This update - is a little heavy. But I also think it's very real, all things considered. It's a total coincident that Dr. Hart is brought up in this story just as he comes up on the show. Remember, I've had this story planned out from the first chapter to the last from the beginning. :)
THANK YOU so very much for continuing to read and review. I just can't seem to find the time to get back to you all, but I wish I could to tell you each how much I appreciate the support. Please know how much it means to me to see all of your reviews and alerts and favorite. You all are just wonderful!
This update is inspired by Taylor Swift and The Civil War's "Safe & Sound."
As far as she was concerned, it was a near perfect Saturday night. Near perfect because Wade was at the Rammer Jammer instead of on Lavon's couch with her, buried in blankets and with a mug of hot chocolate. It was nice though, being able to relax, to enjoy the peace and quiet as she watched an old movie. She wasn't on call, had nowhere to go, and nowhere to be. She didn't hate it.
It had been a long week. After Earl's big announcement the Saturday before, she and Wade had spent Sunday morning making up after their first fight and then most of the afternoon with Zoe explaining Earl's condition to Wade and Meredith who had joined them by phone. It hadn't taken long for the rest of Bluebell to find out about Earl after that. One phone call from Meredith to Anna Beth and Lemon and the whole town knew. Wade had spent a lot of time damning Meredith's friendship with the two gossips after he'd gotten wind of it. She'd just listened, knowing he needed to sound off more than anything.
She hadn't seen him much that week. After taking an unplanned weekend off from the Rammer Jammer, he had been swamped trying to catch up. He'd also spent a lot of time at Earl's. Zoe hadn't gone along – and he hadn't asked her to – but she had a feeling Wade had been trying to convince him to seek treatment or at least go for testing to see just how far his disease had progressed so they'd know what they were dealing with. Earl had come in for his checkup – a couple days past when he was supposed to and much to her surprise – and had made comments that all but confirmed her suspicions.
While she didn't know the full extent of Earl's disease due to his refusal of testing, she did know the cancer had spread and that his prognosis was poor. Wade had bluntly asked her how long she thought Earl had and she had given him an honest answer – she didn't know. She wasn't the biggest advocate of giving people timelines. She'd seen doctors tell someone they had six months and they lived for years. She'd also known people who were told they'd be cured in three months only to see them die days later. Wade hadn't been entirely appeased with her answer, arguing that Harley had given them a timeline on his mother that had been right on, but she thought he understood.
She heard the kitchen door open and close but didn't move to see who it was. She knew it would be Lavon since Wade had told her he'd be at the Rammer Jammer until closing when he'd met her for lunch at the local burger place. She listened to Lavon drop his keys on the kitchen counter and then open the fridge and rustle through it. It closed and the sound of a beer cap being popped filled the air.
"What are we watching?" Lavon asked, walking in. He took a seat in an armchair.
"Funny Face," Zoe answered. "It's only been on about 30 minutes so you haven't missed much."
"Good. I was worried." Zoe rolled her eyes at Lavon's sarcasm.
"How was guy's night?" she asked. Didi had gone to visit her parents for a long weekend and so Lavon had arranged to meet up with some of his old college buddies in Mobile. He was back earlier than Zoe had thought he'd be.
"Oh you know, same old same – except we went golfing this afternoon, had a steak dinner, re-lived the glory days, and then everyone had to head back to his wife and or kids. It's official. Lavon Hayes is getting old."
"You're ancient," Zoe confirmed.
"Hush, girl." He checked his phone and replied to a goodnight text from Didi. "Wade working tonight?"
"Until closing. I am all on my own. Or at least I was until you showed up and ruined it all."
"God forbid I come home to my own house," Lavon answered. "But speaking of Wade, how is he doing? I ain't seen him much this week and I doubt he's thrilled that the whole town knows about Earl."
"He's…" Zoe had to pause to think about her answer. "To tell the truth, I'm not really sure. I know he's upset, worried. Who wouldn't be? But we've only really talked about things once and that was more of me trying to explain everything to Wade and Meredith. I don't want to push him if he doesn't want to talk about it. He knows I'm there if he needs me."
"Poor guy can't catch a break," Lavon commented. "Seems like the second things start going good for him, something else comes along to throw a wrench in his plans." Zoe wasn't entirely sure what Lavon was talking about, but she nodded anyway.
