Hey all! I am sorry for not getting back to this one any sooner, like I had hoped too. This chapter started as two different chapters that worked better together. I do still have a lot of story to be told for this one, it's just taking a lot to get it typed up from my mind. But we're getting there, as I have figured out a guide for each chapter until the end.
This chapter does see another 5 year time jump.
It was a rare day that Wade got to spend with his brother. Honestly if it weren't for his brother coming to his rescue, he wouldn't have known what to do. For the past ten years they've had a child to take care of and without either kid around, he felt lost. Always on the lookout for one of them to jump out and scare him. The house being eerily quiet as well.
Zoe was with Calla shopping with the four kids. Finn, Will, Aurora and Nora, who is Jesse and Calla's youngest child, being 6 months younger than Aurora. The kids really didn't want to go shopping, they just didn't get a choice in the matter as they needed to go with them to pick out their school stuff. Aurora and Nora would be starting kindergarten. The last few years had gone by them. Will had grown accustomed to school and started to really enjoy being there. As much as he likes summer vacation, he looks forward to the start of school. Wade and Zoe can only hope that he keeps that mindset about school as he grows. Just like they hope Aurora loves school.
"I remember when we used to do this," Jesse commented, holding his glass of tea up. "We had ice cold beer not iced tea," he chuckled.
"Yeah," Wade laughed. "Back when we had no idea this is where our lives would lead us," he commented.
"I know I was hard on you when you had informed us that this is where you were moving too," Jesse said, playing with his glass of tea.
"I get it," Wade shrugged. "You've always looked out for me. And it was crazy to move to a place you can't find on a map," he chuckled. It took some convincing from George to even think about the idea of moving to Bluebell and more convincing to actually make the move.
"It's more than that," Jesse sighed. "Yeah, you were crazy for moving here, but back then I thought you were making the biggest mistake of your life. For various reasons. You didn't know what you would be walking into, you took the advice from George, a guy you were barely friends with. I love George, but back then, I didn't know him to believe that you'd find everything you were looking for," Jesse confessed.
"I didn't believe what he was saying," Wade informed his brother. "It was more about needing out of the city. I felt so suffocated there, and George talked this place up so much that I eventually jumped at the chance. And I don't regret it. The only thing I regret is not doing it sooner," he shrugged, taking a drink of his iced tea.
"It's funny," Jesse commented, shaking his head.
"What's funny?" Wade asked with a frown.
"That you would have ended up in Bluebell, even if you wouldn't have made that jump on your own to come here, or if you had reconsidered after telling me," Jesse shared.
"How so?" Wade asked. Thinking back on the years spent in Bluebell, he doesn't see where he would have ended up in Bluebell. "I wouldn't have met Zoe anywhere else. Calla even said she didn't have the information to invite Zoe and that would have been the only time our paths could possibly cross," he stated.
"No it's not," Jesse quickly told him. Wade frowned, no other events coming to mind. "George would have invited you to his wedding. You would have been down here for his bachelor party," Jesse smirked. "You would have met her then, nothing would have come from it that time around, but you'd be back for a few days for the wedding and that's when sparks would fly," Jesse stated, his smirk bigger than before.
"I don't think so," Wade sighed. "Sure I would have taken an interest in her, but I don't think it would have ended with me upending my life. Not to mention that Zoe wasn't like the rest. I, honestly, believe that we would have been two ships passing in the night," he explained to his brother.
"You really believe that?" Jesse questioned. "You believe that you would have let the great love of your life slip through your fingers?"
"It's not like I would have known she was my great love. But I do know that I wouldn't have moved here over a woman. It had to be my choice to make. Even if it had played out the way you think it would have, Zoe would have never let me move down here just for her. She'd make sure it would be something that I wanted to do for me. Because when it comes to Zoe, things would have worked out," he smiled.
"So you're saying that I am right?" Jesse asked with a smirk.
