I'm so sorry for the long delay in posts. Things have been crazy with little time to write. Hope you'll check out the latest chapter.
This tries to tie together some of the crazy from the opening night. More gets dealt with in the next chapter. Please read and review. Always like to hear your thoughts!
Thanks to all of you who have commented, added this story to your favorites or alerts. I really appreciate the support!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hart of Dixie or its original characters. Only the storyline and original character(s) are mine.
Chapter 15: What If You
The Rammer Jammer was busy with a steady crowd throughout the day. Zoe had spent the afternoon sitting at the bar hanging out with Wade, chatting with Shelly when he got busy. She really wanted to be near him after the awkward exchange that morning. Though he had said they would deal with things as they came, she still felt a little self-doubting. Her last relationship was not particularly great, with a lot of things left unsaid most of the time. Things with Wade were different even before they got involved. He saw right through her. It still threw her for a loop. The timing stunk in a lot of ways, but she could not shut it off – a pretty new experience for the emotionally stunted Zoe Hart.
She took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder at Wade. She watched him make the rounds by the tables, chatting with the regulars. She was happy, happy for him. In a remarkably short period of time Wade had gone from ne'er do well bartender/heartbreaker to easy going proprietor. It suited him well and he clearly was enjoying it. He winked at her before heading back to the kitchen. She winked back and leaned back onto the bar chair. He had a way of calming her down and getting the hamster wheel of her mind to stop.
Wade brought Zoe a made-to-order dinner. Dating the owner had its privileges. She smiled as he placed it in front of her; picking up an asparagus spear and chomping it down. He was the perfect antidote to her anxiety; the man brought her grilled chicken and steamed asparagus. She was not even sure how something non-fried made it out of the kitchen. He leaned in after she finished chewing and gave her a slow kiss.
"'Glad you stayed and hung out." He told her as he leaned on the bar looking right at her.
"How late are you working?" she asked coyly.
Strangely the question broke the mood as he looked back at the clock and rubbed his hand through his hair.
"Not sure. 'Waiting to see how long it takes Annie to get back." He said with a little concern in his tone.
"She's been gone a while." Zoe commented. "You're worried." It wasn't a question.
Wade sighed, "Yeah, well, it's Annie."
Zoe reached across the bar and squeezed his hand. "They're both grown-ups. I'm sure everything's fine."
Wade nodded and mumbled something under his breath before throwing the towel in his hand over his shoulder and walking back to the kitchen. Zoe went back to her dinner and waited for him to return. When he came back through the swinging door, she noticed he looked to see if Annie had returned in the five minutes he had been gone.
"She's still not back," Zoe said.
Another hand through his hair, Wade leaned against the bar back. "I'm sure everything is fine." He murmured her words to him.
She leaned forward and grabbed his hand to pull him closer. She looked up in his eyes. "They're both grown-ups. There isn't too much you can do except stay out of it."
He nodded but was biting his lip. Zoe lips pulled up into a sly smile. She pulled him closer and kissed him before raising herself of her stool.
"Try not to be too late." She told him in her best seductive voice. "I have plans for you."
Any thoughts he had about George and his sister escaped his head. He reached for her hand as she backed away from the bar.
"Where you goin'?" he asked. His mind wandered to what her plans might be. He thought maybe it should not wait until later. "Perhaps you could step into my office?"
Zoe smiled and squeezed his hand before letting go. "I don't think so, buster. Besides, I want to check on Lavon." She winked at him before she got to the door, "Just don't be too late."
Wade leaned back and sighed. His sister better get back soon. He had every intention of getting out of there at a respectable hour so he could find out more about Zoe's plans.
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George had passed out pretty soon after she had gotten him in the door and on the couch. Annie slumped into the easy chair. She closed her eyes and thought back to a night in New York over a year ago, the last time she and George had been alone.
He was working in the city and she was in town for a few dates at the Rodeo Bar. She called him on a lark, getting his number from Wade. After he came to the band's last show, the two of them ended up in a dive bar at 7th and B. He was homesick for Bluebell and his break with Lemon was fresh. He was not sure whether they were together or not. Annie was longing for something familiar after months on the road and he was a touchstone. They effortlessly fell into the easy familiarity they'd always shared – several shots of Southern Comfort had helped. They caught each other up on recent events and joked about old stories. George laughed easily and teased her. Beneath the golden boy, there was a fun, smart ass that not many people saw. Annie (and Wade) seemed to be the only ones that could draw it out of him without much prompting. After she'd been hit on by a couple of guys at the bar, George joked she was not always quite the temptress she seemed to be now. She'd shot back that he would know since he was her first kiss. She remembered him gently pushing her with his shoulder till she almost fell off the bar stool and her leaning against his shoulder as she laughed.