"He deserves to be happy," she said. Lavon looked at her.
"You make him happy," he told her seriously. Zoe played with the fringes on her blanket.
"He makes me happy," she confessed with a small smile. "Happier than I thought I'd ever be in Bluebell."
"I ain't sure it's just Wade that makes you happy in Bluebell," Lavon commented. "Looks to me like you've really found your way. People around here are really starting to take to you, think you're a good doctor too. And you only made two smartass comments when you heard about the Sweetie Pie Dance."
"Bluebell has grown on me," Zoe admitted. "I've always thought of myself as a New Yorker, through and through. But after I spent Christmas in New York… I'm not sure I fit in there anymore. It was great, being back in the city, but it just didn't feel right, exactly. Does that make sense?" Lavon nodded.
"That's how I felt when right before I retired from the NFL. It was such a big part of my life and yet – it just didn't feel right anymore."
"Exactly."
"Which leads to the elephant in the room," Lavon said. "You're a few months away from your year in Bluebell being up. What happens after that?" Zoe sighed.
"I don't know," she said. "I try not to think about it."
"You'll have to think about it eventually. Because eventually, you'll have to make a decision."
"Eventually being the key word."
"I can tell you right now that Wade ain't moving to New York."
"I know," Zoe said. "Is it wrong that part of me hopes I don't get offered the fellowship? Then the decision will be made for me."
"Lavon Hayes thinks that even if a part of Zoe Hart is hoping she doesn't get this fellowship she's been eyeing her whole life then Zoe Hart has her answer."
Zoe didn't reply. There was still plenty of time before a decision would be made. There was as good of chance as any that she wouldn't get the fellowship she'd applied to only weeks after moving to Bluebell. She couldn't really make any plans until she knew one way or another so really, what was the point in sitting there worrying about it on a Saturday night?"
She and Lavon settled in to watching Funny Face, Lavon paying more attention to his phone than the movie. Zoe was starting to doze off as the clock neared midnight when her phone rang out. She sat up and reached for it, not recognizing the number, but able to identify it as a Bluebell number by the area code.
"Hello?" she answered. Lavon looked up from his own phone, curious. Zoe listened closely to the voice on the other end, taking in every word. "Okay. I'll be right there. I'm leaving now." She hung up. "Lavon, can I borrow the hybrid?" she asked, already on her feet and heading for the key rack. "Mrs. Jefferson's water broke and her contractions are close together. There's no way she'll make it to the hospital in time to deliver."
"Yeah, that's fine," Lavon said. "Wade said your driving skills had greatly improved." Zoe shot him a look as she reached for the keys. Her driving had improved, so much so that she'd driven the old plantation truck into town a time or two all on her own although she hadn't quite managed to not stall out at least once yet. "I thought Brick was on call?"
"He is, but I've been handling Mrs. Jefferson's prenatal care. I was really hoping she'd deliver at a hospital – she's having twins and she's a little older. The risks are higher." She grabbed her purse and realized she'd have to stop by her place to get her bag before she headed to the Jefferson's place across Bluebell. "Thanks, Lavon." She was out the door, realizing Brick hadn't delivered a baby since she'd arrived. The thought made her smile.
Her eyes were blurry as she rolled up to her carriage house. It was just past four in the morning and she was exhausted to the bone, but Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson were now the proud parents of two healthy twin girls. Her work was done and she was looking forward to sleeping until well past noon. She parked Lavon's hybrid by her house and got out, aiming to stumble up her porch steps and into bed, but noticed the lights on at Wade's place. She changed course and headed across the yard, giving Burt Reynolds a wide berth when she spied him lounging by the pond.
"Hey," she said quietly, walking into Wade's living room. He was seated in the middle of the couch, looking as tired as her, papers spread around him. He looked up from the set he was reading, surprised by her voice.
"Hey," he replied. He moved some of the papers so she could sit down. "What are you still doin' up?" Zoe sat down beside him, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her head on the back of the couch.
"I just got home," she told him. "Mrs. Jefferson's water broke. There was no time to get her to the hospital before she delivered."
