he was causing trouble, I know he did!”“Is that what he was doing?” Joel frowned some as he glanced at his fiancée. “Didn’t he just tell me the truth that you’ve been hiding from me, Zoe?”Her mouth opened and closed twice before any words came out.“Well, yeah, I guess,” she conceded eventually. “I mean, it depends exactly what he told you-”“That you grew up here, that you were Zoe Wilkes, that you and he were friends and then more than friends. That you married him.”“That is all true,” she said, nodding her head, “but I was going to tell you that. It wasn’t his place-”“But you didn’t tell me, Zoe,” Joel reminded her. “You have another name, another life, and even a husband, and you never told me a single thing about any of it. Wow, when I say it all like that, I just... I can’t believe how little I know about the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with.”He got up from the end of the bed on slightly wobbly legs and turned away as Zoe looked on. She replayed his words in her head and felt her eyes fill with tears.“Joel? You said ‘was’. You don’t want to marry me anymore?”“I don’t know, Zoe,” he told her honestly, turning to look at her. “I mean, a marriage should be built on trust, right? How can I trust you when I barely know you?”“But you do know me,” she insisted, getting up and moving closer to him again. “You know who I am now. All that other stuff, that’s who I was before. I didn’t know you before either, what’s the difference?”“The difference is, when you asked me about my past, I told you the truth. If you asked me now, I still would,” he insisted, “but you? You’ve been lying to me, Zoe. Hiding things from me. A husband?” he said, with pain evident in his watery eyes.Zoe swallowed hard. “I’m sorry,” she forced out. “I... I didn’t know how to tell you.”Joel shook his head slowly, his eyes then seeming to land on Zoe’s lap. She followed his gaze, wondering what he was staring at then realised it was her hands, specifically the empty space on the third finger of her left hand.“When you were not telling me about your past, I’m guessing you were also not telling your old friends about the future we were planning.”“Joel, I’m sorry,” Zoe tried to tell him, but he didn’t want to hear it.“Yeah, well, I’m sorry too,” he said, shaking his head. “Um, I need time to process this. I’m going to walk for a while.”“Joel, no,” she said, reaching for his arm but he pulled it away. “You don’t know this place, you’ll get lost.”“It’s one of those friendly small towns, right? I’m sure I’ll be fine,” he called over his shoulder, and then he was gone.It was late when Zoe heard car doors outside. Even though Joel had text her a while ago, saying he had got himself a room at the Whippoorwill and would talk to her tomorrow, she still held out hope that he might’ve come back. He could’ve got a cab or a ride with a neighbour after all. She rushed out onto the porch, hoping she was right, only to see Wade walking from his car to the gatehouse.“You’re some piece of work, Kinsella!” she yelled at him across the lake.“Well, that’s rich,” he yelled back, “coming from the girl who didn’t tell any of her friends she was engaged, and who didn’t tell her fiancé that she was already married!”“You don’t know anything!”“Well, sweetheart, apparently I know more than good old Joel from New York. He sure didn’t know anything real about you, now did he?”“And you just had to fix that situation, didn’t you, Wade?”There was a long pause then and Zoe almost thought he was going to walk into his house and leave her with no-one to fight with anymore. The truth was, that was exactly what he was going to do, but not without one more parting shot.“People deserve the truth, Zoe,” he told her, and then he was gone.Zoe huffed out a breath and then turned to go back into her house too. She never quite made it before her legs started carrying her around the lake towards the gatehouse.There was something about Wade Kinsella. Of all the people Zoe had ever known, she could walk away from a fight with most of them, or allow them to walk away from her, but she and Wade, there was just something different with the two of them.Rushing up to his front door, she slammed her hand on it more times than was necessary. It had taken her long enough to get over there in her high heels that Wade was already out of his shirt by the time he came to answer her frantic knocking.“What in the hell is the matter with you?” he asked her, shaking his head.“What’s the matter with me?” she echoed. “How about what is the matter with you?” she countered, pointer finger practically poking him in the chest. “Why would you do that to me? To Joel? Even if you hate me enough to ruin everything in my life, why would you take it all out on him? He didn’t deserve to find out that way.”“No, he deserved to have a fiancée that told him the truth about herself,” Wade told her definitely. “And you know that. At least, the Zoe I used to know would’ve known that,” he said then, tone and eyes both softening as he stared at her tear-stained face.She and Joel had fought about all of this. If he couldn’t tell from the fact she had clearly been crying, he knew because word had spread through town like wildfire when the fiancé came blowing back into town and got himself a room at the bed and breakfast. Maybe Wade hadn’t helped the situation between his ex and her new man, but the truth was, he couldn’t care too much about it. He had his reasons and plenty of them too.“I didn’t lie to Joel,” said Zoe, her voice seeming far too quiet after all the yelling before. “I just... I hadn’t told him the whole truth yet.”“You ever stop and ask yourself why that is?” Wade asked her then, trying to meet her eyes but Zoe evaded at every turn.Of course, she had thought about it. She spent a lot of time thinking about the past as her future became more and more mapped out for her. When she was in New York, she could almost fool herself into believing everything was fine, that she could just let the past be in the past and never think of it again. She had given serious consideration to never telling Joel about Bluebell, or Wade, or anything at all about her life before the age of nineteen. She had easily rationalised her behaviour, especially when her mother seemed willing to support her decision. There was nobody else to call her on it, until now.