"Wade," Zoe scolded him. Hearing his growl, she quickly made her way to the door to see who was on the other side and surprised was understatement. "Dr. Hart why don't you please come in," she stated, opening the door wider.
"Thank you Zoe, but please call me Ethan, we no longer work together," he replied, stepping into the house.
"Excuse us for a minute, Wade," Zoe told him.
"Sure thing, babe," he replied, kissing her cheek, glaring at the older man that entered their house. He headed into the little make shit den and messed around on the computer Zoe had in there. He left the door open so he could hear what was being said. For Dr. Hart to show up out of the blue the way he had wasn't because he was bringing good news with him. If it wouldn't have been for stupid Dr. Hart giving Zoe a place at his hospital in New York Zoe would have been home years ago and she would have been able to avoid some of the things with Joel. To him the doctor that just entered their house was the enemy in their lives.
"What can I do for you Ethan?" Zoe asked, sitting across from him in the living room.
"I don't mean to just barge in like this, but we need you back. It's a mess without you there, is there anything I can do to make you come back?" He asked desperation shining in his eyes. Zoe shook her head. "Please?" He begged.
"I'm sorry," she told him. "I appreciate that you have offered me a job and taken me under your wing while I was there, but I can't come back," she told him firmly. She couldn't leave Bluebell again not now that she had so many good things going on in her life. She was away from the blackness that was her past in New York, she couldn't go back there.
"Is there anything?" He questioned with a pleading tone. She shook her head. "Can you maybe like think about it for a few days and get back to me. We'd really love to have you back there. You can't possible enjoy the work you do here," he said grasping for something, for anything at that matter.
"I do enjoy the work I do here, I love it here, that's why I came back here," she told him, her voice rising. It may have been half the truth but she did mean it. She loved being back in Bluebell and she loved the work she did at the practice.
"Come on, Zoe. You talked about this place like it was hell for you," he said. She shook her head.
"No I didn't. At the time I was in New York Bluebell seemed that way but that was on me because I lost a certain person that was everything to me and now that I have him back in my life…" she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry but I don't need to think about anything, Dr. Hart. I'm not leaving," she told him with finality in her voice.
"Please, Zoe," he begged once more.
"She said no, so now I suggested you get out of here," Wade told him, storming into the room.
"If you change your mind, you know where to find me," Ethan told her, seeing himself out.
The house suddenly became quiet as they listened to the car start up and drive away. Zoe couldn't even look at Wade and he found that he couldn't look else where than at his girlfriend. He was so busy getting his thoughts in order that he hadn't even heard Zoe talking to him. "Huh?" He asked, mentally shaking the thoughts from his head, and that had only angered the petite woman in front of him more.
"Why?" She seethed looking at him. He raised an eyebrow locking eyes with her. "Did you not trust that I would tell you what it was he wanted that you have to eavesdrop?" She asked a tremble to her voice.
"It was nothing like that, baby," he swore, moving over to her. "It's him I didn't trust."
"I didn't need…" she sighed, burying her face into his chest.
"Shh baby, it's okay, it's gonna be okay. You don't have to do nothin' you don't want to do."
"I loved working at the hospital in New York; so many different people came through those doors hourly. I loved what I did there, but Bluebell is home and I have you here and New York is so dark," she was saying, feeling the circles that Wade was rubbing into her back.
"If you want to go back to New York then we'll figure something out, I can easily move to be with you. I support whatever it is that you want to do," Wade assured her. She pulled back a little looking up at him.
"You'd really move to New York for me?" She asked her big doe eyes filled with love and admiration for him. Maybe she would think about going back as long as she had Wade.
"I'd follow you anywhere, baby," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose. "Promise." Zoe smiled, pulling him closer to kiss him which he had easily deepened.
The next night found them sitting around a table at the Rammer Jammer with their parents. Earl and Harley were eying the two of them up, able to see that they were easily hiding something from them. Jackie and Candice were busy talking quietly between themselves.
"Alright what's going on?" Wade asked, reaching for Zoe's hand under the table.
"What is it you know that we don't?" Earl shot right back.
"I have no clue, I think you're going delusional in that old age of yours," Wade joked.
"Watch it, boy," Earl warned a chuckle on his lips.
"A new house opened up over on…"
"Save it," Wade said cutting his mom off. He looked at Zoe and she nodded letting him know that it was okay to tell them the news. They did hope this would take the heat off of them knowing about Jesse and get the stares to stop from Harley and Earl.
"What is it?" Earl asked a smug smirk on his face.
"I moved into Zoe's place," Wade told them with a shrug. "It's a big deal, we all knew it was coming," he explained, squeezing her hand under the table. It was a huge thing for them, but they didn't need their parents to make it even bigger.
"This is great," Candice squealed. "A spring wedding would be gorgeous," she stated.
"I can see it now," Jackie added in.
"We're living together, not getting married," Zoe spoke up.
"But you love each other and it's only right," Candice stated.
"We do love each other, but marriage isn't right for us, not right now," Wade stated.
"I suppose but a spring wedding it is when you're both ready," Jackie clarified with a heavy sigh.
"I got an offer to go back to work under Dr. Hart," Zoe blurted out.
"Absolutely not," Harley spoke up for the first time that night. "I will not allow to go work for him, not happening." Zoe looked down at her plate of food. She thought her dad was going to react in such a way. Earl went to make a joke but seeing his son shake his head with a look of concern on his face he knew not to push it.
"When did you talk to Dr. Hart?" Candice asked suddenly very intrigued. He was a good friend of hers and she had talked him into giving Zoe a chance once she refused to come home. Ethan Hart was a person that she trusted, knew him for years before she ever moved to Bluebell to be with Harley.
"He stopped over last night," Zoe told them softly.
"For the record we've talked about this and she told him no, but with all due respect Harley, we can't make Zoe stay if she really wants to go back and if she decides she wants to go back there I'm going with her," he told them all, a protectiveness surging through him.
"I don't like it, but I can't make you do anything you don't want to, just really think about this, honey," Harley told her, love in his eyes.
"I will," she told them.
Earl and Jackie shared a look, they could tell they were missing something, but they didn't comment on it. They knew it had something to do with the rumors that floated around town about what happened in New York between Zoe and Joel. It just wasn't their business so they let it slide.
"Who wants to tell me what they know about Jesse?" Jackie asked sending her youngest a pointed look.
"No idea, Ma," Wade replied with a shrug. She could tell that her son was lying to her and there wasn't anything she could do about that now that he no longer lived at home and she could no longer scare him into telling her the truth. She turned her sights on her future daughter in law and watched as she squirmed in her seat. A plan forming in her head.
"I was thinking that we go to Mobile tomorrow Zoe, just the two of us. We haven't done that since before you left, does that sound okay with you?" Jackie asked a sweet smile on her lips.
"That sounds really nice," Zoe replied with a soft smile. She really did think of Jackie as a second mother growing up. It was easier to talk to Jackie about things then it was with her own mom especially when said things had to do with Wade. Spending time with Jackie the two of would be good, even if she knew that Jackie was up to something.
"Ma," Wade warned her.
"Relax Wade," Jackie told her son. Wade sent her mom a look and could tell that she was going to get the info out of Zoe in some way. Maybe he should come clean about Jesse so that way he wasn't sending Zoe into a mine field when it came to his mom wanting answers. Then he thought better of that, Zoe knew what she was getting into and he was fairly certain that she would be able to handle herself. Feeling Zoe's hand squeeze his told him that staying quiet was the way to go.