Author's Note: Hi. Thank you so much for all of your reviews. I actually had this chapter written when I posted the first one, and I considered posting both, but I wanted to give you guys a chance to respond to the first one without knowing what happened in the second one.

Thank you to Reviewer. Yeah, I would never leave a story like that. Well, not never, because, you know, never say never, but it is unlikely.

Guest and Amber thank you. You guys are so sweet.

Mollie, thank you. You know I always like your reviews. I do not know that they are all that clever. Some of them are probably a little cliché, but it is just how I react to certain episodes I guess.

Thank you Lonestar. Yeah, there is going to be a lot of awkward in this story. That's part of what makes it fun.

Dyseskytten, thank you. Yeah, I feel that way too sometimes. When I first started my account, I was planning to do that, but I got impatient. Plus, reviews can help you in developing your story, and that cannot happen if it has already been written.

Apples200, thank you, that is nice to hear/read.

Janie, thank you. Ah, so you caught that did you? Yeah, I guess it is a little sad. I am a big Earl fan, but for this story, it just had to be like that. Aw, thank you. I try. I was a little worried that might seem kind of creepy, so thank you.

All right, here we go, chapter one. Second Author's Note at the end.

Chapter One

"What do you mean? You're my brother. You have to be at the wedding."

"And I will be; I just can't be Best Man."

"Wade-"

"I can just sit on the groom's side. I don't mind."

"You have to be in the wedding."

"Well, I guess I could be an usher. I mean, I could pull that off. Usher's and Maid's of Honor ain't likely to mix, right?"

"Wade, I want you to be my best man. That's why I asked you. You don't think I have other people I could have asked? I have friends, some of whom I've been closer to over the years than you, but this is important to me."

"Like I said, I'll still come. I just can't-"

"Because of Zoe?"

"I just don't think-"

"Wade, I know you two have history, most of which you still refuse to fill me in on, but are you really going to drop out of the wedding party because of some girl you used to be hung-up on?"

"I distinctly remember telling you I wasn't hung up on her."

"And I distinctly remember not believing you."

"Well, that's your problem then."

"Wade, ever since dad … we've made so much progress. I am getting married. Married! To a girl I love more than I knew I could love. It is a big day for me; huge, maybe the biggest of my life, ever. And I asked you to be my best man because I want you there with me, and not as some guest, but there, standing right beside me; the one I have to turn to if I freak out or … I don't want another best man, so if you're not going to do it, I won't have one, and I don't want to remember my wedding day as the day my brother refused to be my best man. I want to remember my wedding day as my wedding day."

Wade nodded, "Fine. You got me. I'll play nice or whatever."

Jesse smiled, "Thank you."

"Hey, you think there's any chance she might drop out?"

"She's Anna's best friend. I don't see it happening. Sorry."

"What was that about?"

Zoe sighed. She had never talked much about Bluebell. In fact, when she told Anna that she had been forced to live in a small town and be a GP for nine months, the most specific she had gotten was a small town in the south. In retrospect, it would have probably worked to her advantage to name the place. Anna probably would have recognized it and told Zoe that that was where her Jess was from, which would have given her way more warning than just the time it took for Wade to enter a room after she heard his voice.

"Zoe? Hello?"

Zoe snapped back to reality, "What?"

"Care to explain."

Zoe sighed, "Remember how I told you I spent nine months in a small southern town?" Anna nodded, "Well, it's the same town Wade and Jesse are from. Jesse, as you know, doesn't still live there. He moved away ages ago, so I only met him once when he came to visit, but Wade … that's a more complicated story."

Before Anna could ask for more details, hers and Zoe's cellphones went off. When both their phones went off at the same time, they knew what it meant. Work.

They were each just getting off when Jesse came back.

"Hey. Sorry about all that. I would've warned you, but, well, I didn't know your best friend Zoe was Zoe Hart of New York City." Jesse said apologetically.

Anna smiled, "You didn't do anything wrong. And I've already used up my Bridezilla moments for the week." Jesse chuckled. "I promise, no more freak outs."

"Those weren't big freak outs. 'Sides, brides freak out, and I don't want you makin' promises you cannot deliver on. That's a bad way to start our lives together."

"Well, I'll try to reign it in as much as I can."

Jesse smiled, then turned to Zoe, "You okay? I know you probably weren't expectin'-"

"I'm fine." Zoe said quickly. Jesse raised an eyebrow at her, "Really. Or, at least, I will be. This is about you guys, not something dumb that happened half a decade ago." Jesse smiled at her, "So, um, any other Bluebellians coming to this shindig?"