"Everything go okay?" Wade asked. He'd just talked to Mr. Jefferson earlier when he'd came in to pick up dinner and the man had been beaming as he told him how excited they were about the birth of the twins they'd been hoping for for so long.
"Yeah. The Jeffersons are now proud parents to Ruby Eleanor and Sophie Elizabeth," she answered. "And their doctor is exhausted." Wade smiled.
"Good," he said. "They've wanted kids for a long time." Zoe nodded in agreement.
"Now what are you still doing up? Bringing work home now?" Wade dropped the papers in his hand on his coffee table and leaned back on the sofa. He looked at Zoe.
"I got home a couple hours ago. George dropped off all these papers at the Rammer Jammer for me to go over. Earl's makin' me Power of Attorney, havin' George draw up a will, gettin' a do not resuscitate order. I'm just tryin' to make sense of it all." Zoe slid closer and rested her head on Wade's shoulder. He put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm especially tryin' to figure how why he picked me and not Meredith. She's the oldest, the more responsible one. Not me."
"Four in the morning might not be the best time to make sense of all of that," she said, placing her hand on his chest.
"I know," Wade confessed. "I figured I probably won't gonna be able to sleep though, just layin' there thinkin' about it all. I thought about comin' over to your place when I got hom but didn't want to wake you. If I'd known you won't home though I probably would've gone lookin' for you, all worried and stuff about why you won't sound asleep like I thought you'd be." Zoe curled into his side, feeling sleep threatening to take her over. She could feel Wade giving in to exhaustion as well.
"Wade?"
"Hmm?"
"You know you can talk to me about things, right?" He nodded.
"I know, Zoe," he said. He kissed the top of head. "Just got to remember I ain't alone in this. "
They drifted off to sleep moments later, right there on Wade's worn couch, surrounded by documents giving Wade more responsibility over his father than he ever thought he'd be capable of handling.
She was a woman on a mission. She didn't exactly know what she was doing, but she had everything she needed and Google to tell her what to do. Didi had told her at Thanksgiving that cooking was as easy as following a recipe. She had tried a few more simple recipes since her crock pot macaroni and cheese with fair success but she was upping her game this go around, determined to master an elaborate seafood dish.
So far, things were going well enough. She'd seasoned the crab meat with parsley, minced garlic, salt and half a lemon, just like the recipe had directed. She'd sliced the salmon down the middle and stuffed them with the crab mixture. The recipe had said broil though and she had been thrown for a few minutes, figuring out exactly what that implied. She was back on track though and she thought she was possibly about to pull this whole thing off.
She moved on to the kale, washing it and chopping it while olive oil heated up in a pan on the stove. Slicing the garlic had been problematic. She'd made a huge mess, her hands were sticky, and her garlic was not as neatly sliced as the garlic in the recipe she was following, but it was as close as she was going to get. She added it to the pan, wondering what 'cook until soft but not colored' meant. She got her answer fairly soon as the garlic started browning. Sticking to the recipe, she raised the heat – although the recipe didn't say how high to raise it – and added in water and finally, the kale. She covered it and set the time for five minutes, turning to the pile of carrots, squash and zucchini she had chopped earlier.
"I've got this," she said to the empty kitchen.
Her plan was to surprise Wade with a good, home-cooked meal and since Lavon was gone for the weekend on some alumni trip to Tuscaloosa, it was the perfect time to do it. It had been another week of seeing each other when they could. She'd been busy at the practice as February had turned to March and the temperatures had gone on a roller coaster ride, 70s one day, 40s the next. Half of Bluebell had some sort of head cold or sinus infection and she had also been on call. Wade had been trying his best to balance the Rammer Jammer, checking in on Earl and getting a few things done around the plantation, all the while figuring out all the legal issues of being Earl's Power of Attorney. They'd managed to have breakfast together a few times that week and Zoe had eaten lunch at the Rammer Jammer most days, but Lavon was at breakfast and Bluebell was at lunch and so there hadn't been much room for quality time together. She was determined they'd change that tonight.
She got the vegetables layered on a baking sheet and sprinkled them with olive oil and seasoning. She was feeling pretty confident when she put them in Lavon's second oven, this one built into the wall and not used since Thanksgiving, to roast. She poured herself a glass of wine and made to sit down when her phone rang. It was her mother. Figuring she'd put off her mom's weekly phone call long enough, she answered, wandering out onto the porch to talk. The temperatures were back in the seventies.
