A/N: Look at all those lovely reviews! Thanks so much, folks. It's great to know that you're all enjoying this as much as I am ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 13

"Hey, thanks, Tucker, that really helps me out," said Wade gratefully as he scribbled down the last of his friend's restaurant recommendations. "I know I coulda just checked any old online review site or whatever, but I ain't lookin' for places that New Yorkers think are good. Needed the opinion of somebody I trust."

"And somebody who knows you can't read a menu unless it's all in English," his good buddy George chuckled in his ear. "So, I'm guessin' this is all in pursuit of the lady doctor I've been hearin' so much about?"

Wade wasn't sure why he was surprised to realise that word had got around town about him and Zoe. Sure, he only told Lavon that one time, but that was all it took in good old Bluebell. You tell one person anything, might as well have told them all. News like that went through town faster than grass through a goose.

"I don't know if pursuit's the word you're looking for," said Wade with a grin he couldn't help. "We're pretty much in the pursued and all-but caught part of things right now."

"And yet, you're still dating her?" said George sceptically. "Well, now, I'm starting to think maybe Lavon was right when he said you were serious about this one. I gotta admit, I did not see that comin', especially not with the career you chose."

"Yeah, well, I didn't see it comin' either," said Wade honestly. "You know me, Tucker, not exactly the one-woman-man type. That was always you, but... I don't know, Zoe's just different, man. She's special."

Wade knew he probably sounded like a sap saying all of that stuff, but it was true. Besides, if anybody was going to understand, it was George. He was what you might call a serial monogamist, very much serious about whichever one woman he was dating at a time. He and Lemon had been together fifteen years before they called it quits, and even then, it hadn't exactly been George's choice. Though Wade had tried to convince his friend to give casual dating a try, it had never worked out, and now came the real role reversal as Wade got serious with a woman for the first time in his life. Nope, nobody had seen that coming at all, least of all Wade himself.

"Well, surprised as I am to hear you found somebody that means that much to you, Wade, I am also all kinds of happy for ya," George assured him. "You know, all anybody down here wanted for you when you went off to New York was success in everything you did. That didn't just mean your music either. I think it's great that you found somebody you can be serious about."

"Thank you, Tucker," he said, genuinely a little moved by his friend's touching speech. "Uh, so, when I take Zoe to one of these here restaurants, I'll be sure to tell her it was another recommendation from you. Who knows, maybe you could come visitin' here sometime and she could fix you up with one of her girl-friends?"

He wasn't entirely serious in the suggestion, not least because the two friends of Zoe's that Wade had met so far were nothing like Zoe herself and certainly not George's type, from what he could tell. Still, he was just a little surprised by how weird Tucker sounded when he responded to the offer.

"Uh, yeah, well... see, the thing is, when it comes to the whole serious relationship thing, I have kind of been seeing someone myself," he explained, sounding just about as awkward as Wade ever heard him before. "And this is not easy to talk to you about."

"Come on, Golden Boy, spit it out already," Wade urged him. "Ain't like you're gonna tell me anythin' awful like you took another man's wife or some such."

"Funny you should say that..." said George, putting an end to Wade's laughter extremely quickly. "So, you remember not long before you headed up north, well, uh, Tansy had come on back to Bluebell..."

The cogs in Wade's brain made a quick shift and suddenly everything clicked into place. He was surprised by what he realised must be happening, but if George Tucker was waiting for him to be mad about it, well then, he was a fool.

"You and Tansy?" he checked. "Same Tansy I used to be married to once upon a time?"

"And you're mad about this."

"Are you kiddin' me? What do I have to be mad about, Tucker? Me and Tans gettin' hitched was the stupidest thing two drunks on a boat ever did. Besides, it was a million years ago."

"Try five, but I take your point," said George, with an eyeroll Wade could practically hear. "So, you're not mad?"

"Why do I need to be mad about anythin'?" asked Wade. "Seriously, George, as long as you treat her the way she deserves to be treated-"

"Which I absolutely do."

"Then we don't have a problem."

There was such a big sigh of relief from George's end of the call that Wade couldn't help but laugh. It was crazy to think of his oldest friend dating his ex-wife, but crazier still for old George to think that he would care at all. Much as he loved Tansy, it had been clear for a long time to Wade that he never was in love with her, and he sure as hell wasn't looking to get her back.

"Okay, so, I should get back to work," said George then. "These cases aren't gonna clear themselves."

"And I got plans to make with a certain New York doctor that happens to think I am all kinds of amazin'," said Wade with a grin.

"This Zoe really must be something special." George laughed. "Take care of yourself, Wade."

"You too, Tucker."

Hanging up from his call home, Wade quickly went to messages and typed out a text to Zoe. When she didn't reply after a while, he started to wonder if maybe she was working. Her schedule wasn't exactly set in stone, any more than his was. Sometimes he wished it was as simple as the two of them being nine to five people, but of course, that would be boring as all hell. Still, it would help him better arrange a date and that would be no bad thing right about now. Wade supposed he would just have to wait his time until Zoe was free again, however long that took.