"No," Wade sighed, shaking his head. "I'm saying that things would have worked out differently. That I would have seen this place and I would have still decided that I wanted to own the Jammer, and things would have worked out differently with Zoe, because the story would have been different, but the only thing that would remain the same is the love we share and where we are today. Different path, same outcome," Wade further explained to his brother.
"I still say I am right," Jesse chuckled. "In all seriousness, I am proud of the person you became," Jesse told his little brother. They've been dealt a lot in their lives and Wade came through it, a few scars, but they didn't hold him back, and he refused to stay down when others would.
"Maybe to an extent," Wade caved. It didn't matter about how else things would have worked out. He likes how his life turned out. He's got his wife, his two great kids, that he gets to see turn into the person they're going to be, and he gets to have his dad in his life. That's all he wanted after he lost his mom, to have his dad in his life. He has yet to sit around and think about any what ifs. He doesn't need them. His life so far has turned out pretty perfect.
"You're awfully quiet tonight," Wade commented, entering the bedroom, having tucked his ever-growing daughter into bed. "Everything okay?" He asked, closing the door behind him.
After school shopping was done, Aurora had to show her dad everything she picked out. Putting on a small fashion show for him, Nora joining in on the fun. Finn left his stuff in the car as Will took all his stuff to his bedroom to put it away. Once the fashion show was over, Aurora had Wade help her put her supplies in her new pastel tie-dyed backpack.
With all the school stuff put away, they decided to head out to have dinner together. The Jammer had been the most obvious choice, but instead they headed to Fairhope to check out what food trucks were still open. That's when he started to realize that his wife wasn't as talkative as she normally is. Zoe hadn't been rude by no means, but being married to her for the past 10 years he can see when something is bothering her.
"Did you have any problems getting Will to bed?" She asked, placing her lotion back into the spot it goes, watching her husband through the big vanity mirror.
"A little, but it wasn't anything big," Wade shrugged, heading into their bathroom, leaving the door open. "Don't think I'm going to forget that you're changing the topic," he called over the running water of the sink. "Is everything okay?"
"I'll be fine," she called out to him, moving to the bed. Just like she had years ago with Will, she's having trouble accepting that her baby girl is getting so big to start school full-time.
"That doesn't assure me of anything, babe," he commented, drying his hands and face standing in the doorway of the bathroom. "Seriously, what's going on in this pretty head of yours?" He asked, tossing the towel in the dirty clothes, before making his way to the bed.
"It's just our little girl starts school tomorrow and Will starts 5th grade. They're growing up so fast," she sighed. "I'm not ready for them to be getting so big," she told her husband, curling into him once he got into bed.
"I won't find you eating any random food at 5 in the morning will I?" He asked teasing her, placing a kiss to her crown. "It doesn't matter how big they get, they will always need their mom," he promised.
"No, you won't," Zoe retorted rolling her eyes at her husband. "As sad as I am that she has gotten so big, I am excited that she's starting on her own little journey with school," she told her husband. She felt the same way for Will, but instead of focusing on the excitement, she focused on her boy growing up way too fast for her liking. "I want to stay focused on the excitement and not the fact she's getting so big and being such an independent young lady," she commented.
"That she is," Wade nodded, pulling his wife closer to him. "Though it is relieving to know that Will will be there to help her and watch out for her," he whispered, against her hair.
"That is a huge relief," Zoe commented, closing her eyes. To know that if her baby girl needed anything, her big brother would be there to help her out. Will wasn't that lucky to have an older sibling at the school with him. "It's best to focus and celebrate them growing and their accomplishments along the way than to dwell on them getting older. They can't be babies forever," she said.
"Give it a decade and a half, and I'm certain you'll have a little grand-baby to spoil if not more," he chuckled.
"They'd be 25 and 20," Zoe said. "But I can wait to be a grandmother," she shared. The next 10-15 years would go by fast as it is and the last thing she wants is to make the time she has with her kids go by any faster.