She zipped her wine, listening intently as her mom filled in her in the latest gossip from the city then filled her in on Bluebell, Wade, and whatever else she wanted to know about. She hung up twenty minutes later and lingered on the porch, enjoying the warm breeze and the hints of spring coming to the plantation. She could already tell Bluebell would be beautiful when the season changed.
A high pitched beeping suddenly broke through the solitude. She jumped, dropping her wine glass in the process. It shattered on the porch. She cursed, realizing it was the smoke alarm going off and rushed into the kitchen, trying to avoid the broken glass. It was thick with smoke.
She turned everything off quickly, then moved the smoking kale off the stove's eye. She removed the lid, realizing her mistake instantly. She was supposed to keep it covered for five minutes then uncover and let it simmer until the liquid evaporated. She had been outside on the phone long after that had happened. The kale was ruined, no more than a shriveled black pile.
She couldn't think about it long though. Smoke was pouring out of the oven as well. She grabbed an oven mitt and pulled it open. The salmon, left to broil, was also ruined, her hard work gone to waste. She checked the second oven and found the vegetables were a little brown but mostly salvageable. She felt tears starting to threaten her eyes.
"What the hell?" came Wade's voice. "Zoe?" Zoe could hardly see him through the thick smoke still filling the kitchen.
"Wade?" She put the pan of vegetables on the top of the stove with the ruined salmon and kale just as she felt Wade's arm come around her waist.
"What happened?" he asked, waving his hand in an effort to clear some of the smoke.
"What does it look like happened?" Zoe asked. She pulled away from him and went to turn on the fan above the stove to help filter out some of the smoke.
"It looks like you tried to cook," Wade said with a smirk. He knew right away that both his smirk and his comment were ill-timed. "I'm sorry," he said quickly.
"It's not funny!" Zoe snapped. She stormed across the kitchen to start opening windows. "I was trying to make a nice dinner so we could maybe enjoy our evening together without any phone calls from people needing a doctor or dads needing checked on or bars needing attending and I ruined it! And you think it's funny! It's not!" Wade took a second to compose himself so he didn't laugh at her hysterics.
"Hey, it's okay," he said, crossing the kitchen with the intentions of giving her the hug he thought she needed. She ducked around him and went back to the stove, trying to hide the tears she was losing her battle against. She picked up the pan with the kale in it and started towards the garbage disposal. "Come on, stop," Wade said. He cut her off and took the pan from her, placing it back on the stove. He seen the tears then. "Zoe, don't do that." He took her face in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears.
"I just wanted to do something nice for you," she said as more tears, more from frustration and embarrassment than anything, fell. "You've been so busy taking care of Earl and working. And then my mom called and I ruined dinner. Completely, totally, ruined it."
"Come here," Wade said, pulling her into his chest. He held her against him. "Thank you, for tryin' so hard," he said. "It means more than you know."
"Shut up," Zoe mumbled into his shirt. Wade chuckled and hugged her tighter. "I will never be domestic." A clever comment in agreement with that statement was on the tip of his tongue but he refrained, knowing it would do nothing but get him in trouble. He wasn't quite sure he wasn't in trouble as it was so there was no need to dig himself in even deeper.
"Zoe, I mean it," he said. He pulled away, keeping her in his arms. "All I want is to spend the evenin' with you. I don't care if that means eatin,'" he paused and tried to identify what she was trying to cook but could only make out the vegetables, "carrots and squash."
"Roasted vegetables, sautéed kale and crab stuffed salmon," she told him. "That's what I was trying to cook." Wade refrained from mentioning just how good that sounded now that she'd mentioned it. He knew how out of her comfort zone it was for her to be in the kitchen, trying to cook a meal for him. The fact that she had tried was more than enough.
"How does pizza and wine sound?" he asked. "And it looks like those vegetables survived."
"Not as good as what I'd planned." Wade kissed her forehead.
"I think we've got everything we need to make pizza here. How about we get this place cleaned up and get to work on it?" Zoe relented and between the two, they managed to get thing cleaned up pretty quickly. A little while later, they were seated at the patio table on Lavon's back deck, enjoying pizza, wine, and vegetables that didn't taste all that bad as the sun started to set.