“Zoe,” said Wade then, his hand at her shoulder. “Look, before we was anything else, you and me were friends, and so, here’s a little friendly advice for ya. There’s no point to living a life that don’t make you happy. You want to be with this Joel fella, then that’s your right, I guess, but if you can’t even tell him the truth about who you are because you’re afraid he won’t want you or-”“I’m not afraid of that,” she said, shrugging away from Wade’s touch and glaring at him for good measure. “Joel loves me and I love him,” she said with newfound determination. “We’re going to have an amazing life together and we will be happy. I’m a doctor now, a great surgeon, and Joel is a respected author. We’re getting this amazing apartment, we have great friends, and our life together is going to be perfect!”She had gotten louder and louder as she got caught up in her rant, waving an arm for emphasis and practically stamping her foot in frustration too. Still, Wade didn’t seem entirely moved by her speech. Zoe wasn’t really sure what kind of reaction she expected from him, but what looked like pity in his eyes came as a bit of a shock.“You know what I think of when you say ‘perfect,’ doc?” he asked her, leaning on the doorjamb and meeting her eyes. “I recall a spot down by the lake where me and my girlfriend used to go all the time. I remember one day when we was both seventeen, being down there, lying on a blanket and watching the sun set together, and I turned to her and I said that she was the love of my life and always would be.“I told her about the future I saw us having, that we might not ever be rich or famous, and that our lives might not be some great adventure or anything, but that I would do everything I could to make her just as happy as she had always made me.“That girl looked at me then with her big brown eyes shining and she said, ‘That sounds perfect.’ You know, for a while there, I was actually dumb enough to think she was right, that it could be perfect for us.”Zoe swallowed hard, so moved by the memory he dragged to the front of her mind she could hardly speak at all.“It could’ve been,” she forced out eventually.Wade shook his head and looked down at the ground.“Yeah, well, things change,” he said sadly. “You grow up, find out life never really is perfect. At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen. See, the problem is, Zoe, for all your highfalutin ways that you picked up in New York, I think you’re still that girl in your head,” he told her then, looking back up at her confused expression. “You’re still looking for something picture perfect, and sweetheart, I would love for you to find that, but I don’t think anything is ever gonna measure up to what you’re picturing. You told me you were happy, Zoe, but you keep fighting so hard for everything to be so damn perfect, that happiness ain’t ever gonna last long.”“Wade...” she began, unsure if she wanted to protest what he was saying or just stop him from walking away when she noticed he had backed up a step onto the gatehouse.“You got company,” he told her, pointing over her head and closing the door the second she turned away.Zoe looked back and forth between Wade’s closed door and the cab that was dropping Joel off by the carriage house. Her past and her potential future. Zoe was literally standing in the middle between the two with no idea which way to turn. Taking a deep breath, she eventually decided to run back to the carriage house, just as Joel reached the door and prepared to knock.“Joel, hey,” she greeted him from the bottom of the porch steps. “You’re back.”“I’m back,” he agreed, nodding his head.“So, you’re not mad at me anymore?” she asked warily, walking up to meet him and marvelling at the fact he actually seemed to be smiling at her.“I’m... I have questions,” he admitted as she arrived in front of him, “but there’s a chance I over-reacted before. I think I can understand why you felt wary over telling me about your past. It is a lot and I did kind of surprise you just showing up here. It’s been pointed out to me, by a few people who have known you much longer than I have, that you are a good and honest person, and that you probably would’ve told me everything when you got home, once you had things settled, right?”“Right.” Zoe nodded, though that same voice in her head from before called her a big fat liar in the same moment.“I mean, I still wish I’d known about this place, and your real father, and... well, it was probably better for my ego not to know about Wade,” he considered, “that’s a lot to compete with, but from what I’m told, you guys have been apart a long time, and he’s a nice guy, right?”“Right,” Zoe said again, nodding her head so much she felt like she belonged in the back windshield of a car. “Wade’s not a bad guy. What happened with us, it wasn’t his fault, we just... It was a long time ago.”“Okay.” Joel nodded then. “So, I have nothing to be jealous about or mad about really, I guess,” he considered. “And I know I love you, Zoe, so if you love me and you still want to marry me-”“Of course, I do,” she said like a reflex.“Then let’s do it.” Joel grinned. “Let’s get married. In fact, why waste any more time? We’re here in the place where you grew up, surrounded by your oldest friends, why don’t we just get married now, in Bluebell?”Zoe’s eyes went wide with shock, so much so she was surprised they didn’t roll clean out of her head. After everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, she could hardly believe it. There was no way she ever expected to be standing on the porch at four o’clock in the morning with Joel telling her they should get married in Bluebell as soon as possible.“I don’t know what to say,” she admitted.“It’s a pretty simple question, Zoe, but I guess we should do this properly,” Joel considered, suddenly dropping to one knee and taking her hands in both of his. “Zoe, will you please make me the happiest man on the planet and marry me in good old Bluebell, Alabama, just as soon as we can?”It was so romantic, so sweet, so perfect, Zoe thought, the last word jarring in her head and making her dizzy. Her eyes flitted to the window and a view of the gatehouse just for a second and then returned to Joel’s adoring gaze.“Yes,” she said then. “Of course, we can get married here,” she agreed, suddenly finding herself swept into Joel’s embrace as he hugged her so tight and promised her everything really was going to be perfect.Zoe was sure she was only crying happy tears in that moment, it couldn’t be anything else, even as she looked towards the gatehouse again and swore she saw Wade at the window just for a second, before the light went out.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
