A/N: So, as it turns out, this story just seems to be writing itself, which means I can update more than just once a week - yay! :) Thanks to those who leave reviews and encourage me to keep going - that means a lot, especially given that a) I'm fairly new to this fandom, and b) it doesn't seem to bbe so active a fandom as some others. Thanks, all :)

(For, disclaimer, etc. - see Prologue)

Chapter 3

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.

To Be Continued...