Dear Readers, thank you so much for your kind words. Reviews are keeping me going! And sorry that it took me so long to update but therefore this chapter is a little bit longer.
And thousand thanks to my wonderful beta reader Elani!
Cheers, Anna.
V.
"You know what, for someone who should be blissfully happy with the man of her dreams you seem strangely interested in the whereabouts of your annoying neighbor." Lavon raised his head and looked her straight in the eyes. They were sitting across from each other at the island in Lavon's kitchen. It was breakfast time and it was just the two of them, as it had been every other day since the wedding.
"I am happy. Why shouldn't I be? I'm just wondering that's all. He used to be…. never mind…"
"Well if Lavon Hayes didn't know better he would think that something must have changed between you two. On the day of the wedding you were not on speaking terms then Bill finds you two in a barn, obviously not fighting. At least that's how the gossip goes. Then Wade does not show up for the wedding and afterwards you two start this weird dance around each other." He raised his eyebrows at her and added, "And you two do not even argue anymore."
Zoe blushed and turned to her peanut butter on bread. She had decided that the best strategy was to lay low. And as she thought about it she just had this weird feeling that this was what she actually did the whole time, because she didn't answer any questions. Not the ones which came into her mind and not those Lavon or George asked her. She cringed at the thought of George and the "talk" they had had. The "talk" hadn't gone down so well between them. George had wanted to know whether they should not be more open about their relationship and she had literally chickened out by saying that he would need more time to get over the end of such a long relationship, the town would need more time to adept and accept and she, well, she still hadn't told him about Wade.
XxxxxoxxxxX
George Tucker was a man who was widely accepted, yes even loved. But his latest antics didn't hold too well with the people of BlueBell and he had noticed it. People still greeted him but some of them only after he said 'hi' first. People still came to his office to seek his advice, but less than before. And the men of the Owl Club had written him a letter to let him know that his title was under 'investigation' and might be revoked pending proceedings. What he had noticed as well was that against all odds he didn't care as much as he had thought he would. And he wondered whether it was a relief for people to see him as just another human being with flaws, major flaws like jilting his bride a couple of minutes before the wedding. And when he thought of the wedding his thoughts turned again to Lemon. He hadn't talked to her since the wedding. Not one single word in six weeks and he missed her terribly even more than back when he lived in New York, which was quite confusing. He had tried to run into her by accident on several occasions because he knew her weekly schedule by heart but somehow he never managed to see her. Sometimes he saw her leave a shop or cross the street but never was there an opportunity to speak to her without him chasing her. Well, he couldn't blame her, could he?
Without thinking his feet lead him to the Breeland's home. Standing in front of the main door a sense of unease descended upon him, a nervousness he just knew from the beginning of their relationship when Brick would make his life miserable.
He rang the bell and the door was opened. Magnolia stood in the threshold looking at him as if he was a ghost.
"What do you want?"
He hadn't thought about it. He shook his head because he felt so stupid.
"Do you want to gloat? See how miserable Lemon is?"
"No of course not. Why would I want that?" He looked at her with pained expression.
"So, what is it then that you want?"
"I want to talk to her. Please."
"Why would you want to talk to her? I mean did you not say everything important already? That you want to be with Zoe Hart and not marry her? What else would there be to 'talk about.'" The last words were spat.
"I just wanted to know how she is doing … see whether she is alright..." The minute he said it he realized how stupid he must sound.
"Oh, you want to know how she is, yes?" She looked him straight in the eyes, not wavering in slightest. He had to smile because she reminded him so much of Lemon. Her tone and her mannerisms became more like Lemons with every minute and somehow he found himself strangely proud of her for looking out for Lemon.
She continued with a leveled voice. "She is fine. She has her family and her friends. And bless your heart for asking." And with that she shut the door quietly.
XxxxxoxxxxX
She wasn't a freak, standing at her window wearing sunglasses, a pair of khakis and a grey sweater looking anything but not like Zoe Hart. She just had to know what was going on, right? It was probably a little weird to follow Wade on her day off. But in the great scheme of things it seemed the logical thing to do since Lavon had told her nothing and Wade was just evasive.