"This isn't what I had in mind, but it's working out all the same," Zoe commented.
"Like I told you earlier, I just want to spend some time with you. Don't matter if we're eatin' crab-stuffed salmon or homemade pizza."
"I've missed you these last couple of weeks," Zoe confessed. "We've both been so busy." Wade wiped his mouth.
"You done?" he asked, noticing her food was gone. She nodded. He stood and offered her his hand. "Come on. Let's take a walk before it gets too dark." Zoe obliged and they set off on a path that would take them around the perimeter of the plantation.
"How was Earl today?" Zoe asked.
"Same, I guess. When I stopped by to check on him he was on the phone with Meredith. She was tryin' to get him to stop drinkin' but that just ain't gonna happen."
"No," Zoe agreed. "As much as it should, it's not." She looked at him. "How are you doing? Be honest." Wade took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was with Zoe and could let her in.
"It's hard," he admitted. "You know how my relationship is with my dad. But I still don't want to lose him, especially not like this." Zoe squeezed his hand and he rubbed his free hand over his face. "Me and Meredith have both said a hundred times each that drinkin' would kill him, but now it's actually happenin' and it's a lot to take in."
"I hate this for you," Zoe told him.
"It is what it is," Wade said. "Me bein' Power of Attorney… I don't know that I want that kind of responsibility. When things get bad, I've got big decisions to make." He blew out a breath, realizing it felt good to get what he'd spent so much time worrying about over the last couple of weeks off of his chest.
"It sounds like Earl has already made some of those decisions," Zoe commented, thinking back to how Wade had mentioned a do not resuscitate order.
"That's a whole other issue," Wade said. He returned her earlier squeeze of his hand with one of his own. "What have you been up to this week? Got to any more of Harley's stuff?"
"The practice has been busy," she told him. "These up and down temperatures have everybody sick. And I've been on call all week. It was a relief to hand that back over to Brick yesterday. I managed to finish clearing out Harley's kitchen though. I packed up most everything and got lucky – Dash DeWitt was holding a rummage sale to raise funds for the school's drama trip to New York and got together a group of his students to come over and haul it all to the high school. I did keep a coffee mug though. It was from Greece and, well…"
"It's a token of what got you here," Wade said with a grin. "I'd drink a cup of coffee out of it." Zoe elbowed him playfully and he laughed. He let go of her hand, only to put an arm around her waist and pull her closer to his side where she fit so exactly.
"I'm going to start on the living room next, I think. There's not much in there – mainly furniture. But he's got an impressive number of movies on VHS."
"Lavon has a VCR still. I think it works. If there's anything good, bring 'em back to the plantation. We'll kick it old school for a night."
"Between Lavon's VCR and your 8-Tracks, it'll be like we traveled back in time," Zoe quipped. "Because Bluebell isn't far enough removed from the modern ways of life as it is." Wade laughed again. He caught site of the western sky then. It was a deep, threatening black as the sky quickly faded to night.
"Let's get back to the plantation," he said, already turning back towards the house which was now just a speck in the distance. "The weatherman said we could get some rough storms tonight, looks like he might be right." Zoe looked back over her shoulder at the menacing sky.
"How rough?" she asked.
"Said there might be some tornado warnings," Wade told her. She snapped her head around to look at him with wide eyes.
"Tornados?" she asked. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she recalled that the south was prone to tornadic activity, especially in the spring. She had conveniently forgotten that little detail about her new town until now. Scenes from Twister – particularly those involving flying cows and trucks – started playing in her mind.
"Just a slight chance tonight," Wade assured her, realizing this would be her first real storm in Bluebell. "Mainly just gonna be some pretty gnarly lightinin' and loud thunder, heavy rain. Could be some hail too." Zoe looked back at the stormy sky again, certain it looked darker than it had just moments earlier.
"But there's still a chance?"
"Reckon there's always a chance when it storms around these parts. 'Course there's more of a chance when the temperatures are all up and down like they've been lately." The first low rumbles of thunder sounded in the distance. "It's still a ways off," Wade told her, seeing her eyes grow wider.
