A/N: Nice to see so many people still enjoying this story - thanks for those reviews, folks! Y'all seem a little worried about Joel, but you shouldn't be. Of course, there may be other obstacles to overcome... ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 15

It was past noon before Zoe got around to texting Wade back, telling him it was fine if he couldn't make their lunch date and that she was looking forward to him making it up to her that evening. She went back to her appointments and didn't check her phone again until she was calling it a day, only to find that Wade had never actually replied after that.

Zoe frowned. It wasn't as if she expected him to be waiting on her every message and reply within seven seconds, but it had been hours, and he usually found time for her in that way. Given the topic of conversation, she was absolutely expecting something in the flirty-or-dirty range of things. Silence was almost a little concerning.

She decided not to worry too much, just headed up to the plantation straight from work, as arranged. She knew Lavon would have wound himself up into a frenzy over the election. The plan was that between her and Lemon and Wade, they could hopefully calm him down enough that he would appear rational and calm when they got back to town square for the results later in the evening.

Though it would have made sense to come at the main house from the front, Zoe couldn't resist walking the old familiar path around back of the property. She had a strange urge to see her little carriagehouse, and she figured Wade would probably be at the gatehouse, so maybe they could walk up to the main house together. She smiled when she saw his car there, then quickly frowned instead when she realised he wasn't the only one.

The trunk of Wade's car was open and he was lifting boxes from there, shirtless, Zoe noted, and carrying them over to the carriagehouse - her carriagehouse - where a familiar blonde waited on the porch, arms folded across her chest.

"Tansy?" Zoe gasped, not realising quite how loud she had said it or how close she was to the scene, until she got a reaction from the other woman.

"Oh, hey, Dr Hart," she said, not looking especially thrilled to see Zoe at all.

Beside Tansy, Wade turned around to look at Zoe then and gave her the usual winning smile.

"Well, hey there, doc. Just hold on a second. Let me put these boxes inside, I'll be right with ya."

Zoe opened her mouth to protest, to ask questions, to say something, but no words would quite come out. Not that there was much point in saying anything to Wade when he had already disappeared into the house. Stomping closer to the place she used to call home, her eyes drifted back to Tansy, who seemed to know almost instinctively that an explanation was what Zoe was looking for.

"I'm only stayin' a little while," she said, leaning on the porch rail and looking down on Zoe. "Until my trailer gets fixed. It was Wade's idea and Lavon was so sweet to say it was okay."

"It was Wade's idea?" Zoe checked, wishing it didn't bother her as much as it did that her boyfriend decided to move his ex in right across the pond from himself.

"Well, sure." Tansy nodded. "I mean, it was his fault that my trailer got busted, so..."

"Hey, it was not all my fault," Wade insisted, returning to the scene, wiping the back of his wrist across his forehead. "If you woulda just cooperated and moved your damn trailer over the border when I asked you to. I mean, come on, you didn't think it was worth it, to be able to vote for Lavon?"

"I never said I didn't want to vote for Lavon, but you had no right shiftin' my property around, Wade Kinsella!" Tansy yelled at him. "Not to mention what you did to poor George Tucker's hair."

"Oh, what I did? That was all you, sweetheart."

"Wade Kinsella, you are just the most infuriating-"

"Like you're any better than I am!"

Zoe felt like she was watching a ping pong match, her eyes shooting back-and-forth between the former married couple. It was not a pleasant feeling, to realise she was the spare part in this situation. After all, Wade was her boyfriend now, and yet, Tansy was the one living close by, in the carriagehouse, that used to be hers.

"Um, I'm sorry," she said after a minute. "This all sounds complicated and I don't wanna get in the middle-"

"Hey, I'm sorry, baby," said Wade then, coming down from the porch to wrap an arm around her, pull her close, and kiss her hello. "It's been a heck of a day. You wanna come over to my place a while and I'll tell you all about it while I get ready for this whole election thing?"

"Sure." Zoe nodded and forced a smile, though her eyes kept on flitting to Tansy, stood on the porch still, especially when Wade suddenly spoke to his ex.

"Tans, you need anythin' at all, just yell, I'll hear ya," he said with a grin, hiking his thumb over his shoulder to the gatehouse.

"You know I will," she replied all too easily.

Zoe just wanted to tell the blonde beauty that was once Wade's wife to go to hell, but she knew she couldn't. After all, jealousy was never a good look, and besides, she had no reason to suspect anything was going on between Tansy and Wade, not now. From what she could make out from their fight, Tansy was more mad at her ex than anything, although Zoe knew from experience that a good argument worked pretty well as foreplay for some people.

Walking over to the gatehouse with Wade's arm around her shoulders, she realised too late that he was looking to her for an answer to some question he must have asked that she completely missed.

"I'm sorry, what?" she checked.

"I said you are okay with Tansy staying in your old place, right?" Wade asked again, eyeing her suspiciously. "'Cause I think I read you pretty well these days, doc, and that expression on your face? It ain't all that happy right now."

