Damn it, Zoe. Why did she have to be the most stubborn, contrary, and exasperating woman he'd ever known?
Dr. Hart was truly a strange and exotic creature; the rare female who'd been able to shut him down at every sexually charged turn. It had driven him more than a little crazy trying to figure her out over the last few months but Wade knew that was still no excuse for what he'd done today.
He'd never meant to hurt her, not really, at least, Wade sincerely hoped that if he searched his rarely examined soul that he wouldn't find that less than gentlemanly revelation with regards to Zoe Hart but he also figured that was unlikely to be wholly true either after tonight. Not with the break-up that he'd planned between the Doc and her vet earlier in the evening and, certainly, not with what had actually transpired during the annual Sweetie Pie Dance.
Wade should have known that the little spitfire wouldn't idly sit by after he'd literally trapped her in the first floor of the carriage house without a means to communicate with the outside world but he also hadn't figured her determination to best him would lead her to try and climb down that rickety old trellis in her foolish heels and flesh hugging dress either. However, their mutual stubborn streaks had cost them both too much this time since Judson had found her small form lying unconscious in a nasty tangle of bush and splintered wood when Zoe didn't arrive for their date.
At first, Wade had thought his crafty pint-sized neighbor had gotten Lavon involved in their little war of wits when the mayor had frantically called but when he'd heard Brick in the background issuing worried orders about ambulances and neck braces; his heart had nearly stopped. It wasn't bad enough that his horsing around had gotten her bitten by a copperhead months prior but, now, his boyish shenanigans had landed her in the hospital with what Dr. Breeland had said was a serious closed head injury; some hematoma-something or other that was bleeding inside her brain. It would either respond to medication in the next few hours or they'd have to operate to relieve the pressure from excessive fluids building up inside her skull; they'd just have to wait and see which path Zoe's body took.
Slowly, he trudged down the corridor to her room knowing that the petite brunette that tormented his every thought was once at home in the sterile confines of a hospital operating room but she now looked wholly out of place in the harsh glare of fluorescent lighting and medicinal smells. It wasn't just that she was in a generic hospital gown that loosely covered her small frame as a patient but, rather, how still she lay upon the gurney. He'd never seen her in anything but some form of perpetual motion even if it was just her smart mouth yapping at him and he wasn't a good enough bullshitter to convince himself that Zoe was just sleeping now either. He'd seen her haphazardly toss and turn in her slumber when he'd been ostensibly protecting her from non-existent ghosts and this frozen statue of unresponsive flesh was something entirely different.
Desperately, he reached for her capable surgeon's hand, cupping the slender digits within his own calloused ones, praying for Zoe to open her eyes and start berating him for taking such liberties with her but the doctor's sassy, honeyed tone never uttered a single word in contradiction. There wasn't even a twitch of her pliable lips to rebuff his actions.
It was all too much to deal with as guilty tears sprang to his eyes. What the hell had he done to her?
This wasn't going to be made up for by an anonymous pot of gumbo as a romantic gesture or a quick apology either. There would be no restitution or salvation for him if his feisty little Doc didn't recover from this accident and, almost hopelessly, he whispered, "I love you, Zoe, I never meant for this to happen no matter how much it killed me to see you with someone else."
Wade wanted to think he felt the slightest hint of tensing in her tiny hand sheltered within their clasped union but he knew that was unlikely no matter how much he needed some sign that she'd be back to shorting the fuse box in no time at all. After a few seconds of staring at where their bodies were joined for the faintest of visual proof, he was unexpectedly disturbed by the clearing of a throat in obvious disapproval from behind him.
Warily, he turned to the intruder who'd dared encroach on his visit with Zoe only to find her stalwart vet standing like an angry sentinel at her door as the other man lowly intoned, "It's time for you to leave now, Kinsella. I think we both know that you've done enough for one night and I have no intention of letting you ever win your bet now."
Remorse nearly choked him at the well-deserved censure and all Wade could do was nod in acknowledgment as he reluctantly slipped away from Zoe's bedside. He turned back once, just to catch another fleeting glimpse of her, but got an eyeful of Judson tenderly smoothing a lock of her rich molasses colored locks off of her forehead instead painfully seeing that they now made the perfect picture of sweet devotion.
Surely, he'd forfeited the wager tonight but, more importantly, he'd forever lost Zoe because for a girl like her; he was always going to be a losing bet.