Full of So-Co and laughter, they had wandered down the street arm in arm, passing through Tompkins Square Park. Without any premeditation but in what seemed at the time a logical conclusion, she ended up at his apartment. She woke up the next morning snuggled against him – they were both fully clothed, but being next him like that completely freaked her out. Annie worked hard to keep people at a distance, but George always had a way of getting in. She slowly and easily crawled out of bed and made her way to the kitchen for some water. She poured a glass for him and found some aspirin in his medicine cabinet. She took a couple and placed the bottle next to the glass of water on his night stand. She quickly cleaned herself up and slipped out his apartment before he woke.
She told herself she needed to get on the road for a gig that night in Charlottesville and he knew that. She reasoned there was nothing to be said, nothing really had happened. Besides, she figured he would be heading back to Bluebell – and Lemon - within a few months anyway. He may like New York, but he loved Bluebell.
The truth was talking to George about why they did not work was too hard. Annie really did not do relationships – for all the reasons any therapist would list: deadbeat dad, losing her mom at a young age, etc. But George was the ying to her yang before all that went down. They were total opposites, but somehow linked to each other. Now, watching him sleep and thinking of the events of the passed twenty-four hours she felt guilty. Avoiding a real conversation with George had been cowardly. That's certainly what her granddaddy had intimated earlier. Annie sucked in a deep breath and resolved to quit being a chicken. It made things worse and George deserved better than that. She would say all the things she should have a long time ago. She nodded her head with determination and let out that deep breath. Then she closed her eyes and thought about what she was going to say. Somewhere along the way she dozed off, the lack of sleep the night before catching up with her. She woke to George leaning over her and squeezing her shoulder. Blinking her eyes awake she saw he was a little worse for the wear but much more sober.
"You stayed?" he said surprised.
She smirked, "Of course, did you think I was just gonna sneak out while you were asleep?"
George smiled, "Wouldn't be the first time."
She scrunched her nose. "Yeah, I'm sorry 'bout that."
"It's alright – I kinda expected you to freak out."
She looked at him curiously, "Really?"
George chuckled. "I do know you."
She looked down and nodded. "Yes, you do."
Squeezing her shoulder one more time, George sat back on the couch and rubbed his temples. "Did I make as big of a scene at the Rammer Jammer as I think I did?"
"Let's just say you weren't at your best, but I don't think your reputation is beyond repair."
He nodded, but remembered his rambling to Wade and lunging at Lavon. The nodding then turned to head shaking. Annie found she had a mixture of guilt and responsibility bubbling up in her. Don't be chicken, don't be chicken, she repeated as mantra in her head.
"I'm sorry about what happened with Lemon and for any part I had in it." Annie said quietly.
George sucked in a deep breath; then stood. "Thanks, but it's not necessary. It isn't your fault, Annie. Lemon and I get to enjoy all the blame on this."
He walked into his kitchen to get some water and aspirin for his hangover. She followed behind asking, "Did she really leave?"
After swallowing the aspirin with a glass of water, he sighed, "Yup."
"You're going after her, right?"
George filled his glass again and then walked out to the back porch. Annie trailed behind again and sat next to him on the glider. She anxiously waited for him to speak. After a brief, awkward silence he spoke.
"She asked me not to and, honestly, I don't want to right now. Things with Lemon have been really hard for a while now. I'm kinda exhausted."
Annie leaned back on the glider. This was not what she expected to hear. She had always believed that while Lemon was a little crazy, she was exactly the kind of woman George should be with – Lemon would be thrilled to have kids and a home, Memory Matron, the whole nine yards. It was hard to imagine them not together. She tried to wrap her head around it. They sat quietly for a few minutes before George spoke again.
"I'm not sure Lemon knows what she wants and I can't figure that out for her. We're gonna spend some time apart … see what happens."
"But you love Lemon, I know you do. You two belong together, always have." Annie said, a sense of desperation creeping into her tone. The whole situation was rocking her world view.
George chuckled at her tone. Leaning back on the glider next to her, he started to rock it back and forth. "Lovin' someone doesn't mean you're gonna be together. I think we both know that."
She really did not expect that. She nodded a little, staring straight ahead. Maybe it was chicken, but she was not quite ready to go there yet. Instead she pushed forward with another question, "So what are you gonna do then?"
"Dunno exactly."
Huh? George did not know what he was going to do. That was it. She was at a total loss.
Leaving the Rammer Jammer she was confident that she would be able to set things straight between them. Then George would go after Lemon. That plan was out the window. While she worked to gather her thoughts, they sat quietly, the glider rocking in a leisurely way. Annie broke the silence this time.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that," her tone was deadpan.
George chuckled. "Well, how about that? Usually you're the one surprising me."
