I am sorry about the bit of wait on both my HoD stories. I found it hard to get back into writing anything. I feel I should warn you that the events in this chapter did not go the way I wanted them to. Do you guys know how hard it is to keep Zoe and Wade apart? Even saying that I do want to say, that it won't be an easy road for Wade and Zoe throughout this story, as I have things down the line planned out and things need to stay on a certain course for those to work out.

For anyone that happens to read Hart of a Kinsella please know that I am currently working on the next chapter for that one and I am hoping that I can get that one up in the next few days, as I know what I want to happen within the chapter.

For now enjoy this one.

"You do know that you don't have to sit here right?" Harley asked, walking out of his office to see his daughter sitting in the corner, curled up in a chair, reading a book. The rest of the waiting room empty, even Emmeline out on her lunch break.

"I know," she replied, glancing at him before going back to the story in front of her to finish the paragraph she was in the middle of reading before placing her bookmark between the pages to save her spot. "Home is boring with Mom off working, and Lemon is busy with her family today. It's not like I have a whole lot of friends," she shrugged.

"Go explore," he urged, taking the book from her. "Living in a different world can wait till tonight," he stated.

"There is nothing I can say to get out of this is there?" Zoe questioned with a sigh, pushing herself from the chair.

"You got that right," Harley chuckled. "Remember to meet back here at one so we can head off," he reminded her as she went on her way.

"I'll be here," she replied, walking out into the hot and humid weather Alabama had to offer her.

She smiled and said hello to those that said it to her as walked around the little town. She didn't know where the hangouts were at since she had only been in town for a week. School started in another two weeks so that left her with nothing to do when Lemon couldn't play.

She hadn't been paying attention to where she was going and when she looked up from the dirt path she saw a little foot trail that lead to a dock. She looked around and followed the path, sure she would remember her way out and back to town. To her surprise she saw a gazebo sitting over the water, that wasn't what surprised her the most, it was the boy sitting on the edge of the dock, his feet dangling over the water as he would toss a rock into the water at random. Seeing he was getting low on rocks she found a handful and took them with her as she started down the dock.

"Haven't you been told to stay out of other people's business?" Wade retorted, tossing a rock into the water. The kerplunk, ringing out loud and clear as Zoe took a spot next to him on the dock, adding her handful of rocks to his pile.

"Yes," Zoe nodded, chewing her lip. "And trust me, I don't want to be here as much as you don't want me here, but you need to talk to someone, Wade," she sighed. "Who better than me?" She asked. How could she judge him like the rest when she didn't know anything about him to judge him on? And she would much rather be back at the practice reading her book taking the maiden voyage on the Dawn Treader in Narnia.

"Why? So you have something to hold over my head?" He snapped at her. She shook her head.

"Because the few days I have been in town, I have been told this isn't the real you and that you're acting out but no one knows why," she stated. "Thought I could help is all," she shared.

She waited a few moments to see if he would say anything. It would be rude to leave before he was ready to share, but at the same time she knew when someone needed to be left alone with their thoughts. Heaving a sigh, she got up, to make her way back to the practice to see if her dad was ready to head to Fairhope to have lunch with her mom.

"It's my dad," Wade sighed, shaking his head not sure why he was telling Zoe any of this, when he didn't even get along with her to begin with. But the appeal of talking to someone out weighed who he told.

"What about him?" Zoe asked, sitting back down next to him. She didn't dare look at him and opted to look out over the rippling water instead, not wanting him to close up and toss an insult at her again. She could tell having only been around him a few times that he was hurting.

"I saw him one day at work," Wade started to say. "He didn't know I was there," he informed her. "And I saw him cheating on my mom. I know what I saw," he stated, wanting her to know that she couldn't be questioning him on what he saw.

"Did you talk to your dad about what you saw?" She asked, having a personal idea on how it felt when your family fell apart around you. What her mom did resulted in her being born, but the effects of that one decision is only now taking effect.

"Of course I did," Wade stated, tossing a handful of rocks into the water. "But I was told to mind my own business as I don't know what I am talking about," he huffed out. "Just because I am a kid doesn't mean nothing; I know what I saw and it was Dad all over some woman that isn't my Ma," he hissed out, kicking at the water.

"Being a kid bites because adults think we don't know what's going on or what's being said. Why can't they hear us and explain things to us instead of them telling us we wouldn't understand?" She asked him, not expecting an answer from him.

"Exactly!" He yelled, turning to look at her for the first time since she joined him on the dock. "We can comprehend more than they think," he told her.

"Right?" She asked him, looking to him and seeing the hurt in his eyes. "Have you thought about seeing if it's more than a one-time thing?" She asked him. It might be the thing to bring them closer to being friends or at the very least where they can be civil towards each other.

