Disclaimer: I do not own Hart of Dixe

3. The Perfect Dress

"Dad, can I talk to you for a minute?" Zoe asked nervously as she stood in the doorway of her father's study.

"Of course you can, come on in"

Zoe walked over and sat in her dad's big and cozy armchair. That chair was her favorite piece of furniture and it held a lot of good memories

"It feels like yesterday when I found you curled up in this chair, sleeping, with one of my medical journals covering half your face" Harley said with a smile. "You couldn't even read, you just loved looking at the pictures"

Zoe smiled at the memory. "Well, it wasn't yesterday, but it was the day before that"

"Yeah, I guess somethings never get old. What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Oh, yeah. Listen, dad, I know that you have an enormous heart, and it's one of the things that make you the amazing person that you are, but..." Zoe trailed off, not really sure how to say what she wanted to say, not really knowing if she could.

"Go on, honey. You know you can talk to me about anything"

"Well, it's just, yesterday you were talking about asking Pauline to move in, and well, do you really think that she will like it, having Hannah here?" Zoe asked and looked at her dad nervously.

"Oh, well, first, I haven't asked Pauline yet, we are actually having dinner tomorrow night. She planned it as a goodbye dinner but I was hoping to turn it into something else, but that does not matter. This girl is clearly lost and it is very obvious to me that there is more to her than meets the eye, and I intend to do everything to help her back onto her feet. She's 18 years old, who's to say that she'll even want to live here, for now it's just for the night. As for Pauline, as you said, my kindness is my best quality, and if it's to much for her, it's good to know right away"

"Oh, dad, I didn't mean it like that. I know Pauline likes you very much" Zoe started to ramble on, it was kind of a thing with her.

"Don't worry dear, I know you meant well" Harley quickly interrupted before she got on a roll. "Listen, we'll just see what happens, just take it one day at a time"

Zoe nodded, understood that the discussion was over, bid her father goodnight and went upstairs. Yes, she had gotten the feeling that there was something in Hannah's past, but she still had a bad feeling about her.

Wade was sitting by the kitchen window, staring anxiously over at the Wilkes' house. He was waiting for the lot to go out, trying to determine what the situation was. He did not know why he was so interested in this. It's not like he hadn't had casual sex before, and with girls he went to school with. But there had been something different about last night. The fact that he'd never see her again had been the thing that made him interested. Somehow he thought that this might have some serious complications. And of course, there was the fact that if she was somehow connected to Dr. Wilkes she'd probably be a friend of Zoe's and he just couldn't deal with her getting on his case any more than she already did.

Finally there was some activity. It was Jonah's stupid new Mustang. Man, he hated that dude. He just had it all and did not hesitate for a moment to show it off. He honked the car horn, too lazy to actually get up and knock on the door. He just summoned Zoe like some kind of a dog. Not that she didn't deserve it. Running out to him in those stupid shorts of hers. He did not know how they were a couple. It's not like Zoe was one of the cool kids. Sure, she wasn't unpopular or anything, but she was a geek, a goody-two-shoes and most definitely a bit of a prude. Not exactly Jonah Breeland's type of girl, being the lady's man that he was. Whatever. It's not like he cared. They drove off, without the mystery girl. OK, so she didn't go to high school. After a few minutes she came out with Dr. Wilkes, got into his car and drove off. Well, maybe she just stayed the night and Dr. Wilkes was driving her to the bus station.

"Wade, my boy. What a lovely surprise. What, is there no school today?"

Wade turned from the window to face his dad. Great. This was clearly one of the worse days. His dad wasn't always so bad, he still managed to make it to works enough times to keep up the appearance that everything was fine, but there came days when he hit the bottles hard. Guess there really was no school today.

"Nope, gave us the day off. Was thinkin' of goin' fishin', wanna join?" he said, trying to sound enthusiastic and sincere.

"Sure, let me just go tell your mother"

"Dad..."

"Oh, right, silly me, of course she has already gone off to work. Let's go fishin'"

Wade sighed and made his way out the back door. The bad days were awful, but when they were accompanied with denial and memory loss, they were living hell.

Zoe dragged her feet back to her father's practice. Yesterday she'd been all for helping out his dad's new receptionist. Now, she'd rater have to spend the afternoon with Wade. And she and Wade hated each other. But, she'd made a promise to her father and she'd have to see it through.

She walked into the practice finding the reception desk empty. "Not again" she said to herself and turned around to go and see her father just as he stepped out of his office, accompanied by Hannah.

"Oh, Zoe, you're here, fantastic. I was just showing Hannah some old photos but now you can take over and I'll go finish up with the charts" he said and turned back into his office.

There was an awkward moment of silence between the two girls.

"Well, I assume my dad and Brick have already shown you the basics, I guess I'll just hang around and assist if you need anything" Zoe said to brake the ice and went to sit at the back of the reception.

"Yeah, sure, whatever" Hannah replied and took her seat in the receptionist's chair.

Finally, Saturday was here. That meant no more hanging at the reception of the practice in awkward silence. It also meant her shopping date with Annabeth was finally here. Zoe sprinted the last 100 meters up to her house and then stopped in the backyard doing stretches.