Jesse nodded, "Yeah, well, Lavon, and his plus one, whoever she may be, but other than that … I don't really have so many people I'm close with back there anymore."

Zoe nodded understandingly. "Well, I should get going, but it was nice to … re-meet you."

"Likewise." Zoe headed for the door.

"Zoe." She turned at Jesse's voice, "It'll get easier." She nodded gratefully, and waved goodbye.

"My mom loves you." Anna said as her and Zoe approached the house. She did still did not know how she had gotten roped into this. The two families were dining together to get to know one another, and for some reason, Anna seemed to think have Zoe there would help things go smoother. It was true that Anna's mom loved Zoe; she had welcomed the screwed up girl into her family with open arms. But Anna's mother was not the problem.

Zoe sighed, "Hasn't she already met Jesse?" Zoe had asked the question before, but she kept hoping the answer would change. The fact that they were walking from the car up the path to Anna's mother's house carrying a chilled bottle of champagne made that unlikely, and Zoe's chances of escape decreased with each step. She did not want to face Wade; how could she. They had barely gotten along before, but now he hated her. He even wanted to quit being his brother's best man because of her. And she knew that even if she tried to be passive and ignore him, he would still try to bait her; it was just what he did.

"I told you, she wants to get to know his family, and the more people that she likes who are at dinner, the better the chances of it going well."

"Not if one of those people is me and his family is Wade Kinsella. You saw what happened at his place. This is just going to be awkward." She tried to explain so her friend would understand. In fairness, Zoe still had not filled Anna in on the finer points of her history with Wade, or any of the points even. All she had told her was that they had both lived in Bluebell, known each other for eight or nine months, and ended on bad terms. It was the only explanation Zoe could handle right now. She still could not believe her luck. What were the odds that her best friend would end up marrying Wade's brother? It was official; somebody up there definitely did not like her.

"Jesse made Wade promise to be on his best behavior." Zoe scoffed, "What?"

"Nothing, I just didn't know he had a best behavior." It was more a reflex than anything else. After what Zoe had done to Wade, she knew she had know right to claim superiority, and she wouldn't once they were all sitting down to dinner, but the idea of Wade having a 'best behavior' was just so insanely ridiculous.

"You know, you haven't seen him in years. People change."

Zoe nodded, "I know. I just … I get that this is a Maid of Honor thing, but can we try and keep the me and Wade contact to a minimum from this point forward?"

"He's best man. You're maid of honor. Your duties are going to mix."

Things had gone smoothly enough so far. Mrs. Klein had answered the door, hugging her daughter and Zoe with the love and affection of a mother who has not seen her girls in far longer than she actually had. Wade and Jesse arrived, all made up in suits and bearing gifts. The second Wade saw Zoe, he found an excuse to take Jesse aside again, Zoe excused herself to the bathroom in order to freshen up, and Anna, sick of being out of the loop, decided to eavesdrop on Wade and Jesse.

"You didn't tell me she was going to be here." Wade whispered.

"I was worried you wouldn't come."

"Yeah, well, you would have been right about that." Anna could hear the bitterness in his tone.

"You promised to be on your best behavior."

Wade sighed, "I still think it makes more sense for me to act badly. Make you look like the good one." Wade said, jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"If we were just datin', maybe, but she's marryin' into a family here, we're all gonna be family, and I want her to like mine."

"Since when do family members like each other?"

"Wade-!"

"Relax, okay, I know. I'll behave, you know, long as she does."

Anna made all the necessary introductions, introducing her parents to Jesse's brother, and her aunt to Jesse, as she had not met him yet. Mrs. Klein had served chicken noodle soup, which everybody was now quietly eating. The silence was awkward, but some feared it might be more awkward to speak. Finally, thankfully, Jesse spoke up.

"This soup is delicious Mrs. Klein."

"Thank you Jesse."

"Please tell me you taught your daughter the recipe."

She laughed, "Well, I tried, but she never really had a knack for cooking."

Jesse nodded thoughtfully, then turned to Anna, "Sweetie, I'm sorry, but I think I'm gonna have to call off the weddin' and marry your mom instead."

Anna slapped him playfully.

And then, the silence was back. Anna looked at Zoe pleadingly.

"Um, so, Jesse. Are you still doing that ecogeothing?"