From the moment Joel asked Zoe to marry him in Bluebell, things just became a blur of activity. Everybody wanted to be a part of the wedding of the year, not least because such an event had not been seen in town for too long. They didn’t seem too surprised to meet Joel and realise Zoe was engaged, after all, why else the sudden need for a divorce? Maybe it had been foolish to ever think she could keep anything a secret in Bluebell!Obviously, Zoe had to call her mom and let her know what was happening too. Candice said she had to move a few things around but she would be in Bluebell just as soon as possible. Two days later, she arrived, with Zoe’s friend and maid of honour, Gigi Godfrey, in tow.“Well, I have to admit, I did not see this coming,” said Candice as she exited the cab and hugged her daughter close.“I’m sorry you had to come back here.” Zoe sighed. “I know it’s not your favourite place.”“There are happy memories here too.” Her mother smiled. “And there’s about to be some more when we finally get you married to that handsome fiance of yours.”Zoe managed a smile then and an even more genuine one when Gigi came barrelling at her from the other side of the car, squeezing her until she could hardly breathe and talking a mile a minute about the wedding.Truthfully, Zoe hadn’t expected Gigi to like Bluebell all that much or to be at all impressed by what was effectively the anti-New York. In reality, she took to the slower pace of life pretty easily and certainly made a big deal out of some of the guys that caught her eye in town.The one guy that didn’t seem to be around at all was Wade. Zoe couldn’t blame him for avoiding her given their last conversation, but she did find it strange when, after several days had passed, she still hadn’t caught sight of him once.“Did he leave the country when I my back was turned?” she asked Wanda, stopping into the Rammer Jammer for lunch one day.“Of course not, silly. He just had meetings and stuff to go to. You know, out of town stuff,” she said, waving away Zoe’s questions and concerns with a sweep of her hand. “He’ll be back soon enough.”She walked away before Zoe even had a chance to really process that, and then Candice and Gigi were calling her back to the table to discuss more wedding plans. When she was given the chance to think for a moment, it didn’t really help. Zoe couldn’t imagine what meetings or out of town business a bartender would have. She planned to ask Lemon or George about it later, but the right moment never seemed to emerge out of the whirlwind of wedding plans.Now suddenly it was the day before the ceremony itself and a heatwave had descended on the area, making it harder than ever to think straight. Joel was suffering more than most, but at least today he had managed to get excited about his bachelor party. Zoe only hoped he didn’t live to regret that.“So, I’ll be having my bachelor party here in town at the Rammer Jammer,” he said, checking his piece of paper, “and you and the girls will be enjoying your bachelorette party in... Mobile?”“So they tell me.” Zoe nodded. “I don’t know the venue or anything, I’m just going where I’m taken. The girls seem to have seized control.”When she said girls, she certainly did have a lot to go out with tonight. While Lavon had rallied together a group of guys for Joel’s party, including George, Tom, Dash, and Meatball, Zoe suddenly found herself not just at the mercy of Lemon, Annabeth, her mother, and Gigi, but also Wanda, Crickett, and Tansy.The last one was her own idea. Somewhere in amongst the wedding plans, she and George’s wife had literally run into each other at The Dixie Stop and Zoe finally got the chance to apologise for what she had said and done more than a week earlier.“It’s fine,” Tansy had told her tightly. “George explained everything. I guess I can’t exactly blame you for his dumb behaviour. You know things were all kinds of unsettled with us when he went away to New York and... well, no point dragging it all up again, I guess. After all, I’m married to George now, and you’re about to be wed to your own man.”That was when Zoe had thanked Tansy for her understanding and insisted she joined them for the bachelorette party.“I’m not going to believe that you forgive me unless you come along,” she insisted and so Tansy had agreed.“Zoe?” Joel prompted when she didn’t answer him. “Zoe, the girls are waiting,” he said, his hand at her shoulder.She turned from the mirror to stare back at him for a moment, her mind caught up in other thoughts. ‘This is the man I’m going to marry tomorrow,’ she silently said to herself. It was strange how it didn’t comfort her or excite her like it should.“Um, have fun at your bachelor party,” she told Joel then. “Don’t let those guys get you really drunk, okay?”“I promise,” he said, leaning down to kiss her. “You have fun too.”“Uh-huh,” she said absently, grabbing up her purse and heading for the door.Outside, Zoe was a little stunned to find she would be travelling in style as Lemon stood by a limousine, her face flushed and her eyes flashing angrily.“I’m sorry I didn’t come straight out,” said Zoe warily.“I’m not mad at you,” she huffed. “Tansy decided to encourage the driver to keep on honking his horn that way, and Wanda and your friend Gigi seemed to think it was just hilarious” she said, rolling her eyes.“Lighten up, Lemon.” Zoe rolled her eyes. “We’re supposed to be having fun tonight. It’s my bachelorette party.”“Yes, well, some of us remember the first one,” said Lemon quietly as they moved to get into the car. “We may not have been legally old enough to drink back then, but I do remember a good time being had by all,” she said pointedly as they took their seats.The ladies all greeted the bride-to-be, with Wanda fixing a veil into Zoe’s hair before she could protest, and AB forcing a large drink into her hands the very next second.