"Damn, girl. If you'd bent like that for me I never would've dumped your sexy ass"

"Hey, if I remember correctly it was me who dumped you"

"If that's what you need to tell yourself to fall asleep at night, I guess I'm fine with that" Jesse said laughing at her, leaning on the fence that separated the two lawns.

They'd dated for a couple of months two years ago, his senior year at CLJJ high school but they'd ended it with a mutual decision, deciding to stay friends.

"So, how long are you in town for?" Zoe said as she shifted poses

"Just a couple more days, maybe a week. Can't really put off going to California any longer or I'll face some serious catching up"

"What, you mean you can't just charm them with the famous Kinsella smile, battered eyelashes and the old 'I'm a war hero'?" Zoe asked teasingly

"You know, it's remarkable how you and my brother manage to make that sound so bad" Jesse said, a little bit of sadness behind his teasing attitude

"Oh, I'm sorry, should I be bending over backwards to tend to your every need?" Zoe said mockingly, deciding to pretend like she hadn't noticed the sadness.

"Well, as a matter of fact, yeah!"

"Well, then, your highness, what can I do for you this fine morning?"

"For starters I'd like a full-on English breakfast, then a soothing massage, followed by an entertaining match of squash, a light lunch at Fancies, an afternoon of laying around pick-nicking in town square followed by a candlelit dinner and a stroll in the moonlight"

"Not a problem, fine sir. I'll go get started right away" Zoe said and walked away laughing. When she'd reached the backdoor Jesse called after her,

"You look real good you know"

"Thanks, you too" she said with a smile. "But you'll get fat real fast in that fantasy of yours" she added with a laugh.

She was really something, Jesse thought. If only they could have made it work, but they just didn't work like that. She was meant for his brother. That much he knew, even though it was obvious that they hadn't a clue about it.

"Jonah will love you in this" Annabeth said, holding out a strapless red dress that went down to the knees. The red velvet was covered by a layer of red flowery lace.

"Oh, I love it"

"Go try it on, girlfriend"

Zoe obeyed and when she came out of the dressing room Annabeth caught her breath.

"O.M.G., Zoe, you look fantastic!"

"Really?" Zoe asked, looking in the mirror

"Oh, yes. You're buying this dress" Annabeth said, not leaving any room for argument.

"Well, if you say so."

She went and payed for the dress and then they headed to the smoothie stand. When they'd bought some refreshing smoothies and were sitting in the center of the mall, just taking in the people around them Zoe remembered something.

"Hey, AB, we came out here to buy a dress for you, but all we've done is look for something for me" she said apologetically.

"Oh, that's all right. I'm not really sure if I'm going anyway"

"What, are you serious. When you came to find me on Tuesday you were so excited. What happened?"

"Nothing, it's just that no one has asked me yet" she said, looking down at her feet.

"Oh, don't worry. Someone will. But, worst case scenario, if no one will, that shouldn't stop you. It's not like this is the Sweetie Pie Dance or anything. It's just a Back-to-school, casual dance" Zoe said, trying to cheer her friend up.

"Yeah. Well, I saw a dress back in one of the stores, it was kind of beige with big black polka-dots" Annabeth said shyly.

"Oh, yeah, I saw that one too, it's cute. Let's go back and buy it!" Zoe said cheerily as she stood up

"You are such a good friend, Zoe" Annabeth said and gave Zoe a quick hug before walking off towards the store.

"Thanks" Zoe said, a little bit taken off guard, but very pleased.

"Dad, I'm back. And I didn't miss dinner" Zoe called out into the house. It was true, she'd been back before dinner time. One minute before.

"Barely. It looks like I'm going to have to help your dad keeping a tighter leash on you" Pauline said with a smile as she walked out of the kitchen.

"Pauline, hey. I didn't know you were coming tonight" Zoe said as she went in for a hug.

"Yeah, well, after our dinner on Wednesday I went back home to Montgomery to sort a few things out and I finished all that yesterday so I really couldn't see a reason for waiting another day to come live here with you guys"

"Aw, I didn't know I was that irresistible" Zoe said smiling as she walked into the kitchen and found her dad sitting at the table.

"Where's Hannah?" she asked, curious. She hadn't been out of the house all week, except for going to the practice.

"Apparently, she got herself a date" Harley said smiling.

"A date? With whom?" Zoe asked, maybe sounding a little too insulted. She still had that bad feeling about Hannah and did not want her getting to attached to the town.

"I didn't ask. It's not my place. Now, it's past seven and I don't wanna sit here staring at the food any longer" Harley said and motioned for them to sit down and eat.

Wade was walking around town aimlessly when he walked by Fancies and saw the mystery girl in there. He stopped. Why the hell did he care. He wasn't the kind of guy who cared so much for a girl. Then he saw that she wasn't alone. She was on a date. With Jesse.

Hope that you like it, know that there wasn't much happening in this chapter, but I've finally come up with some sort of a game plan for this story. Please keep the reviews coming :)