Jesse laughed. "Eco-geological Oceanographer?" Zoe nodded, blushing, "Yeah, I'm still doin' that."

"Jesse and Wade are both very successful, self-sufficient people mom." Anna said, clearly trying to sell the boys to her family. "Jesse put himself through college, and Wade-"

"I'm just a bartender." Wade interrupted, "Nothin' special there."

"What are you talking about? I thought you owned that place."

"He does." Jesse said, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice.

"You opened up your own place?" Zoe asked cautiously. She felt like she was bird watching, and she had to be extra careful not to get to close or do anything to spook them into flying off.

Wade nodded, not looking at her, "I … I think that's really great. Congratulations."

Wade snorted, but then Jesse kicked him under the table, and he spit out the sincerest "thanks" he could muster. It would have to do.

"You own your own bar? Well, that's impressive, opening a place up, especially in this economy."

"Thank you." Wade said politely.

"That sounds like quite an undertaking son," Anna's father said, joining in the conversation, "Must have taken a lot of good old-fashioned sweat to get the place going."

"Well, it was no picnic, but it was worth it. I mean, I didn't get it goin' as early as I would like." He looked at Zoe for the first time, but his look was cold and methodical and nothing like Wade. He caught her eyes and held them. She saw the pain and anger etched in his, and it made her ache. "Took a while to get the money. I almost got enough few years back, but that didn't really pan out." She couldn't take the look in his eyes any more, or the angry set of his jaw. She looked down at her lap, and when she looked back up, he had turned his gaze back to Mrs. Klein.

It was clear to everybody in the room that an unspoken tension had joined them at the dinner table, but most of them did not understand what it was. In fact, some weren't even sure where or who it was coming from, so all they could do was try and keep the conversation going.

Jesse, who knew the most, other than Zoe and Wade of course, kept shooting his brother warning looks and kicking him under the table, including one awkward moment where he accidentally kicked Anna.

"How did you get the money?" Mrs. Klein asked.

"Um, it was, uh, inheritance, actually." He coughed awkwardly.

That's when Zoe remembered what Anna had said earlier, about how Jess and his brother had been estranged, but reconciled when they lost their father. She had not put it together before, but now, she knew what it meant.

Wade's father was dead. Crazy Earl was dead. The man Wade had spent forever protecting, had given up his own future for. She wanted to reach out and take his hand as a show of comfort and support, but she knew he wouldn't take it,

"Oh, Wade, I'm so sorry." Wade avoided her gaze. She knew she should probably stop talking, but she couldn't. She couldn't believe he had gone through that and she hadn't been there. Not that she could have offered a lot. She was terrible with touchy feely stuff, and her and Wade were never best friends forever, but still, she felt she should have been there for him, to offer something, "I know how much he meant to you." He still wouldn't meet her gaze. Going against her better judgment, she tried reaching out for his hand, which had been resting on the table, but he saw her coming and subtly moved it to his lap. Zoe retracted her hand, biting her lip nervously. "It must have been hard for both of you." she said, directing the comment to Jesse. "I am so sorry."

Jesse nodded appreciatively, "That's very kind of you Zoe."

She smiled, grateful to have somebody treating her nicely and acknowledging her existence.

"We lost our dad a couple years back." Jesse said, by way of explanation to the Kleins.

Mrs. Klein, who had met Jesse before, multiple times, already knew of course, but Mr. Klein had not had as many encounters with his daughter's fiancé, and Anna's aunt, of course, had had none at all, "Shame, losing parents so young." Mr. Klein said. Everybody nodded solemnly.

"Wade's bar is a great place though." Anna said, trying to perk everybody up, "There was another bar in that town that ran straight out of business and had to close because they couldn't keep up with the competition."

"The Rammer Jammer closed?" Zoe asked, surprised.

"Yes, it has." Jesse answered, intercepting before Wade could say something to Zoe that would provoke him to kick his brother under the table again, "Shame. Place has been there forever, but Wade's is way better. It would have to be, ya know, to make an old established place like that close down.

Zoe nodded, ""It must be pretty amazing."

"Could have been better if I'd had more years to work on it." Zoe tried not to roll her eyes, " 'Sides, you probably wouldn't like it. It doesn't have that sophisticated, suit wearin' feel to it. Not likely to meet a bunch a lawyers hangin' out."

Zoe took a deep breath and counted to ten, reminding herself how badly she had hurt Wade, how she had screwed him over, and led him on, and that he had every right to take his little shots at her. She had no right to be angry.