“No sad memories tonight, ladies,” she insisted, looking pointedly at Zoe and Lemon. “This is a celebration - not least of the fact this is my first night out since I had my little one - but mostly of Zoe Wilkes... sorry, Zoe Hart,” she corrected herself, “and her last night of freedom!”Everyone toasted to that and Zoe smiled as she looked around at the happy faces of her mother and all of her friends. She did wonder what the strange look on Tansy’s face was all about as Lemon told the driver they were ready to leave and the car finally headed off out of town. It was almost as if she knew something Zoe didn’t, something more significant than wherever they were headed to, maybe. Zoe shook her head and took a long drink from her glass. She was not going to worry about Tansy, or Wade, or Joel, or anything else tonight. She was just going to have a good time!Joel wasn’t used to drinking. Lavon had brought him to the Rammer Jammer less than a half hour ago and already he felt light-headed. Some of it was probably just the oppressive heat, but still. It seemed like a lot of people wanted to buy Zoe’s future husband and his bachelor party a round of drinks. It also seemed as if Alabama men could really hold their liquor, something Joel already knew he couldn’t do at all.“Yes, sir, it’s been a good long while since Bluebell had a decent wedding,” he heard Lavon saying, slapping him on the back so hard that Joel felt sick. “You did the right thing asking Zoe to wed you here, man. It’s gonna be the event of the year.”“How many years is it since we last had a good wedding?” George asked from the other side of Joel. “There’s gotta have been someone since you and Lemon, right?“Damned if I know who.” Lavon scratched his head. “Dash, you oughta know this. You put everything in the Blawker.”“All I know is, no bride was ever as pretty as Zoe’s gonna be.” Tom smiled wide.“Yeah, I used to think she was good looking when we was kids,” Meatball agreed, “and she was real hot by the time she and Wade got hitched, but now...” he trailed off when he realised both Lavon and George were making cutting motions and trying to get him to stop talking.Joel wobbled around in a circle on his barstool to look at Meatball, at which point, Lavon and George both dropped their hands back into their laps and painted smiles on the faces. Joel didn’t seem to notice.“Zoe and Wade,” he said thoughtfully. “They were really in love, weren’t they?”“Yes, sir, they was.” Tom nodded, still grinning wide.“Well, yeah, but that was a long time ago,” Lavon insisted. “Years back, when they was barely old enough to know what love is. I mean, back then, George was with Lemon, and now she’s married to me. People move on.”“Sure, they do,” George agreed. “First love is powerful, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes, it’s just not meant to be.”“’Cept everybody knew that Zoe and Wade was meant to be,” said Dash, clearly not entirely thinking about what he was saying or to whom as he continued searching through the data on his phone, trying to seek out the last wedding mentioned in the Blawker.Joel didn’t look very impressed or all that happy for a man at a bachelor party. Lavon and George shared a look over his head, unsure what to say or do for the best, when suddenly Joel spun around back towards the bar.“Bartender!” he called loudly. “Whiskeys all around and make them doubles.”“Er, you sure that’s a good idea, Joel?” asked George carefully. “I mean-”Before he could get any further, Joel was already drinking down his shot and asking for another. Apparently, he wasn’t in the mood to argue.As the limo pulled up in Mobile, Lemon was the first to step out from the cool air-conditioned interior to the still sticky night air. It seemed to have taken much longer than she would have expected to get to the bar, as if they had gone to the opposite side of town to what she intended. Lemon was about to say as much when she realised her theory was absolutely true.“This is not the bar I picked out,” she said definitely.“But it’s a great place,” said Tansy, grabbing a hold of Zoe and bundling her towards the door. “Come on, bride-to-be, let’s go have us a good time.”Zoe was already half drunk and was carried into the bar by the momentum of Tansy on one side of her and Gigi on the other. She never saw the sign bearing the name of the establishment, but those still stood beside by the limo did.“You have got to be kidding me,” said Candice, looking up at the glowing neon depiction of a glass of beer and the words ‘Wade’s Place.’ “Is this your idea of a joke, Lemon Breeland?” she asked her crossly.“No, ma’am,” she replied, shaking her head.“Trust me, this was no plan of ours,” AB insisted. “I think maybe Tansy thought she’d get a little payback,” she said, sharing a look with Lemon.“Ooh, this is gonna end in fireworks,” said Wanda, just now realising where they were. “Well, there ain’t a chance I’m gonna miss that!” she added, hurrying into the bar, with the other three following behind, much more apprehensive of what might lay ahead.“It’s not your fault, man” George slurred, his arm around Joel’s back. “Zoe is just... she’s just too damn good”“She is one helluva an attractive lady,” Meatball agreed.“She is an angel sent from heaven,” Tom agreed with a sigh, then suddenly the smile slipped from his face. “Oh, my goodness, nobody tell Wanda I said that!”“The problem is all you clowns never really stood a chance with her,” said Dash, sipping his own drink. “She and Wade were fated from the day they met at the age of four,” he said definitely, showing off the wedding picture that had been posted on the Blawker so very many years ago.“Yeah, but that’s the past,” Joel insisted, wavering around all over the place on his barstool, only staying atop it thanks to Lavon’s assistance. “You know, she met Wade in Act One, so you all think that I’m just the Act Two complication, but, I'm not!” he insisted loudly. “I’m not! I am a writer and I am rewriting this love story. I’m marrying Zoe Hart, or Wilkes, or whoever,” he said, shaking his head and immediately regretting it. “The point is, I’m marrying her and that is just that!”All the guys cheered his speech, such as it was, mostly because they were all so drunk. Had they been sober, they might have been questioning if Joel should really be so confident in light of past evidence, and George might have recalled sooner that he hadn’t finished dealing with Wade and Zoe’s divorce papers yet...Zoe didn’t feel so good. Though the bar was air-conditioned, the weather had been incredibly hot for a couple of days now and she was convinced she had been out in it too long earlier on when she was running errands in town. Add to that all the cocktails and other drinks the girls had been plying her with tonight, and she really was extremely wobbly, plus the engagement ring on her finger seemed to weigh a lot more than she remembered.She came out of the bathroom on very shaky legs, wondering if she wouldn’t be better off removing her shoes already. Ridiculously high heels were kind of her signature look, but they had probably been a really bad choice for tonight. She was looking down at her footwear and not where she was going as she passed by the Staff Only door next to the bar, not even noticing a guy coming out of there until his hands shot out to catch her when she stumbled.