Zoe started to feel nauseous waiting for her mom's plane to land. She was dreading this whole visit. The faster it could get over with, the better it was going to be for everyone involved. Well maybe not for Ariel. Zoe sighed looking down at her daughter. Ariel was bouncing on her toes waiting for her grandma. Zoe hadn't really thought about how much Ariel was missing her grandma, not when she's been having so much fun with her new family in Bluebell. Zoe couldn't even recall Ariel asking a single question about Candice or if she could call her. Sure they talked a few times over the phone and that was more than enough for Zoe but the relationship that Candice had with Ariel was totally different than the one she had with her mother. The last thing she wanted to do was take a relationship away from her daughter like that. She promised herself that after this visit she was going to make sure Ariel kept that special bond with her grandma.
Zoe was dreading the next few days. She didn't want her mom telling her that she was far bigger than Bluebell. That New York had a lot more to offer her. She had heard it before. That was all she heard the second Candice had found out that Zoe was packing up and moving to Bluebell.
Zoe was happy in Bluebell; she had thought she was happy in New York. But that wasn't true. She didn't know what real happiness was until she found herself in Bluebell. She wasn't sure that she ever wanted to go back to New York. Even if moving to Bluebell was a mistake it was her mistake to make and so far there was no mistake in moving from the city. This was the right thing for her and if she thought about it long enough, she knew when her year was up on what it was she was going to be doing. It really wasn't that hard of a choice to make. Things change and Zoe knows that. Nothing is set in stone and just like she had talked to Ariel about the move to Bluebell she would talk to Ariel and see what it was she wanted to do. This wasn't just about her and her needs in life; this was about Ariel as well.
"Grandma!" Ariel squealed. Zoe looked up, placing a smile on her face. Despite the terror that cursed through her veins about the lecture she was sure she would endure and the million different comments about how awful Bluebell is, Zoe had missed her mom, in a small happy kind of way.
"Pumpkin," Candice smiled, picking Ariel up. Ariel swung her little arms around her grandmother's neck, giving her a tight hug.
Ariel had talked Candice's ears off from the moment she was reunited with her grandma until they had got to Bluebell. For that Zoe was thankful, less time for her to be told that she is wasting away here. With as many times as Wade and Braxton came up in all of the stories that Ariel was telling Zoe knew she was going to have to explain about Wade and herself and she wasn't really looking forward to that. She was happy to be with Wade but her mother had a way to ruin special things in her life.
"Shouldn't you be with your mom?" Wade asked slightly confused, placing drinks on the table for Zoe and Ariel.
"She's checking in and I can't stand the looks she keeps sending my way," Zoe retorted, shaking her head. Wade tossed his dirty towel down and pulled a chair around the table to sit down next to his girlfriend.
"Mommy, can I go play with Uncle Lavon and Braxton, please?" Ariel asked, pointing out the window.
"Sure sweetie, but be good for Lavon," Zoe warned. Ariel rolled her eyes and ran out the door, jumping on Lavon's back, making him fall to the ground. Zoe went to get up but saw that Lavon was laughing and had started to tickle the little girl that had attacked him.
"What looks?" Wade asked, gaining Zoe's attention.
"The judgmental looks, the you're too good for a small town life and my favorite look," Zoe told him with a bitter undertone to her voice. "The you're too good for some hick look. Oh! Did I mention the what the hell are you doing with your life look?" Zoe asked, banging her head on the table.
"Uh no," Wade told her. He was trying to get his thoughts in order. She had told him that she wasn't going to leave that she wasn't going to listen to what her mother told her, but he couldn't be sure of that. People change their minds all the time and with enough pressure you'd do anything to make your parents happy. It didn't feel right to voice his concerns while she was freaking out, he didn't want her to rethink what they had while she had enough problems going on.
"Wade?" Zoe questioned quietly, slipping her hand to rest on his knee. He turned to look at her. "You do know that I don't care what she says, I'm not leaving here, right?" She asked. With his lack of an answer and the far a way look on his face, she had a feeling that he was thinking about something and she didn't want him to think that he was going to lose her because her mother wasn't happy with her choice. This was Zoe's choice and she was doing the one thing that was making her happy, why would she give that up for?
"Sometimes it's hard to think that you'd pick me over everything that New York can offer you," he sighed, running his hands down his face. Zoe quickly shook her head.