"So, Zoe, you and Anna work together at the hospital, right?" Zoe nodded, a little thrown by Jesse's forced smile, which had a hint of a grimace, "What's that like?"

"Oh, it's amazing. Anna is awesome to work with. And I've learned so much, from the program, and from her."

"He already asked me to marry him, Zo, you don't have to sell me to him." Anna said, though Zoe could tell she was flattered.

"It's true. None of this would have been the same without you. Other than being an amazing friend, we make an amazing team."

Wade snorted, and when both girls looked in his direction questioningly, he leaned over a little towards Anna, and said, "I'd be careful with that if I were you."

"What do you mean?" Anna asked. She was genuinely curious, but Jesse grimaced again, wishing his fiancé's curiosity hadn't overridden her commonsense.

"Just that some people, you think you're makin' a great team with, and out of the blue, they pull a one eighty on you."

Anna nodded, pretending to understand. She'd have to ask Zoe later.

"Well, Wade," Mrs. Klein started, trying to ease the tension, "it is certainly nice to get this chance to get to know Jesse's family. I'm so glad you decided to stay." she passed the rolls over to Wade.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Mrs. Klein blushed, "Well, I thought I overheard a little argument going on earlier. It sounded like you were maybe uncomfortable-"

"No ma'am, I'm fine." He said quickly. Then, he shot Zoe another cold look, "And even if I wasn't, I'm not the kind of person to just up and leave when things get a little rough."

"You have got to be kidding me." Zoe said, slamming her fork down on the table. That was her breaking point, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Wade said innocently.

"Don't give me that crap. You've been making little jabs all night. Out of respect for my friend, her family, your brother, and even you to an extent, I have done everything I could to refrain from saying anything, but this is just getting ridiculous."

"And what is so ridiculous about it exactly?"

"I haven't seen you in years Wade, years. Everything that happened, it happened years ago, and it's not like everything didn't work out. It would be different if you were still working on it, but you got the money for your bar-"

"And that makes everything okay then, doesn't it? I mean, it's not like my dad had to die for me to get the startup money or anything."

"I am sorry about your father Wade. He was a good man."

"Please" Wade scoffed, "You thought he was a loser and a bum just like everybody else did. Anybody who didn't wear a suit was just somebody to turn your pretty little nose up at."

"Where did you get this idea that I have a thing about suits?"

"It's not the suits. It's what the suits represent."

"And what do the -" Zoe stopped and took a deep breath. Then, she stood, and turned to Mrs. Klein, "I am so sorry for this Mrs. Klein. My behavior tonight was rude, and I'm sorry." Wade rolled his eyes, "I think I need to go home and cool down, but it was a lovely dinner and I'm sorry I spoiled it."

Mrs. Klein smiled at Zoe, the two women hugged, and Zoe gathered up her purse.

"Big surprise, things get a little rough, you're out the door! Some things never change."

"Don't pretend like you wanted me to stay. You hated me, and clearly you still do."

"Well, maybe if you stuck around, you could've gotten me to forgive you."

"I was doing you a favor. I was trying to make things better for everybody."

"No, I don't think so. I think your reasons were just as selfish as they always have been. I think you had no friends, and you didn't want to have to see the wedding happen. You got offered an out, and instead of sticking around and suckin' it up, or tryin' to fix what you broke, you jumped on the first train outta there fast as those crazy heels of yours could carry you."

She wanted to yell back, but she had already caused enough of a scene, and she knew that this argument would probably never be resolved. If Wade still hated her after all this time, he was always going to. It wasn't her job to fix things, especially if he didn't want to make the effort. More than that, she was just tired.

"Thank you again Mr. and Mrs. Klein. The food was delicious, an again, I am so, so sorry."

She left as quickly as she could, before Wade could say something else to provoke her. Even after all this time, he still knew how to get under her skin. Some things never change.

Author's Note: So, that was a fun dinner, right? I know it seems insane that they would even attempt it, but Wade has been pretty closed book about his and Zoe's "falling out," so Jesse only knows what he saw first hand, and that something happened later between them and Zoe left. Everybody else is pretty in the dark. I hope you enjoyed, and be prepared for the possibility of our happy couple trying their hand at a little matchmaking. Sorry for the lack of length. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer. I have not started on it yet, but I have some idea of what is going to happen. Let me know what you thought. Have a nice day.