“Easy now, sweetheart,” he said in a voice that was way too familiar.Zoe lifted her head and met his eyes, feeling even more shaky and sick than before.“Wade?” she checked, sure she must be seeing things. “No, I passed out in the bathroom, didn’t I? This is a dream... or a nightmare,” she said, trying to pull out of his grasp but finding she was very unstable without his help. “Oh, God. Why are you here?” she asked then, allowing him to lead her to the nearest seat and sit her down.“Why am I here?” he checked, wide eyed and shocked apparently. “Do you even know where you are, Zoe?”“Yes,” she said snippily. “I’m at my bachelorette party, in Mobile.”“You wanna tell me the name of this bar you’re at?”Zoe looked thoughtful a moment. “No,” she said crossly, folding her arms across her chest.“That’ll be because somebody made sure you didn’t know,” said Wade, looking over to where the rest of the party were laughing like a pack of hyenas on helium. “Yeah, I see plenty in that bunch that’d just love to set us up.”“Set us up?” Zoe echoed, looking up at him and looking as if she was straining her neck in the process. “What are you even talking about, Wade?”Letting out a sigh, Wade crouched down to her seated level and fixed her with a look.“Zoe, this bar you’re at? Well, it’s my place.”“Your place?”“Yep. Strange enough, the name of it is actually ‘Wade’s Place’ because, like you always told me, I don’t got much of an imagination,” he said, one hand rubbing the back of his neck.“You own a bar?” Zoe checked, eyes ever wider.“Nope. Matter of fact, I own three bars,” he admitted. “This one, another over in Pensacola, and, er... well, the Rammer Jammer too.”“You own the...? And over in...? Oh my God.”Zoe covered her face with both her hands for a moment. Wade honestly wasn’t sure if she was laughing or crying. Then just when he was about to get closer to check, she leapt up from her seat, almost sending him sprawling himself and ran for the nearest exit.Wade looked back at the girls at the table, none of them apparently aware of what was going on. He didn’t bother to stop and tell them, just chased after Zoe, to make sure she was okay, if nothing else. He found her leaning on the side of the building, breathing too hard. She glanced at him as he came through the door and then suddenly laughed too loud.“I came out here for fresh air... in a heatwave.”Wade smirked at that, leaning beside her against the wall. “Not your smartest move, doc.”She winced at the nickname. “Please don’t call me that.” She shook her head.“Zoe...”“You own three bars,” she said, gazing up at him in amazement. “You, Wade Kinsella, the guy that nobody ever thought would make anything out of his life.”“You did,” he reminded her with a genuine smile. “For the longest time, you were the only one in the world who really believed in me. After you were gone... well, I didn’t handle it well,” he admitted, shaking his head, “then I started to realise I could do one o’ two things. I could do what good old Earl did, crawl into a bottle and never come out, or I could stand up, dust myself off, and work on being a better man. Managed to get some money together, bought the Rammer Jammer when Wally put it up for sale a while back. Got the place, and myself, a heck of a reputation, and for all the right reasons this time,” he told her, glad to see her smile back at him. “Some business types talked to me about franchising, but there could only ever be one Rammer Jammer. Still, I had an idea it’d be nice to have a place with my own name on it, and then I got to talking to this guy from Florida and the place in Pensacola happened. ’Fore I knew where I was, I had my own little empire.”“That’s amazing, Wade,” Zoe told him honestly.He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve done okay, I guess, but... well, still a bartender. Nothin’ fancy like a doctor or a writer or some such-”“Wade...”His name from her lips, all soft like that, it was so achingly familiar and he had missed it so damn much all that time that she’d been gone. Now, with her looking up at him all wide-eyed and beautiful as ever, it would be so easy to forget they had ever been apart. Wade’s hand went to her cheek and he leaned in closer...“Zoe, there you are.”The pair sprang apart like shrapnel as Candice appeared through the door. Zoe looked shame-faced despite doing nothing wrong and Wade made a hasty exit, not knowing how else to handle all this.Zoe watched him go, barely hearing her mother as she asked her what on earth she thought she was doing, making doe eyes at her ex the night before her wedding. She was right, of course, but in that moment, Zoe didn’t care. She was too busy trying to figure out why she felt so disappointed that Wade hadn’t gotten the chance to at least kiss her goodbye.