She just had to wait until he went out. She had asked Lavon if she could use his car today, telling him a story about a medical case in Mobile and had parked it behind her house.
"And here he goes" she said to herself.
Wade had stepped outside his door seemingly deep in thought, a smile on his lips. Zoe frowned. Why was he smiling? There shouldn't be any reason for him to smile. Catching herself thinking this she had the decency to blush. She waited until he got into his car and then followed him at a safe distance. It was obvious he was running errands as he went to the hardware store, to Smith' Paint Shop and then he went into the café on Mocking Bird Street. Strange, she thought to herself, why would he go to a café? He could drink coffee at the Rammer Jammer, right? She parked the car at a safe distance, frowned and waited. Just shortly after Wade went inside Lemon's car came up Mocking Bird Street. She parked her car across from the café and went straight inside.
Unknown to Lemon and Zoe there was a third person sitting in his car, watching this scene and wondering what the hell was going on. He had followed her now for the third day in a row and it seemed as if something was going on. But he couldn't figure out what. The date of BlueBell 's Labor Day Party was still an awful long way away and Lemon usually did not start planning the event until the first of August.
After an hour or so Zoe saw Wade leaving the café again, and again he was smiling. Since when is he all smiles she wondered, shaking her head in disbelief. In the pit of her stomach something cramped. No, no way, that is not possible and not thinkable and not, and simply no, no way… Her heart started to pound while she tried to calm herself.
"I need to do more research" she mumbled to herself, setting the care to drive and rolling onto the street, following Wade's car.
The third person was equally irritated but – probably due to his profession – not so prone to jump to conclusions so he just thought to himself I have to do more research.
XxxxxoxxxxX
Wade just had just started his shift at the Rammer Jammer. It was already late afternoon and he had spent his free morning with her trying to get things sorted out. He placed a bucket of lukewarm water on one of the tables outside the Rammer Jammer, wrung out the rag and started to clean the table. With his first movement he noticed how sore his shoulder was and hissed. When he stood straight again he realized how sore his whole body was and had to smile because it felt good. Actually, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt this way. And without warning he thought how he had lay next to Zoe and the way his body had ached back then. But before this thought could overwhelm him he shook his head and mumbled to himself, "No, no and no. Stop it," and tried to think of the past weeks and all that had happened to him. It was time to move on and vigorously he continued to clean the table.
XxxxxoxxxxX
She couldn't believe what she had witnessed. With Brick's permission she had taken a whole week off and she had followed Wade the whole week. Brick actually seemed relieved that she was taking a break and strangely enough he hadn't lectured her about what a home wrecker she was. He had almost treated her as usual but a little bit toned down. But she really hadn't had time to think about Brick because she had a plan to follow. She had rented a car in Mobile, bought binoculars, a notepad and a camera (although she had to admit to herself that the camera had been a little bit over the top since she did not really report back to anyone and so didn't need any proof) and was determined to get to the bottom of Wade's strange behavior. When Lavon has asked her what it was all about, the car and the strange behavior, and why she would not use his car as usual she had retorted that she needed more driving experience and wanted to see first how it would go before she eventually bought her own car. And so she had set off and followed Wade.
Today was the seventh day and after she had followed him to BlueBell again he had disappeared into the warehouse again. After several hours he had come out with Lemon and they had been laughing like silly teenagers again and she had just snapped. So when the two broke away from each other, headed to their respective cars and Wade went off in the direction of the Rammer Jammer she set her mind on getting it all out. Yes. That's what she was going to do. Once and for all.
XxxxxoxxxxX
Hearing a car door slam Wade looked up and saw Zoe stomping in his direction with a determined look on her face. She looked him right in the eyes, something she had avoided the very few times they had seen each other since the wedding. And her stare meant trouble. Before Wade could formulate a coherent thought she was right in front of him, yelling at him and pushing her index finger in his chest: "You are so low, do you know it? Using Lemon as your new bed bunny? Is this your way of getting back at me?"
"What?" Wade tried to get his head around what she had said. But before he could come to any conclusion George stood in front of him and barked at him as well.
"You son of bitch" and with that George punched him right in the face.