"Why?" Zoe complained as she looked at her cell the moment she got back to the break room at the end of her shift. "Why do you always text when I'm working?"

It wasn't Wade's fault and she knew it. Her hours and shift patterns were so random, especially lately, with the hospital often being short-handed and needing her when they might not usually do so. Plus, of course, Wade didn't exactly have a regular kind of job with set hours either. Some days he was busy for almost twenty-four hours straight between the studio, playing a club, and working on new material in between. Other times, he had a whole day free and instead it was Zoe who was caught up with work.

The past few days they seemed to miss each other more often than they didn't, texts being left hours without a reply, and call backs never quite happening. She hadn't seen him in person for more than a week now, not since the day after her self-indulgent night out when she realised her dad was actively avoiding her.

"Not thinking about that," Zoe reminded herself, typing out a reply to Wade's latest text about wanting to take her out tomorrow night.

Zoe:
Sorry, but I have the late shift tomorrow :(

Zoe:
Maybe Friday?

She didn't hold out much hope of getting a quick answer and yet the reply came just a few seconds later.

Wade:
Wish I could, doc, but I got gigs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Zoe heaved a sigh then wrote a response to that one, hesitating before pressing send. If he was asking about tomorrow night, that probably meant tonight was already out of the question for some reason. Unless of course he just assumed she wouldn't be free, which was why she was about to suggest it herself. Probably not a good idea, she decided, deleting her message and typing a new one to send.

Zoe:
I don't know my shifts for next week yet, sorry.

Wade:
Not your fault. Just starting to feel like we're never going to get that second date is all.

Zoe:
I know what you mean :(

Zoe:
I'm guessing you're busy tonight?

Wade:
Afraid so, doc :(

Wade:
Let me know what happens with next week and we'll fix something up.

Zoe:
Okay :)

The smiley face emoji on the end of Zoe's final message mocked her. She didn't really feel like that at all, not even a little happy, knowing it would probably be another whole week before she saw Wade again. It was so crazy but she really missed him. He had been in her life such a short time but had become such a feature so fast. Zoe was not good at having things she really liked withheld from her.

"Maybe I'm spoiled," she considered aloud, "but is it so bad to just really like the guy you're dating?"

"If that's a general question for the room, I'd say probably not."

Zoe turned around so fast when she heard that, she almost threw her cell right across the break room. Her free hand was over her chest as she took a breath and realised she recognised the man leaning in the doorway, smirking at her state of shock.

"I met you before," she recalled, pointing her finger. "Dr... Brewster?"

"Breeland," he corrected her. "But you can just call me Jonah, Dr Hart."

"Then I guess you can call me Zoe," she told him politely as they shook hands. "I'm sorry, names are not my strong suit."

"But talking to yourself clearly is," he said with a grin. "Trouble with the boyfriend?" he guessed, tilting his head towards the phone in her hand, though clearly referring to what he heard her saying when he came in.

"Since I don't actually have a boyfriend, then no," she told him firmly. "Just a guy that I'm kind of dating."

"Kind of dating?" Jonah echoed as he moved by her to pour himself a coffee. "Sounds pretty casual."

"It is," Zoe agreed. "Well, kind of," she said then, realising immediately how very vague she was being, though she wasn't sure why she was sharing anything with this guy anyway - she barely knew him.

"Personally, I always keep dating casual," he told her, gesturing with the coffee pot to offer Zoe a cup, but she shook her head in the negative. "Way easier to deal with than serious relationships."

"Yeah, well, I'm not really that kind of girl," said Zoe definitely, recognising the gleam in his eye all too well. "So, if the next words out of your mouth are going to be any kind of offer to make me feel better about not being able to arrange a date with this guy," she said, waving her cell, "that's going to be a no, thank you."

Jonah Breeland sighed and shook his head. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

Zoe laughed at that, collecting the rest of her things from the locker and closing it with a clang. "Goodnight, Dr Breeland," she said deliberately formally.

"Goodnight, Dr Hart," he replied in kind, mock-bowing as she headed out the door.

Zoe was still smiling as she left the hospital, waving goodbye to Marcy and a couple of other colleagues as she went. She had assumed Jonah Breeland was only passing through when she met him last week, but then he ended up being added to the team and seemed to get along really well with most people and with the work that needed to be done.

She could respect him as a decent doctor, and she was not going to lie and say she didn't understand why some of the nurses got a little giddy when they were assigned to work alongside him, but there was no way she was falling for his Southern charm. Zoe was a one-guy-at-a-time kind of girl, and right now, that guy was Wade Kinsella. As she passed through the front doors of the hospital, Zoe glanced at her cell and sighed again.

"Of course, it'd be nice to actually see the one guy in my life once in a while," she admitted sadly to no-one that was there. "Oh, well. Maybe next week."

To Be Continued...