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They blamed it on the heatwave. That and the cocktails. Not that anyone but she or her mom knew what had almost happened between Zoe and Wade last night. It couldn’t matter now. This was Zoe Hart’s wedding, the day she married Joel Stephens, then headed back to New York City, and put Bluebell behind her once and for all. It was what she wanted, of course it was, and yet...“You sure you’ll be okay in all of this on a day like today?” AB fussed as she finished fastening Zoe into her dress. “I got less on than you do and I’m already about to sweat through in places I hardly dare mention,” she told her in a low voice.“I’ll be fine,” Zoe promised, staring almost unseeing at her own reflection in the glass.Behind her, Gigi was sprawled in the armchair, still nursing last night’s hangover, which was why Annabeth had taken over in helping Zoe get dressed in the first place. Candice was having her hair finished off, and Lemon and Lavon were ensuring everything was ready for the reception at the Rammer Jammer. Of course, if Zoe had known about Wade owning the place before last night, she would’ve had the party anywhere else, for reasons that even a blind man could see, but it was a little late now.Despite what she said, Zoe was feeling more than a little warm now she had on her whole wedding dress with its many layers. She had been expecting to get married in New York, where such a thing would’ve been comfortable enough to wear, but down in Alabama, where the heatwave had yet to break, it was more than a little stifling.“That look on your face is making me nervous,” AB said then, meeting Zoe’s gaze in the mirror. “Did I tie you into this thing too tight?”“It’s not that,” Zoe assured her, patting her hand at her waist. “You’ve done a great job, thank you, AB. It’s just... I hope Joel is doing okay. I heard things at his bachelor party got a little crazy.”“Well, these things are designed to get outta hand,” she said, shaking her head. “Lavon and George are still alive and well, from what Lemon told me, so I imagine your man is too.”She turned away then to see to her son who was fussing in his seat but Zoe could only continue to stare at her own reflection. She was getting married... again. It was impossible not to think about the first time she had done this, thinking it was forever. She could be just as wrong about this one, couldn’t she?“Oh, sweetheart,” Candice declared as she joined her daughter, wrapping a careful arm around her shoulders as they smiled at each other in the mirror. “You look so beautiful.”“Thanks, Mom,” Zoe said shakily. “I just... I kind of wish Dad was here.”“You know, what? Me too.” Candice nodded her head. “Harley was such a good man, and I know he’s looking down on you and feeling so proud of the woman you’ve become, just like I am.”She kissed her cheek then walked away, leaving Zoe feeling even more uncertain that she had been before. There was no doubt Harley would be proud of Zoe for becoming a doctor, he had shared that dream for her, but she wondered if he would be so glad to see her getting married again. Harley always liked Wade, and Zoe had to admit there were a lot of things about him to like, to love even.A scene played in her mind unbidden from the night before, outside of the bar in Mobile, Wade leaning down towards her, only with a little imagination Zoe could see and feel what that kiss might’ve been like and a shiver ran through her, despite the heat of the day.“Zoe Wilkes, I swear you better be ready for this wedding because it is more than ready for you!”Lemon’s voice yelling to her cut through the dream and Zoe snapped to attention. She turned around to find her frenemy stood by the door with Lavon and couldn’t help but smile as they both gasped.“I know I never was a real Southern Belle but-”“But you would do our noble ranks proud in that dress, Zoe Hart,” Lemon told her without pause.“You do look real fancy, Miss Zoe,” Lavon agreed. “Joel won’t know what hit him when he sees ya.”Zoe nodded her thanks as everybody got ready to go. Before long, she was climbing carefully into the car with her mom and Gigi, watching for a moment as Lavon and Lemon’s car headed down the driveway ahead of them towards town. Then Zoe allowed herself one glance back at the carriage house that had been her marital home the first time around. The bridal car was almost off the plantation grounds entirely when another vehicle headed the other way - Wade’s car. He was finally home.Zoe was more than a little surprised to see George Tucker waiting for her when the car pulled up to the kerb. At first, she had a horrible sinking feeling that maybe he was going to do something stupid, like tell her he still carried a torch for her or something, but Zoe was already sure that whole thing was water under the bridge. It was only when she realised he had papers in his hands that she really began to frown.“George?” she said, stepping out onto the sidewalk beside him. “What’s going on?”Her eyes flitted to the town square a few yards away and the gazebo beyond the crowds of people. Everybody was gathered ready for the wedding, Joel would be waiting up there for her. Zoe didn’t have time for whatever this was.“Hey, Zoe. Um, we have just a little teensy bit of a problem here,” said George, shifting awkwardly in place. “See, I started getting this antsy feeling about your divorce papers this morning and I realised that I never did finish off that whole process.”“George, no.” Zoe shook her head. “It’s my wedding day, please tell me this isn’t going to be a problem.”“What is going on?” asked Candice as she and Gigi crowded around Zoe. “Whatever this is, George Tucker, can’t it wait?”“No, ma’am, I’m afraid it cannot,” he told her plainly, before putting his attention back on Zoe alone. “See, you really, really wanted Wade to sign these papers, and he did, which is fine, but you know, what? Someone else didn’t sign ‘em,” he said pointedly, pushing the relevant page into Zoe’s line of sight.Just as he said, Wade’s signature was right there on the line where it should be, but right underneath, in the space where Zoe should’ve signed her own name, there was nothing, only blank space.“Well, this is easily solved,” Candice said definitely, rifling in her purse and quickly producing a pen. “Sign your name, honey, then we can get on with this day.”Zoe took the pen without even looking at her mother. Her eyes were fixed on the page in the spot where she never had put her name. All she had to do now was sign, it was so easy, so why did it suddenly feel like the hardest thing in the world?Her eyes moved up from the paper to the strained look on George’s face. He was never the man for her, no matter how much he had wanted to be once upon a time. Only Wade was ever enough for Zoe Wilkes, it was why she had become Zoe Kinsella. Legally, that was still her name, if she didn’t sign.“I can’t,” she said at last, pressing the pen back into Candice’s hand as she turned to look at her. “Mom, you know I can’t... and you know why.”There was a moment when she looked like she might argue, but then she sighed.“Yes, I know,” she admitted. “I wondered before, but last night at that bar when I saw you two, then I knew for sure,” she said, nodding her head.Zoe smiled, so relieved that her mother wasn’t going to fight her on this, so relieved she got another chance. Taking the divorce papers firmly in both hands she tore them in two without a moment’s pause and handed them back to George.