She smiled wryly at that before quietly asking, "So what are you thinkin' then?"
"Just how strange it all is. I went to New York trying to show you that I wasn't just some small town good guy, but then I missed Bluebell - just proving you right. Then I came back here, got engaged to Lemon, and put down roots like you always said I would. And now it turns out you were wrong. I gotta hand it to you Annie – only you can be completely right and totally wrong about the same thing."
He elbowed her gently. She stared down at her hands. He was doing a much better job of having this conversation than she was. She was just a plain disaster and had no idea how that had happened. She closed her eyes and slowly shook her head until George spoke again.
"…But you still know me better than anyone else," he finished.
"Well, that's kinda sad since you're sayin' I'm completely wrong." She elbowed him back. He might have thrown her off, but she still had her sass.
"Not completely." He qualified. "I do love Bluebell and I do belong here. Maybe I'm just not supposed to marry Lemon. Like I said, I dunno."
Annie eyed him suspiciously then, "You sound mighty calm for a guy who was drunk as a skunk and tryin' to start fights this afternoon."
"I'm not sayin' I was happy to hear about Lemon and Lavon or that I was expectin' my fiancé to leave town when I woke up this morning, but sittin' here now and lookin' at it all…" he just trailed off without finishing.
"Wade said you were in bad shape when you came in." She was not letting it go. George was going to have to do a better job of explaining how he went from drunk in the Rammer Jammer to this calm, collected guy.
George looked down at her smiling, "Yeah, I was."
Her brow furrowed. She tried to figure out his expression, which seemed totally out of place. George's smile widened as he watched her. Though not intentional, it was pretty amusing. Then he took in a deep breath. Since she was not letting him off the hook, he tried again to explain.
"No doubt it was a surprise. I was all ready to go through the same ole pattern with Lemon where we smooth over another bad patch. When it didn't go down that way it was a little bit of a jolt, but that doesn't mean it isn't the right thing. I guess that's startin' to sink in now."
Annie looked at him thoughtfully and then nodded. What he said probably would not satisfy many people as an explanation, but she understood and let it go.
George looked out at the night. Maybe nobody else would see it, including her, but Annie had come back at the right moment. Lemon and he had been on a collision course for a while and they had finally admitted it. Annie was the catalyst for that. George grabbed her hand absentmindedly. It was good to be here with her, just the two of them. Annie, for all her craziness, always made him feel at ease.
He had not seen or talked to her since that night in New York. It was not that surprising. When it came to talking about feelings, Annie ran for the hills. They never talked about this thing they had. Even in high school she just slowly drifted away and after he began dating Lemon, they rarely hung out alone. But they never really let go of each other. After she left Bluebell she would call him and they would have long conversations about everything and nothing.
He knew she would not be staying. She was too big for Bluebell, the town suffocated her. It always had, even when she was just a girl. He had never said that to her, but felt now was probably a good time.
"I know you can't stay here." He said.
She started to speak, but he put his finger over her mouth.
"Don't go freaking out again." He looked at her squarely in the eye. She closed her mouth and nodded. "You don't belong here and I don't want to make you stay. I also know you don't think we'd ever work 'cause we want different things. That might be true. But that's never made this thing between us go away."
Annie rubbed her tongue over her lips thoughtfully. George was saying all of the things that she had always found too hard to say; guiding her through the very conversation she was supposed to be leading. Maybe he could tell her the one thing she could never figure out - the thing that made having this conversation so hard for her.
"I know everything you're sayin' is true, but I don't get where we go from here."
George wrapped her arm around his and rested his head on top of hers. "Well the current course hasn't worked so well," he chuckled, "not to state the obvious or anything."
She laughed then too. It was too absurd.
"Just 'cause we may not go walkin' into the sunset together, doesn't mean we should avoid each other." George said, "I miss talkin' to you, Annie. You're my best friend."
Annie sighed with a little relief, "Me too."
"So let's just see where things go." George said.
She wasn't exactly sure what IT was, but she nodded. He'd been right that the current state of things did not work. Her brain turned over what he just said. He and Lemon were not together. It wouldn't be hurting anyone. She pulled back, sitting up a little straighter and looked up at him. Tilting her head to side, eyes narrowed, she repeated back to him the understanding they had reached.
"So, we're just gonna see what happens? We'll hang out and… talk…" She trailed off and he nodded.
"We're gonna be honest with each other." George finished.
Annie nodded. "Alright, then," she squeezed his hand and started to stand. "As your friend, I'm gonna tell you that I should head out."
George looked at her confused. Annie cocked her head to the side.
