Hey all. Here's the start of one of the Christmas story I mentioned. I don't know how long this one will be. I have one more chapter planned out and I don't know if it will go beyond that or not.
I do not own Hart of Dixie, the characters or the places mentioned.
Happy Holidays!
Enjoy!
Watching the countryside roll past her as she drove, brought a smile to her face. The stress rolled off of her with every mile added to the odometer. Coming back to her home away from home, well that did wonders for her. A place to recharge herself. To see the people that called the place home. To just be without the expectations everyone including herself has for her. It's something she started by accident years ago. She was going into her second year of med school. Overwhelming herself she needed a break and with winter break upon her, she packed her bags, picking the first place that came out of her mouth.
Mobile, Alabama.
The city being the first one she saw waiting in line to buy her plane ticket. It would give her the escape she needed. The warmer weather a huge bonus. She told no one where was going, her plan to help de-stress. This trip is strictly for her.
That had been the plan. The third day of her get away, she drove to see the sights. She happened to come across a little town. Bluebell. The place had been so different, so unusual she instantly fell for the place. She didn't know if it's a place she herself could call home. She enjoys visiting the small quirky town.
"Doc, I was wondering when you'd be getting in," the ever cocky, handsome bartender smirked. "Now it's too early for me to give you your usual glass of white wine," he said, motioning over his shoulder.
"Wade, you didn't," she softly said, eyes glistening some seeing that yes, in fact, he did. There sitting with the rest of the bottles of hard liquor sat the very wine she asked for the first night she wandered into the Rammer Jammer. As crude as the name can be, she did find herself in a fit of laughter that first night over the name.
"We serve only the best," he winked. She rolled her eyes. "Now as I was saying, I refuse to give you wine this early, but it's never too early for a little mimosa," he smirked, making the cocktail in front of her.
"You never cease to amaze me, Wade Kinsella," she remarked, watching him deftly making the cocktail.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you were here every day of the year," a deep voice said coming to sit next to her.
"Lavon Hayes," she smiled, sharing a hug with the mayor. When she happened upon Bluebell the first person she saw was Lavon Hayes. She freaked out not only to herself but to him as well. Luckily for her, he loves to hear about his career and being robbed of being nominated to play in the pro bowl. It started a wonderful friendship.
"That's Mayor Lavon Hayes, to you," he joked, hugging her. "The carriage house is ready for when you make your way there," he told her, getting up. "I have some business to deal with, I'll be seeing you for dinner, big Z," he stated, turning. "George, just the man I was looking for," he said, walking off to have a chat with George.
"Are you telling me that I am the first person you came to see?" He asked with a smirk. "I feel so honored, Doc," he winked.
"You shouldn't," she retorted. "Your ego needs to be deflated just a little," she told him, sipping her mimosa. "You have the food and the drinks," she bluntly told him. "I'm actually here to meet my dad," she smiled sweetly at him.
"Say what you want, you came to see your favorite guy," he winked, walking off. "And Doc, those grits will be right out," he teased her.
"Throw them in the trash on your way by," she retorted, shaking her head.
Wade might have been right in her stopping by to see him first. At first, she kept her distance from him. Not because she didn't like him, it was because she did. She made the mistake of spending a night with him under the stars, drinking. They both were drinking their problems away that night. Soon enough they started to spill about the things weighing heavy on their minds. And that, turned into them making out. Something that shouldn't have happened. It didn't go further than that, as it stopped as soon as it started.
"Welcome home," her dad stated, catching her attention. She smiled, giving him a hug. She didn't know that Doctor Harley Wilkes was her father. When she showed up she believed Doctor Ethan Hart was her father, as that's what she knew. It took a few years before the truth came out. She was upset she was lied to. It took her time to work through that anger and accept what she was given.
"It's good to be back," she nodded. The first year being in Bluebell she couldn't see this place as home, but now that she's been hanging around a few years, she can picture herself living here.
"How was the drive? The flight? Hanukkah with your mother?" He asked, taking the coffee Wade gave to him. He wants to know everything that's happened this year.
"Princess, I didn't let the grits get within ten feet of your breakfast," he smirked, placing the plate down for her.
"I didn't order anything," she frowned looking at him. A veggie omelet with a side of hash browns filled her plate.
"It's on the house," he winked. "Can I get you anything else Harley?" He asked.
"Those grits my daughter is deathly disgusted by sounds wonderful," he chuckled, catching the look Zoe made at the mention of grits.
"Coming right out," he laughed, walking off.
"I don't get how you can eat those," she commented, using her fork to cut a piece of her omelet off to eat.
"I don't get how you can't see that Wade is in love with you," Harley commented. Zoe frowned, swallowing her bite of omelet as she wouldn't choke on it.
"What do you mean in love with me?" She asked, her eyes finding Wade on the other side of the Jammer, laughing at something Tom had said. "He's not in love with me," she stated, catching the wink he sent her way. She rolled her eyes, turning back to her dad.
"Do you know that he doesn't keep tabs on what anyone in this town eats for breakfast? He doesn't keep anyone else's favorite drink in stock. He gives them second or third best when he's out and the shipment hasn't come in yet," he rattled off.
"And your point being?" She asked with a frown. "We're friends," she said lamely, poking at her food.
"Can you tell me what your friends like to eat? What their favorite drink is?" He asked, a smirk firmly on his lips. She shook her head, because no she couldn't tell him because she doesn't know. "Ask him what he's been doing the last month and a half," Harley commented.
"Ew," she commented, scrunching her nose up. "I don't want or need to know what he's been doing or who he's been doing it with," she commented. "Hanukkah was alright," she nodded, needing the topic to be changed. "The drive here from Mobile is exactly what I needed," she said, not seeing Wade approach.
"Come over tonight, and I'll give you exactly what you need," he winked, setting Harley's grits on the table. Zoe gave him a glare. She didn't appreciate him making such comments in front of her dad. "What?" He asked laughing. Zoe shook her head.
"Young love," Harley commented with a smirk digging into his grits. Seeing what the two before him refused to see.
"There is no young love," Zoe quipped out. "I don't love him," she whispered angrily into her mimosa. How anyone could confuse annoyance for love, she didn't know.
"Don't deny, what's in your heart, Sweetie," he said with a wistful look on his face.
She knows all about the love he holds for her mom. It really was a shipwreck right from the beginning of the fling they shared. Her dad is quite a few years older than her mom, and the only thing wrong with that, is that her mom had used him as a mere distraction. Ethan would be the only love Candice held dear to her heart. Harley hasn't been able to move past the love he holds for Candice, and she really wishes that he would.
When she first stumbled into Bluebell, she wasn't looking for family. Didn't know a single person in the small town. Yet, years later, here she sits with her father. The one she never knew existed. It was funny how that played itself out. It wasn't until after she left the town a few years later when she had the courage to tell her mom where she's been going for the holidays. That's when she was told about who Harley Wilkes was to her. It took a lot of wine on her mom's part to tell her why she could never step foot in Bluebell again.
That didn't stop her. It only made her want to return. Not only to get to know her father, but because the town felt warm and comforting to her and not cold and dreary like the city had been. She loves New York, but there's something about Bluebell she can't put her thumb on.