That was enough. There was just so much Wade Kinsella was ready to take and here it stopped. Having Zoe going wild at him and George punching him for some reason he didn't fully understand was were he drew the line. Without thinking he just lunged forward at George and the next moment the two of them were rolling on the ground. Zoe just stared at them. Wade got himself beaten up for Lemon of all people.
Almost as if thinking of Lemon would bring her right to Zoe, Lemon made her way through the onlookers, grabbed the bucket of water and emptied it over Wade and George who were still rolling round on the ground, and called out with her unmistakable snarl, "What's wrong with you? Still fighting over Zoe? Wade, stop it."
Both men stared at her as if she was an incarnation of the holy mother.
"What?" Lemon shook her head in disgust and then looked at Zoe, "Do you enjoy it when men make fools out of themselves for you?"
"For me? Who you are kidding? They're fighting over you."
However Lemon did not wait to hear her reply but got down to look at Wade's bruised and now swollen cheek. "Oh," she sighed and touched the cheek briefly. Wade flinched at her touch. His cheek burnt like hell.
"Let's get to daddy's office, ok? He should have a quick look at it."
"No, it's nothing."
"Come on, don't be a baby."
"Hey, I am his doctor," Zoe called out before she could think. All pairs of eyes turned to her. She blushed and had to swallow hard. "Well, technically he is my patient, right? I have stitched him up, once."
"You are not serious, are you?" Lemon stared at her. She helped Wade to get up and brought him to her car. Wade was too dumbfounded to think of anything and let Lemon guide him.
XxxxxoxxxxX
The crowd slowly dissolved and George and Zoe found themselves alone. Zoe looked at George and tentatively asked him, "Are you ok? I should check you up at the office…"
"No, I am fine" George replied "Besides the fact that I made a fool out of myself. I just want to get back to my apartment."
"I'll take you." She offered her hand and helped him up. He wanted to decline the offer but he felt too defeated.
When they arrived at his apartment she helped him to get up the stairs and into his apartment. They remained silent the whole way, both thinking about people who shouldn't be any of their concern anymore. But that's the problem, isn't it? To always know who should be your concern.
She got him comfortable on his couch.
"We need to talk."
"Yes, we do," she replied. She forced herself to look him into the eyes.
"I am sorry." They both blurted it out at the same time and had to smile despite everything.
"We made quite some fools out of ourselves, didn't we?"
"Yes," he conceded. After a couple of minutes he added, "We probably just need to take a break."
"Yes, "she replied relieved. "I think that would be a good idea. It seems that you need more time to sort everything out."
"Me?" He looked at her incredulously with raised eyebrows.
She stayed silent, not knowing what to say.
"What did you mean that Wade tries to get back at you when he sees Lemon?"
She blushed and had to avert her eyes.
"You were seeing him?"
"We had a moment."
"A moment?"
"We slept together."
This was not real. This was not true. He let his head fall into his hands and tried to think, to find out where it all went wrong but his mind was a mess.
"When?"
"On your wedding night."
"And you were seeing each other?"
She couldn't find words. Since that night she had avoided thinking about Wade and that night, about Wade and what it meant, about Wade and how she felt about him. She had gone onto auto pilot the minute George turned up at her stairs because it was easier and because falling for George seemed the right thing to do. But with every passing day the nagging feeling inside her had grown.
"Zoe?
"George, I am sorry. I really am. And you deserve none of this. But…"
"You were dating Wade?"
"No. We shared just this one night but…I have feelings for him." The irony was not lost on her. Weren't they the exact words she had used? She saw George's face contort into pain and disbelief and she hurried to get it all out.
"And I know I should have told you and I am sorry but I didn't know it. I just was afraid and confused and uncertain what it meant and whether he felt the same and on the other hand there you were and everything has always been so easy with you. No misunderstandings, no fighting, a magical night in New Orleans, it all seemed to be perfect even you standing there soaking wet in the middle of the night felt just as if it happened in "Sex and the city number 3". And so I just thought that's how it's meant to be and I really tried but I am just realizing now that… I have feelings for him. Even if he's moved on with Lemon it's just what it is. I never meant to hurt you."
He laughed a laugh which sounded like a sob and shook his head.
XxxxxoxxxxX