"So is the house," Zoe pointed out.
"You know, I usually crash at Lavon's when this kind of weather moves in. We should probably stay there tonight, just in case. He's got a storm cellar, hell of a lot safer than trying to survive a tornado in either of our places." Zoe looked at him.
"Maybe we should walk really fast," she said seriously. "Or race. Let's race! I can totally beat you." With that, Zoe took off at a run towards the house. Wade laughed at the absurdity of the situation and took off after her, catching her easily. They made it to the porch just as the first rain drops started to fall.
Zoe stared at the ceiling of one of Lavon's guest rooms, acutely aware of how the room lit up with each strike of lightening and how the walls shook with each rumble of thunder. The rain pounded violently against the old home and beside her, Wade slept soundly. There was an especially loud clap of thunder that made her jump. Wade grunted but didn't wake up. The thunder was followed by the sound of something rapping violently against the windows, joining in with the rain.
"Wade?" she hissed. He didn't wake up. "Wade!" she poked him. "Wade!"
"Hmph?" he said, his eyes blinking open. He vaguely registered the sound of the storm going on outside.
"What's that noise?" she asked. Wade frowned, still half asleep.
"What noise?"
"That tapping sound against the windows." It grew louder, more intense. "Hear it?"
"It's just hail," he said, thinking it was a good thing Lavon was gone, leaving an open space in the garage for him to pull his Camaro into earlier. "Go on to bed." He was already closing his eyes again.
"Does that mean a tornado is coming?"
"I don't know. Probably not."
"Well how do we find out?"
Wade sighed, realizing there was no way he was going to go back to sleep until either the storms were over or Zoe fell asleep. Seeing as she was skilled at staying awake for hours on end due to her days as a surgery resident, he'd have to wait on Mother Nature.
"Give me your phone," he told her.
"My phone? Why?" She had it in her hand, obsessively watching the radar map as bands of green, yellow and orange moved over Bluebell.
"Just give it to me." Zoe passed him her phone and watched as he tapped on the screen several times.
"Here," he said, passing it back to her. "It's the NOAA weather app. Anytime there's any kind of weather warnin' it'll be buzz and you'll know if you need to leave early because of heavy fog or take cover because of a tornado."
"That's clever," Zoe commented, wondering why she hadn't thought to download a weather app as she started clicking through it. Another brilliant flash of lightning lit up the room followed instantly by one of the loudest claps of thunder yet. She slid closer to Wade.
"You realize I'm no match for Mother Nature, right?" he said, even as he moved so she could curl up against him. "I'll let her take me first if it comes to that, but you're going to have one hell of a fight on your hands to get her to spare you once she makes her mind up."
"Shut up and put your arms around me," Zoe demanded.
"Now is that any way to talk to a man who just said he'd sacrifice himself to keep you safe from the big, bad thunderstorm?"
"You have a point," Zoe conceded as Wade's arms wrapped around her. "I thought I'd seen bad storms before. I thought I even liked thunderstorms. But this is just unreal."
"This ain't nothin,'" Wade said. "We done seen way worse."
"I don't want to see worse." Wade moved so he was laying on top of her, deciding that since they were both awake, he may as well take advantage of the situation.
"Allow me to distract you," he said.
"Not even you can distract me from this," Zoe stated, even as she accepted his kiss.
"Don't go questionin' my skills, girl," Wade replied. He kissed her again and again until she was effectively distracted.
"Y'all fare alright at the plantation during the storms last night?" Mr. Baxter asked as Wade put a cheeseburger and fries down in front of him.
"Not too bad," Wade answered, thinking to himself he'd had a pretty good night, all things considered. "A few big limbs down, ditches washed out into the road. Should be an easy enough clean up. Scared the Doc right much though. Apparently they don't have storms like that up in New York." Mr. Baxter chuckled.
"I like that Zoe of yours," he said. "Got her quirks, I reckon, but she's a right smart doctor, reminds me a lot of Harley."
"She's somethin,'" Wade said with a grin. "Keeps my life interestin,' that's for sure." Mr. Baxter laughed.
"She's got you smiling, that's for sure," the older man said. "You keep that girl, you hear?"