"I've tried," he sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "I get caught."

"Then we keep trying," she retorted. Playing spy to find answers, it would pass her time in Bluebell that much faster and she knew how it felt to have your family crumble in front of your eyes. Watching everything you knew to be true to be nothing more than a lie wasn't a pretty feeling to have.

"Why do you wanna help me out for?" He asked skeptically. "I won't let you use the information against me," he warned.

"Against popular belief towards me, I'm not the type to use anything of the sort against you. I'm not cruel like that, Wade," she told him. "I know how you're feeling thinking your family is falling to pieces. And you want to do everything you can to stop it from happening," she sympathized with him.

"Tomorrow, the auto shop at two," he informed her. "If you don't show then I know that I can't trust you," he stated, getting up and heading off to leave Zoe alone on the dock, not giving her a chance to say anything.

Zoe sighed, waiting for him to be out of sight before getting to her feet and following the direction he went to go meet up with her dad so they could make the commute to have lunch with her mom.

"Considering that you are ten minutes late, I can safely assume that you found some sort of trouble to get into?" Harley asked, laughing as his daughter got into the car, buckling up in the backseat.

"Trouble?" She asked him faking an outrage. "What do I look like to you a troublemaker?" She questioned with a sweet smile.

"One day, sweetie, one day," he chuckled, starting the car to start on the journey to Fairhope. "What is it you did then?" He asked, focusing on the road, glancing in the rearview mirror at his daughter.

"Talking to Wade," she shrugged. "Made plans to hang out with him tomorrow afternoon, if that is alright with you," she told him. She did want to ask and see if her dad could give her any information about Earl, but she didn't know if he could tell her anything. And she really didn't want to give Wade a reason to hate her even more than he already does.

"That is fine," Harley nodded, happy to see that she was making more friends than Lemon and that things with Wade were going better as Zoe opened up to him about Wade and how she thought the boy hates her. "Just no getting into trouble," he warned her with a pointed look.

"I can promise that I won't be getting into this trouble you speak of," she retorted. "On the other hand, I make no promises when it comes to Wade. He seems to be a magnet for trouble," she sighed. Not that she had seen it first hand but the bruises he sported told her enough.

It was a few minutes before two when Zoe showed up to see Wade sitting outside the place on a bench. She sat next to him.

"I'm confused," Zoe told him, looking around. All the spy movies that she has seen or read about was done so in hiding and not out in plain sight.

"About what, Princess?" Wade muttered, holding the bag of chips out to her. He wouldn't normally share his food with anyone, except Zoe was helping him prove something is going on with his dad.

"How can we do recon from here?" She asked, reaching into the bag taking a single chip out.

"We got to make sure, that he doesn't expect anything from us, first," Wade shrugged. "We wait a few minutes then we make our move," he explained to her more fully, expecting her to understand it all from the start.

"I don't know how much that makes sense," she stated. "But what we do is all up to you, I'm here to help you is all," she retorted with a shrug.

"Since I am calling the shots, this is what we're doing," he stated, holding the bag out to her again. Zoe shook her head declining the chips. "Suit yourself," he shrugged. "So uh how ya liking this little Utopia?" He asked in way of conversation.

"Really?" She asked him with a laugh. Wade shot her a look questioning just what she thought was so stupidly funny. "I didn't take you for the type to make small talk is all," she clarified for him. "With the bruises and all, I figured you liked to let your fists do the talking," she teased.

"Ma taught me not to hit girls," he stated. "And it is a genuine question whether it be small talk or not," he pointed out.

"It's quiet here and sometimes it's too quiet. I miss the noise of New York," she sighed. "But I am adjusting. I think I am finally used to the fresh air," she told him.

"The quiet can be a bit much sometimes," he retorted. Not that he wanted to be listening to cars and people all night long. That is where his radio came in handy.

"Zoe, I didn't know you were coming by," Earl said equally shocked and not one bit surprised to see the one girl in town his youngest complained about sitting next to him. "Does your dad know your whereabouts?" He questioned, while using the dirty red rag in his back pocket to wipe the grease off his hands.

"Of course miss goody-two-shoes told Harley where she was going to be at," Wade retorted, with more attitude than necessary.

"I told my dad my whereabouts and when I need to be home. So you don't need to release the hounds," she teased. "And really this would have been his idea anyway. Says I need to get out and explore more and not stay inside and read," she shrugged.

"Please stay out of trouble," Earl begged, looking at his youngest, before walking off.

"You're not doing this just because your dad said you need to be outside exploring are you?" He asked, not liking that he was the scapegoat for her.

"No," she groaned, closing her eyes. "If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here," she stressed.