A day of retail shopping was the perfect therapy session to help deal with all the drama in Zoe's life. Her head was still a mess from Wade; on top of that she had gotten a call from her ex-boyfriend asking for tickets to the game in a few days because he was going to be in town for his bachelor party. She told him no and he had the audacity to dangle sex in her face. She wasn't a hooker on a street corner. Then the icing to her already bad week her mother was going to be staying with her for a week because she had business to attend to. Like she really needed her mom to be hanging around and criticizing her on the job she had chosen. Candice had made it clear since the beginning that she didn't like the direction she went with her career, but she didn't care because she liked it. Shopping seemed to be the only cure for her.
"He's such a creep. How long did you two date?" Lisa asked over smoothies. Zoe had ranted and raved about the call from her ex the second she had met up with Lisa at the mall.
"Almost a year. He proposed, I declined." At that Lisa raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at her, wanting the details. "He wanted me to choose him or my work. No guy is worth that ultimatum. I picked myself; there was no way I was giving up on everything I had strived to accomplish. I love what I do," Zoe told her. "It's been over a year since I declined his offer of doom," Zoe tacked on, knowing the question was going to come. She was over that, had been for a while now. And she thought she was ready to move on, that there could have been something with Wade if she would have let herself, but she was happy that she hadn't let herself get any deeper with Wade, not with what he had pulled. She didn't want to be crushed any deeper than she already was.
"He's still scum. Good for you on picking you over some guy," Lisa praised. Zoe hummed in agreement. "Has there been anyone since?"
"I thought there could be one but things didn't really pan out. He made a mistake and I'm not ready to forgive him for it yet," Zoe replied being as vague as she could when it came to what Wade had done. She wasn't ready to tell anyone what was going on there if they didn't already know. She really didn't want Wade to look like this bad guy because of one thing he had done. She had gotten to see the person he was away from the field, she could tell that it wasn't an act to get her to like him, she had gotten a glimpse at the real Wade and she had actually liked it until he went and pulled the wool over her eyes.
"We all make mistakes, part of being humans. The sooner you forgive him the more time you'll have together. Time is a precious gift, Zo," Lisa told her. The last thing she was looking for was a lecture, but she did want advice on what it was she was suppose to do when it came to Wade. And this was the closet she was going to get from an outsider's perspective.
Zoe sighed leaning back in the chair she was sitting in. Lisa studied her seeing that Zoe had something to say. "It's not that easy to forgive him, Lisa," Zoe sighed. "He used me because he didn't know who I was. He ruined the trust I had in him, for something totally stupid and childish," she explained just a little more.
"Do you miss him?" Zoe nodded her head. She really tried not to miss him but it couldn't be helped. He had dug his way under her skin. "Are you going to forgive him in time?" Once again Zoe nodded. "Then at least sit down and talk things through. Get everything off your chest. Think about it, Zo. What he did it doesn't matter, not if you can work past it."
Maybe Lisa was right about. But that's all she has done over the past few days, week even, is thought about this whole thing with Wade. At one point she had even thought about quitting at the end of the season and going elsewhere. But she would then tell herself that she wasn't a quitter and no matter what any member of the team said or did they weren't going to be able to scare her off. She had taken Lavon's words into consideration as well. She really didn't know what she wanted right now but forgiving Wade, she wasn't ready for that, not yet.
"I get what you're saying," Zoe said ready to end this topic of conversation because talking about Wade made her sad and upset and she didn't want to ruin her happy mood. "I'm not ready for that confrontation yet. I need to let myself heal."
"That's totally understandable," Lisa quickly agreed. "We have this party dinner once a week and you should come."
Zoe had tried to decline the offer but Lisa wasn't hearing of it and pulled Zoe off to find the perfect outfit to wear. Zoe had to admit that it sounded better than sitting alone in her apartment alone with her thoughts as her only company.
After finishing up in spending her future paychecks on really cute clothes, Zoe called it a day and headed home to relax before she had to go in for work in the morning.
The one thing she was missing sitting at her desk was hearing Wade's laughter fill her office from the main part of the locker room. Knowing that it really made it hard to pay attention to her work. Needing a moment to herself she snuck outside for some much needed fresh air. She sat on the nearest bench closing her eyes taking in the cool crisp fall day.
"Excuse me." Came a little girl's voice breaking her thoughts. Zoe looked at the little girl her green eyes sparkling, her brown hair pulled into a cute little ponytail. "Do you work here?" Zoe nodded her head, telling her that she did. "Do you happen to know Wade?" She asked.
Zoe gave her a smile trying to figure out just who she was to Wade. Not wanting it to bother her too much she let it go. "I do," she was in the process of saying.
"Good," she smiled. "I haven't seen him in a few weeks, and I miss him. Do you think its okay that I'm here to see him?" She asked with a mega watt smile. Zoe didn't want to take that smile off of her face. "Daddy told me he works here," she rambled on with. Hearing that Wade wasn't this little girl's father had her relaxing.
"I'm sorry but he's not here today," Zoe softly told her, watching her little face fall.
"Bianca, I told you to wait." Zoe looked up to see an older version of Wade waking her way. "I'm sorry if she was bugging you."
"She was fine," Zoe replied.
"This lady says Uncle Wade isn't here. But that can't be because he works here." The little girl Zoe learned was Bianca told her father.
"He got injured the other day in practice. He's at home resting up," Zoe filled them in before the guy could answer his daughter.
"Dr. Hart, we need you." Zoe got up.
"I'd either call him or drop by his place," Zoe told them.
"Thank you," the guy said. Zoe nodded and headed back inside.
After wrapping a wrist up, the rest of her day had flown by. Before she got a grip on what she was doing she was standing in front of Wade's door her knuckles lightly rapping on the wooden door. She had told herself that the only reason she was here was because she was the doctor and wanted to know how he was doing and a phone call wouldn't suffice because she had to know that he was getting all the rest he needed.
"Can I help you?" A leggy woman with multicolored hair asked pulling the door open.
"Uh I think I have the wrong place," Zoe told her, feeling her heart break just a little more seeing the woman standing there in what seemed to be a white guys shirt.
"Oh, maybe I can help. Who are you looking for?" She asked with a smile, making it hard to hate her when she was being so nice. She really did hope that she had gotten the doors mixed up considering she had never been to Wade's place before, he had only told her where it was he lived.
"Wade Kinsella. I wanted to check up with him and make sure that his ribs were healing," Zoe told her.
"You have the right place, but he's not in at the moment. I'll let him know you stopped by."
"Okay, thanks," Zoe told her walking away. A mix of relief and panic found its way to the pit of her stomach.
No matter how hard she tried she wasn't able to get the image of Wade and the woman out of her head. She was mad at herself for ever thinking that Wade was different than the rumors she had heard, she had tried to give him the benefit of the doubt but it seemed she was the one in the wrong once more. Maybe it was time to move on from whatever she thought she had with Wade.