"New York can't give me many things, Wade. It can't give me a family, it can't give me a safe sense of security, it can't give me happiness and it definitely can't give me you or love," Zoe told him softly, moving to hold his hand. "She can say what she wants, but what I want is right here. I'd be stupid if I walked away from all of this," Zoe assured him.
He had a lot of things he could say to that. A lot of things that he had wanted to say. But the thing that he let slip from his mouth had nothing to do with him knowing that Zoe was staying here for him. Hearing that thought made his heart flutter and his palms grow sweaty. He wasn't sure he was ready for love, but then again when it came to Zoe he was open to a lot of ideas. He was open to anything coming his way. So why did he just ask Zoe, "then why didn't you ever notice that I took my wedding ring off, for you on our first date?" Seeing the hurt look cross Zoe's face, told him that he had messed up with that one question but he already knew that.
"Wade," She gasped out.
"I've got to get back to work," he told her, walking off pissed at himself for the words he couldn't keep in.
Zoe sighed, ready to go after him. She had noticed. It was the first things she had noticed, she didn't want to act all crazy and make it into this huge deal. Sure it was a huge deal but she didn't want to focus on that the whole night because the point of that night wasn't for them to talk about his ring but spend the night getting to know each other better. She had plans of talking to him and how much it had meant to her, but things just kept coming up and she couldn't find the right time to tell him how much she had appreciated him for doing that for them.
"Zoe, there you are," Candice said, walking up to her daughter. "It's rude to just leave your Mother stranded," she scolded.
"Mom, this town isn't very big. I told you that I would be at the Rammer Jammer, plus I told you how to get here," Zoe sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Where's Ariel?" Candice asked in a slight panic looking around the place. "You can't just let her run around!"
"She's playing with Lavon and Braxton," Zoe replied, rubbing her temples feeling the headache coming on. At Candice's appalled look Zoe explained further, "Lavon is the Mayor of Bluebell and one of my closest friends here. Ariel is just fine."
"Don't matter, you can't trust people," Candice huffed.
"I can trust everyone here. That's the thing about Bluebell, Mom," Zoe replied, ready to walk away from her mom and deal with this later in the day when they were set to have dinner in Mobile to talk.
"Doc, am I still taking Ariel to the creek to camp tonight?" Wade asked, void of emotion.
"Yes, if you still want to take her with you," Zoe replied, pleading him with her eyes. She wanted to talk to him, to sort things out. It seemed all they ever did was fight and make up. Couldn't things just stay good between them longer than a week?
"Okay. Oh and Zo, we'll talk after I bring her home. Promise," Wade told her, glancing at Candice. Zoe nodded, feeling relief rush through her. Zoe bites the inside of her mouth, watching Wade stuff his hands in his pockets and walk out the door.
"What's going on there? You're letting Ariel spend time in the woods? With that man of all people?" Candice shrieked. Zoe got up, motioning for her mother to follow her. She really didn't want to read about herself once again in Dash's blog come morning.
"First off, Ariel loves to camp and fish. She loves the simple life that Bluebell has to offer her. I have never seen her this happy in her life. That man?" Zoe questioned, licking her lips stopping in the middle of the street to look at her mom. "He happens to my boyfriend and Ariel looks up to him like the father figure he is to her," Zoe snapped, turning and walking from the street. Candice hot on her heels.
"What about Justin? Huh?" Candice hissed.
"He signed his rights away. What's so great about Justin? He doesn't want to be tied down to a kid and I'm not going to force him either," Zoe seethed, trying to control her temper.
"That's because he's made for New York just like you are. I don't want to see you waste away down here. This Wade guy isn't good enough for you. He can't give Ariel what she needs." Zoe spun around, this was the final straw. She didn't care if her mom ran her down for her choice in being here, but when you bring in Justin, who wants nothing to do with her or Ariel and then go on spewing junk about Wade when you don't even know him, that is total bull and she wasn't going to stand for it.
"He can keep New York because I don't want the city. I want this small town and everything that it has to offer me. Wade is perfect for Ariel. He makes her feel loved and special something Justin failed to do time and time again. If you want Justin so much you can have him!" Zoe yelled, tossing her arms in the air and stalking off.
She was happy to see that her mom hadn't tried to follow her. She needed space from her mother before she said something she would regret later on. She needed to clear her head and deal with things later tonight in a reasonable way. If that could even be possible.