“Thank you, Mr Tucker,” she said, grinning wide, “but I won’t be needing your services anymore.”“Never been so glad to lose a case in my life,” he told her happily. “Anything else I can do for you instead?”She opened her mouth and then closed it again fast, frowning hard. “I need to talk to Joel,” she realised aloud. “Could you ask him to meet me, um...”“In my office,” said George, tossing her the keys. “I’ll bring him right over.”Zoe leaned in and kissed his cheek before hurrying away to the office to wait for her fiance. She hated the idea of breaking his heart, especially now and like this, but it had to be done. Otherwise, she was going to break her own heart, even more than it had already been broken, and she didn’t think it could take very much more.Sat out on the front porch with a beer in his hand, Wade stared across at the carriage house, knowing it was dumb to torture himself but unable to help it somehow. He felt sick. Not that he really expected to feel any other way on the day his wife wed another man. He tried to stay out of town until this hellish event was over with, but something wouldn’t let him. Something made him need to be right there in Bluebell, perhaps just to prove to himself that it was really happening, that it was really over this time.It ought to have been plain enough when Zoe upped and left town all those years ago, but Wade had never entirely let her go. Fact of the matter was he just didn’t know how. Even now, when they were officially divorced and she was saying her vows to some other guy, a part of Wade still felt like it was tied to her, his first love, and forever would be.“Here’s to you, Zoe Wilkes,” he said, raising the bottle in the air and then bringing it to his lips.He still had his head back, drinking down the dregs when the car pulled to a halt with a screech of tyres right in front of him. Wade faced forward just in time to see Zoe, wedding dress and all, practically tumble from the driver’s seat into the dirt, only just managing to find her feet in time. All he could do was stare at her.“Hi,” she said, still a good ten feet away.“What in the hell are you doin’, girl?” he asked, putting his beer bottle aside to join its four similarly empty brothers. “Ain’t you supposed to be gettin’ married?”“Turns out I can’t marry anyone else.” Zoe shook her head. “According to George Tucker, I’m still married to you.”Wade couldn’t quite figure out what the look on her face was all about when she said that. Zoe ought to be mad at him if they were still wed, because it was royally screwing up her day, and yet, she didn’t look mad, just kind of nervous somehow.“I signed your papers,” he reminded her.“You did.” Zoe nodded. “But I didn’t.”Wade took a moment to process that, rubbing a hand over his face as he did so. When he dared to look at Zoe again, he found her taking a couple of tentative steps forward.“It’s so weird, I could’ve sworn I signed them before,” she explained. “I mean, I kept yelling at you for not signing, it seems crazy that I wouldn’t do it myself, but I didn’t, and... and today, when I was standing there with the pen in my hand and the guy I’m supposed to marry waiting there for me...” she trailed off a moment. “I just couldn’t do it.”She moved forward another step and Wade scrambled to his feet.“No,” he said, shaking his head at her. “No, this is... this is the heatwave talkin’,” he told her definitely. “Zoe, you and me, that was a long time ago.”“It started a long time ago,” she agreed, “but that doesn’t mean it ever stopped.”Moving forward some more, she stood right at the bottom of the steps now, straining her neck to look up at him.“Wade, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I left the way I did, that I stayed away so long, that I never even tried to explain-”“You think I care about any of that anymore, Zoe?” he cut in, moving down the steps to stand before her now. “We talked about this already. I know why you ran off, I get it. Hell, we weren’t exactly getting along back then. The fighting, it was always a part of who we were, but it got ugly towards the end, and it wasn’t all on you.”“We were both hurting so much, we took it out on each other,” she recalled too easily, tears coming to her eyes at the thought of it. “We were young and stupid, but it doesn’t have to be that way now. I... I love you,” she said definitely, meeting his gaze. “I always loved you, Wade Kinsella, and I don’t think there’ll ever be a day when I stop.”It was all he wanted to hear in so many ways, and yet Wade hardly dare believe it was true. His hand reached out to cup her cheek, his other arm around her waist pulling her closer.“You sure this ain’t just the heat makin’ you talk crazy?”It might’ve been a joke if he could find her a smile, but right now Wade’s heart was beating wildly in his chest and his question was very real. He had to be sure she meant this. It would break him entirely if he lost her again.Zoe opened her mouth to promise him her vow was true when the sky broke with an almighty crack and the rain came pouring down on them. She laughed, she couldn’t seem to help it, and Wade joined in as they both looked to the skies a moment.“No more heatwave,” she said, shivering as the rain soaked into her dress and completed the job of wrecking her hair that had begun when she came tearing over here in such a rush. “And I still love you, Wade. I really, really do,” she promised, looking up into his eyes once again.“Yeah, well, I guess the truth is, Zoe Wilkes, that I never did find a way to stop loving you either,” he told her, smiling as he pulled her ever closer and their mouths finally crashed together.The rain didn’t matter, nor the day, nor the place, nor any damn thing but the two of them. Even when they stopped kissing just to breathe for a minute, they kept their arms wrapped tight around each other, holding on like they would never let go.“You know, I just never thought I could be the kind of man you deserved. After you left, I... I thought if I could just make something of myself, the same way you were trying to, then maybe... maybe you’d come back.”“Wade, you didn’t need to change for me to love you. I told you, I never stopped,” Zoe promised, arms locked around his neck still. “I wish I’d known sooner that you came to New York...”