"Aw, c'mon George, if we spend any more time snuggled up on your glider in the moonlight you and I both know where that's gonna go. And since we're bein' honest with each other I think I should tell you it's a bad idea for you to be cuddlin' up with anybody the day you and your fiancé broke up – especially me. Personally, I think you'd be much better off spendin' some time NOT in a relationship."
He stood up and crossed his arms. "Do ya' now?"
Annie nodded her head dramatically as if he were a little slow. "Uh, yeah."
Then in typical Annie fashion, she walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his chest. He shook his head and put his arms around her waist. "I love ya, George. I come over here plannin' on taking care of you and havin' this talk but per usual, you do all the heavy liftin'. You're amazin'."
She raised herself up on her tip toes to give him a quick kiss – on the cheek. Then she pulled back and squeezed his hands before turning around. As she opened the door to the back porch, she called over her shoulder. "You should get some sleep. I'll call you tomorrow."
George stood there laughing and shaking his head. "Aye, aye Captain," he called after her and he heard her laughing back as she walked down the road.
On the walk back to the Rammer Jammer Annie felt better than she had in a long time. She kept a quick step, anxious to tell Wade that not only had she NOT made a bigger mess, but in fact she and George had finally talked and things were just fine – something Wade might want to try with Zoe. He did not need to feel like he was in the middle of anything and could instead focus his energy on figuring things out with Zoe. It seemed obvious to her that Zoe and he belonged together; they just needed to talk themselves. She stopped herself then. Keeping my mouth shut, she said quietly to herself. She repeated that several times as she walked.
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Wade sat on a bar stool at the bar with his laptop. He was doing the bar inventory which had dwindled more than he expected after the Saturday re-opening. The band had stopped in a little before four to say they were taking off and asked him to have Annie call them when she had her travel arranged. He looked at his watch again wondering where his sister was. It was closing time and she better turn up soon. Not only for the obvious reason, but because he wanted to get out of there and to Zoe before it was too late.
Annie walked in then as if she had heard his mental rant. He finished the last of his inventory and closed the laptop. The place was empty and the staff was leaving for the night as Annie came in. She walked behind the bar and grabbed the bottle of Old Grand Dad from the shelf and two glasses. She handed one to Wade and then raised hers to him to toast, "To cleaning up," she said and Wade smirked before clinking his glass to hers.
"Well, you're lookin' mighty pleased with yourself." He said after taking a swig of his drink.
Annie smiled. "George is fine. After his episode this afternoon he's returned to the calm, well-mannered version of himself that we all know and revere. And before you say anythin', I cleared the air with him… well, actually he cleared the air with me."
Her head cocked to the side and her eyes narrowed as she thought about it again. Wade looked a little surprised, but said nothing waiting to hear more details. When she emerged from her thoughts, Annie saw his face. She rolled her eyes and continued.
"Contrary to popular opinion, Lemon and George didn't split over me… or even Lavon. I guess things between them have been rough for a while and after last night both of them needed a break. And George and me finally had an honest conversation. Well, it was mostly him talking and me tryin' not to freak out, but I think things are… okay. Probably for the first time in a real long time."
Wade nodded. That was enough for him; he did not need to know the gory details. As long as he was not going to be in the middle of their bizarre love triangle he was happy. He drank down the contents of his glass. "Alright then. Glad you two sorted stuff out. Now can we get outta here? I got some place to be." he said with his crooked grin.
Annie finished her drink and hopped off the stool. "Why? You got a hot date?" she joked, matching his smirk with her own.
Wade pulled up to the main house and saw the lights were off.
"Is Lavon okay?" Annie asked.
"Dunno," Wade answered. "Zoe went to check on him a while ago. 'Looks like he's turned in now."
She nodded and opened the car door. "I'll make him breakfast. Try and cheer him up."
"Sounds like a plan." Wade said, "Now, if you don't mind I've got that hot date to get to."
Annie laughed as she shut the car door and walked towards that kitchen door. "'Night, big brother."
Wade pulled up to his place. The lights were off inside and he cursed his sister's name under her breath. He turned off the car and made his way up the front steps. When he came in the door he noticed the candles twinkling all over the room. He followed them into his bedroom and found Zoe sitting on the bed playing his guitar. She looked up at him seductively and he realized she wasn't wearing anything, the guitar simply stood in front of him and the areas he was particularly interested in.
"Well, it's about time," she said. "I was about to give up and go to sleep."
Wade tore off his shirt and crawled toward her on the bed. "Well, I'm sure glad you didn't."
He took the guitar and leaned it against the night stand before lowering himself on top of her. "Now, why don't you show me these plans you have," he murmured against her lips before she slipped her hands into his hair and closed the remaining distance between him.
So, let me know what you think. Are our Bluebellians on the right track? Where do you think they go from here? Inquiring minds want to know ;-)