"I ain't plannin' on lettin' her go," Wade told him. "Say, did you hear 'bout that channel cat old man Bufford caught somewhere down near the tribute the other day? Chuck Fisher said it was just a couple ounces shy of the record, caught it on chicken livers right out of his boat."
Wade and Mr. Baxter launched into fishing stories, trading tales from their last fishing trips while going back to the near record-setting catfish James Bufford had caught a few days earlier every so often. Mr. Baxter had been a commercial fisherman his entire life and Wade always found him a wealth a knowledge. Just as the old man thought to ask about how Earl was doing, Zoe burst into the bar. Wade could tell right away that something was wrong and excused himself from Mr. Baxter.
"You busy?" she asked as he met her at the end of the bar. "Of course you're busy. It's Sunday afternoon and church just got out and this is one of the only places open in Bluebell on a Sunday. So never mind. Pretend I was never here. I'll see you when you get off." She turned to leave, but Wade caught her hand.
"I'm not too busy for you," he said, spinning her around to face him. "What's wrong? And don't say nothin.' I can tell somethin's got you all worked up." Zoe glanced around at the busy bar. Plenty of people were watching them while trying to pretend they weren't.
"Can we go back to your office?" she asked. Wade kept her hand in his and led her through the back through the door, directing Shelley to watch the bar for a few minutes. e shutHe shut the door behind them and turned to Zoe. She looked anxious as she crossed her arms and chewed on her lip.
"What's goin' on, darlin'?" he asked. Zoe crooked a small smile despite her anxiety. Wade had taken to calling her darling lately and she liked it, even though she'd never been fond of pet names. She blamed the way it sounded with his Southern accent.
"My dad is coming to town," she said. "Or – Dr. Hart or whoever. He called me and I didn't recognize the number but I did recognize the area code as a New York one so I answered. Apparently he moved back to New York. Who knew? Not me. Now he wants to see me. He was on his way to a surgery so he couldn't talk long. Or so he said. I haven't heard from him in months and months. I don't know. Anyway, he called to tell me he'll be here tomorrow. Tomorrow, Wade. As in – tomorrow. I barely got any warning. I don't know what he wants. All I know is he's on a flight tomorrow and he's got a car lined up to pick him up at the airport and will be here tomorrow afternoon. To see me."
Wade took a moment to digest Zoe's rambling. What he got from it was that the man she'd grown up believing to be her father – and who she had been estranged from for months – was on his way to Bluebell and she was freaking out.
"Well, I guess all you can do is wait for him to get here and find out what he wants," he said, stating the obvious. "Ain't really much else you can do, is it?" Zoe opened her mouth to argue with him, not satisfied with his answer, but then realized quickly he was right. There was nothing else she could do but wait until Dr. Ethan Hart landed on her doorstep and then go from there.
"I shouldn't be springing this on you," she said instead, sighing heavily. "You've got enough going on with your own father."
"And you have been right there for all of it," Wade replied. "Remember how you told me I won't alone?" Zoe nodded, catching on to what he was saying. "You're not alone either." She walked up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders.
"You know, as far as boyfriends go, you aren't so bad," she told him. He chuckled.
"I wouldn't go that far," he said.
"I would," Zoe insisted. Wade wrapped her into a hug.
"You got anything planned for the rest of the day?" he asked.
"Well, I spent the morning Googling all things tornado. Then my dad called. So I'll probably spend the afternoon obsessing over what he wants and working on an elaborate speech about how he let me down and disappointed me that I'll never actually give."
"How 'bout you stick around here and help me out? Rumor has it you're workin' on replacin' me as favorite bartender. Then we'll grab somethin' to eat and you can tag along with me out to check on Dad. I want to set a few minnow traps too."
"I'm not entirely sure what minnow traps are, but sure. Why not?" Zoe said. Wade grinned and opened the office door for her. She was more of a hindrance than a help behind the bar and taking her along to set minnow traps in the creek that ran behind his dad's house would probably be a downright disaster, but it would take her mind off of her father's impending arrival and that would be more than worth it.
I've lived in the South my entire life and was floored by the difference in intensity of thunderstorms just from Virginia to Tennessee. I can only imagine the difference between New York and Alabama. And for the record, I definitely put a little of my own reaction to bad storms into Zoe's. :)
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