“Yeah, well,” he said, pushing her rain-soaked hair off her face, “I thought I was doing so good, with the Rammer Jammer and all, but then I saw the big city, what being successful really was and...” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Maybe I could’ve been enough for little Zoe Wilkes,” he said, smiling fondly at her, “but I never thought I could be all that a woman like you needed, doc.”“I’m still me, Wade,” she promised him. “I don’t know why I ever thought I needed to pretend I wasn’t. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like you weren’t worthy of me. Honestly? I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around. I never did know how to live up to how much you loved me.”“Well, maybe we’re just both as dumb as each other,” he decided, laughing because he didn’t know what else to do. “All I can tell you is, I’m glad you came home, Zoe, and I’m real glad you didn’t get married today.”“So, you’re happy I didn’t sign the divorce papers?” she checked, fighting a losing battle to blink the rain out of her eyes.“Zoe Kinsella,” he said then, smiling that good old church social smile of his that she loved so much, as he took her face in his hands. “I would be the happiest man in this whole damn world if you would agree to continue to be my wife.”“Why would you wanna be married to me, Wade Kinsella?” she asked, beaming up at him.“Because...” he told her simply, before he kissed her one more time.
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She was sat up on the bar at the Rammer Jammer, staring at the collage of photographs on the wall when Wade came through from the back to get her.“Hey now, Little Missy. You about ready to get outta here?”It seemed she knew he was there but just didn’t care much for the question, or the idea of leaving right then.“You and Mommy look so happy,” she said, pointing with her whole arm at the picture in the centre. “Weddings make people happy, don’t they, Daddy?”“Well, most of the time, baby girl,” he told her, rubbing the back of his neck.It was still strange to think how far from happy he had been on Zoe’s second wedding day, until of course she decided not to go through with it and to stay with him instead. Wade might’ve felt a little weird about hijacking the reception and turning it into a reunion party for himself and Zoe, but then, it was all set up in his bar and she was still his wife. He figured in a lot of ways he had the right.“That was certainly one of the happiest days of my life,” he said, his arm resting on the bar around his daughter’s back as they both stared at the pictures from that day some more. “And wasn’t Momma just the prettiest thing?”“She still is,” said Missy definitely.“Well, that’s always nice to hear.”At the sound of her mother’s voice, the little girl turned around fast on the bar, only managing to stay up there thanks to Wade’s quick reflexes. He held her steady until Zoe got close enough to give her a hug and a kiss.“Do you still have your wedding dress, Momma?”“Um, no,” said Zoe, looking sideways at Wade for a moment. “No, I don’t. Why?”“It looks so pretty” said Missy, glancing back at the pictures on the wall. “I hope I look that pretty when I get married.”“You definitely will, sweetie,” Zoe promised her, smoothing her hair. “I mean, look at you, you’re gorgeous, and one day, when you’re all grown up-”“And preferably over thirty-five,” Wade threw in.“Then you can get married and be a really beautiful bride, if you want to.”“Okay.” Missy smiled widely, throwing a small arm around each of her parents’ necks to hug them.“Okay then,” said Wade, lifting her easily from the bar top into his arms. “Time we were headed home, I reckon. I bet Momma’s real tired after a long day of doctoring.”“That is true,” Zoe agreed as they headed out into the afternoon sunshine. “You know, I could never regret taking over my dad’s half of the practice, and being a GP is way more fulfilling than being a surgeon ever was, in ways I never could’ve guessed, but just once in a while I’d like to get through a shift without wanting to instantly fall asleep,” she said, leaning heavily into Wade’s other side.His arm wrapped around her and he kissed the top of her head.“Well, tomorrow’s Sunday, you’re not working, I’m not working,” he said thoughtfully. “I say we all head out and have us a picnic, what do you say?”“Yeah!” Missy cheered delightedly.“Sounds great,” Zoe agreed with a sleepy smile just as they reached the car.She got into the front passenger side while Wade secured Missy into her seat in the back, but before he could get the driver’s door open, Wanda came running out to check a delivery with him. Zoe looked back at her daughter and smiled.“You okay, sweetie?”“I was just thinking, about when I get married someday.”“Oh yeah? Well, that’s fine, but you know you have to find somebody you really love and want to be with forever first,” Zoe explained. “You have plenty of time for that.”“But Momma, I already know,” she said, straining against the straps that held her to lean in closer to Zoe.“You do?”“Uh-huh.” Missy nodded. “Bobby Tucker.”“Oh, hell, no!” Wade exclaimed, though neither his wife nor daughter had noticed he’d even opened the door until then.“Wade...” Zoe began, shaking her head, but he would not listen.“No way is any daughter of mine marrying that Tucker boy, Zoe,” he said definitely, getting into the car and slamming the door shut behind him. “And she is way too young to even be thinkin’ on a thing like that.”“Really?” Zoe checked, glad to note that Missy was completely unaffected by her father’s outburst now she had her nose in a book.“She is five years old,” Wade reminded his wife. “She can’t know who she loves or who she wants to marry already.”“We did,” she pointed out, her left hand landing on top of his on the gearshift, wedding band shining up at him. “And we weren’t wrong either.”Wade looked across at her and then leaned in for a kiss.“You girls are gonna be the death of me, one way or the other,” he declared, smiling in spite of his words as he started up the car.“You wouldn’t have us any other way,” said Zoe definitely, flipping on the radio and turning it up loud when she realised what was playing.The Kinsella family laughed and sang together as they headed for home, after all, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ was always a favourite.