Dixie awoke after the best night's sleep she'd had in weeks with one thing on her mind: Tad. She had more energy than she'd had in a long time, and was feeling particularly ambitious. Now she had to start things moving... *Where to begin,* she thought as she got ready. When she arrived at Sarah's door with Jenny she had decided that dinner would be a nice place to start. She shared her plan over breakfast with Sarah, who was enthusiastic about the idea.
"I've got to do it now," Dixie declared, pushing her empty plate aside. "I'm going to go back to the room and call him."
"You go girl," Sarah said with attitude, making Dixie laugh. She stood up, and began to feel a little giddy. They journeyed back to the room together. Dixie picked up her cell phone, held it with jittery hands and began dialing the number. She got halfway through when Jenny began to wail.
"Aw, what's wrong sweetheart?" Dixie said, abandoning the phone.
"Could I try holding her?" Sarah asked.
"Sure."
In Sarah's arms, Jenny began to relax. "If you'd like," Sarah offered, "I'd be happy to take her over to my room for a few minutes. That way if she starts fussing again you won't have to explain to Tad what the crying sound in the background is."
Dixie thought for a moment, and decided that maybe that would be best. She hated to leave Jenny, but was confident that she would be safe with Sarah. "I'd really appreciate that."
"Alrighty, then," Sarah tittered at Jenny. "Let's go party at my place for a few minutes, huh?" She turned to Dixie before leaving. "Good luck. You can do this."
Dixie exhaled heavily. Reaching her hand towards the phone once more, it froze. *I can do this,* she repeated to herself, willing her hand to move. At last it did. Snatching up the phone and dialing the numbers quickly, she listened nervously as it rang once. She realized she was practically sweating. It rang twice. She tried to control her breathing, but to no avail. It rang for the third time. The butterflies in her stomach were producing more little butterflies, all of which were flapping their wings furiously. It rang a fourth time. Dixie bit her lip, and it rang for the fifth time.
"Hello. You've reached Tad Martin. I'm not answering my phone right now for one reason or another. So please leave a message after the beep, and I'll call you back as soon as I can. Thank you." There was a beep and then silence.
"Hi, Tad," Dixie rushed suddenly. "It's me. Dixie, It's Dixie. I was just, well, I'm back in Pine Valley. I was hoping maybe we could get together. Dinner tonight, if you want. Or something else. We could do something different if you want. Or if you don't want to do anything, that's fine too." *I sound like a rambling idiot,* Dixie thought. "Umm... yeah, so, you can think about that. If you want. And-- I'll call you back later. Bye."
She turned off phone, resisting the urge to beat it against the side of her head. *That was really calm and collected,* she thought. She pulled her hair back and then let it go. *Well-- I suppose I can call JR. Maybe I'll tell him that with any luck at all, he'll be babysitting his little sister tonight."
Tad pulled into the driveway of the Chandler mansion. He parked the car, and tried to remember exactly what he was doing there. *Business meeting,* he remembered. *First clients are Williams and Zeph. Dammit, the last thing on my mind right now are clients.* He'd been thinking about Dixie again. This was not uncommon, but lately it seemed that thought of her consumed most of his time. *She's my ex-wife. Ex, Ex, Ex...* But it did no good. He still wished she was here, just so he could see her, even if it was only from afar. *Paris is a little too 'afar',* he mumbled in his mind as he approached the front door. He knocked half-heartedly on it, Winifred answering almost immediately.
"Hello, Mr. Martin," she greeted him professionally.
"Hi, Winifred, how're you doing?"
"Just fine, thank you, Mr. Martin. Mrs. Chandler is in the study, she asked that I tell you to come on in."
"Great, thank you."
Winifred went bustling off towards the kitchen. Tad started to step towards the study, but changed his mind, and stepped towards the living room, hearing JR's voice. He was talking on the telephone.
"You should have left your number, you know he would have called you back right away." Tad started to walk behind him, but thought he'd wait until JR was off the phone. "Oh. Okay, I understand. Well, call me back as soon as you know anything else, okay? I love you, too, Mom. Bye." Sirens went off in Tad's head as JR hung up the phone and turned around.
"Tad!" JR exclaimed.
"Hey, man," Tad covered, patting his back. "What's going on?"
"Oh," JR shrugged, "Not--" his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. "Not much, I guess. What are you doing here?"
"Business meeting with Liza."
"Oh," said JR, with a hint of relief in his voice. "That's cool. Well, I'm going to go upstairs. Have fun."
"Oh, yeah," Tad said dryly. "I can hardly wait."
JR dashed upstairs, but Tad didn't move yet. He checked over his shoulder, and walked towards the phone, clicking the buttons on the caller ID to see if he had heard JR correctly.
"Last call was from the Heatherwood," Tad muttered. "Who would JR know who might be staying at the Heatherwood except...?" Tad's heart began to race, as did his mind. *Is she back in Pine Valley? Why wouldn't JR tell me?* He began to walk towards the front door again stopped when he reached it. *What are you doing, Tad?* he asked himself. *This is ridiculous. Go to the meeting. No use going on a wild-Dixie chase. Focus, remember?* He forced himself into the study, though his feet dragged the whole way there.
"Hi," Liza acknowledged him, barely looking up from her work. If she had, she might have asked Tad why he looked so distressed.
"Hello." He picked up some papers on Liza's desk to refresh himself on the backgrounds of Williams and Zeph. Noticing that they were both from Alabama he smiled. *What do you know," he chortled inwardly. *The heart of--* Tad put down the papers. He ran his hand through his hair and stood up. "You know what Liza? I don't think I'm going to be able to be here today."
"What do you mean?" Liza sounded worried. "We have meetings lined up until 6:00 tonight."
"There's no way I'm going to be able to stay here today and still leave a good impression on these people about our company. My mind is like a runaway train right now, and until I can bring it back to the station, I'm not going to do you any good here."
Had it been anyone other than Tad, Liza would have thrown a fit. But she could tell something wasn't right. As much as she felt she needed him here as her co-worker, she knew that as his friend she should let him go. She bit her lip in disappointment and nodded. "I understand."
"Seriously?" Tad asked. He had been expecting at least a little fur to fly.
"Seriously," she said nonchalantly. "It's nothing I can't take care of."
"Thanks Liza. I'll try to make it back for some of the meetings this afternoon. And I'll make this up to you, thanks again," his voice faded as he ran out the door. He got to his car, and briskly opened the door. Turning the key into the ignition, the car rumbled to life. Tad fastened his seatbelt as he sped out of the driveway. "Okay," Tad thought aloud. "Let's take a little trip to the Heatherwood."