Zoe scoffed in a way that they both knew was way too over-the-top as she pointed at her own face.

"This expression right here? Not unhappy. Surprised, sure, not least because I had no idea Tansy was even back in Bluebell, but not unhappy."

"Well, see, Tansy wasn't altogether in Bluebell," Wade explained, rubbing the back of his neck as they stopped outside the gatehouse and faced each other head on. "Her trailer was right on the border, and so, to get her into town so she could vote for Lavon, I was tryin' to move her over some. That's how her trailer got busted."

"And how she came to be living in my carriagehouse." Zoe nodded in understanding.

"Well, sweetheart, it's not exactly your carriagehouse anymore, not since you moved out."

Zoe wanted to argue over that point, even though she knew it made no sense. She also wanted to complain about Wade living across the pond from his ex, but that couldn't end well either. She really did have to be a bigger person here, even if she didn't like it much.

"So, you comin' inside?" Wade asked her, beginning to climb the steps.

She thought for a moment, then Zoe shook her head.

"I think I'm gonna go up to the main house, check in with Lavon and Lemon. I'll meet you there when you're ready and then we'll head into town for the results."

She didn't really give Wade a chance to disagree, just started walking off in the direction of Lavon's house. On the way, she took some nice deep, cleansing breaths and tried her best to be rational about this whole situation. It didn't come easy, and somehow, she just knew she wasn't going to get any good advice out of Lavon. After all, he would undoubtedly be all kinds of agitated about the election results today.

"Hey, Big Z." He smiled as she came through the back door, though that smile did look a little wobbly. "How're things?"

"Things have been better," she admitted, frowning as she looked around. "Where's Lemon?"

"In my office," Lavon explained, "calling all the people we think maybe might forget to vote and making sure they do. You know, she's been such a trooper in all this. I don't know what I ever would've done without her"

Zoe came over to the counter and pulled herself up onto the stool beside Lavon's own.

"You mean so much to her, Lavon," she said definitely. "I mean, Lemon, she really loves you. Seems to have come as a surprise to her, after all that denial when she still planned on marrying George, but I know it's for real. You do love her too, right?"

She wasn't even sure why she was asking. When she saw the look on Lavon's face, Zoe immediately wished she hadn't, actually.

"Zoe, how can you even ask that?" he said, looking all kinds of affronted. "You know that Lemon Breeland is the love of my life," he declared, a hand on his heart as he made his oath.

There was absolutely no way for Zoe to argue with him and she honestly didn't want to.

"I know, you told me," she insisted, "but I also know that you used to be pretty stuck on Ruby," she said pointedly, still prodding just a little because she couldn't seem to help it.

"Hell, that was so long ago, it barely even counts." Lavon shook his head. "It was high school."

"George and Lemon were high school sweethearts." Zow shrugged. "And they lasted fifteen years."

"Difference is me and Ruby didn't," her friend reminded her firmly, leaning across the counter towards her. "I probably thought I loved her at the time, but it was nothing like what I have with Lemon."

Zoe couldn't help but smile, not just at the words he said but more over at the way he said them. Lavon was such a good guy, she had always known that, but if she ever had even the slightest concern that he wasn't also a man totally in love with Lemon Breeland, it was gone now.

"Could you maybe tell her that?" she asked in a low voice, mindful of the fact Lemon herself could reappear at any moment from the office. "She sees Ruby flirting with you, at the debate and everything, it makes her a little antsy, I think," she advised.

Lavon's eyes widened just a little and then he winced.

"I didn't mean to flirt back," he admitted, clearly realising that he probably had, if only just a little bit. "I guess it's true what they say, old habits die hard, but I'll do better. I would not hurt Lemon for the world."

"I know." Zoe nodded her agreement, reaching for the coffee pot to see if there was any left.

Pouring herself a cup, she was hardly aware of Lavon watching her, until he spoke again.

"You know, for what it's worth, I believe Wade would never hurt you either, not on purpose," he said, catching her attention just as she took her coffee cup into her two hands for a sip. "Him and Tansy, you know they're just friends now, right?"

"I know," said Zoe, like a reflex, drinking down her coffee.

"And she just staying here a few days 'til her trailer gets fixed up," Lavon continued. "It was as much me as it was Wade, making sure she had someplace to be."

"I get it, I do."

"Just so long as you do." Lavon nodded.

That made Zoe smile more than anything else had in this whole conversation. The fact her best friend knew her almost better than she knew herself. That he saw what she was feeling, knowing that not all of what she said was truly about Lemon's insecurities when it came to Lavon and Ruby. Zoe wasn't even sure she fully realised how much she was projecting until it was pointed out to her, but she was worried about Wade and Tansy, no matter how much she wished she wasn't. Zoe supposed she was just going to have to have faith and believe that there was nothing to worry about. She was going to have to try anyway. Unfortunately, it didn't seem as if it was going to come easy at all.

To Be Continued...