This chapter really wasn't supposed to turn out this way. It was something that I hadn't thought about doing but it fits and it flowed so much so that I just went with it. Also I promise that I'm not going to be abandoning any stories this summer, I'm going to try my hardest to get updates hopefully twice a week for each story I have going if not twice at least once a week. Enjoy!
"What were you thinking?" Wade yelled his anger simmering at the kids. Of all the things they could've done. He knew things could've been worse and he was happy that they weren't, but he couldn't get over them being brought home in the back of Bill's patrol car.
"It was just some innocent fun. We are allowed to have, aren't we?" Braxton asked with a sarcastic undertone. He really didn't see the problem; they weren't doing anything they shouldn't have been. Wade was ready to yell at his son for using such a tone but Zoe had cut him off which really he was thankful for giving him a moment to rein his anger in.
"Of course," Zoe tells them sweetly, "But not when it leads you to be brought home by Sheriff Bill," she said her voice growing stern with her words. She had tried to put herself in their shoes but she couldn't do it. She acted out as a kid, but never had she been brought home by the police at any age.
"It wasn't even that bad," Ariel protested. "We weren't doing anything, just back talked the Sheriff, it was all in good fun." She really didn't understand why they were making the whole thing a big deal for.
"Good fun that warranted a ride home in the cruiser?" Wade questioned. "It was more than you guys doing nothing. What happened with spending the night at a friend's house?"
"They were there too. We were hanging out by the river, having a bit of fun. Nothing illegal was going on," Braxton sighed, explaining things once more. "Seriously don't you remember having fun at our age?" He asked sarcastically.
"Of course I do," Wade snapped back.
"Then why are we being yelled at because we broke curfew?" Ariel asked feeling outraged.
"It's not about breaking curfew, Ariel. It's about the fact that both of you thought it was okay to back talk not only an elder but an official, both of which you know that you need to show your respect too," Zoe informed them.
"Bill needs help around the office and that's what you will be doing until you leave for summer camp if we decided that you should be granted the privilege in going this summer," Wade stated dismissing them.
They had grumbled going upstairs. It could've been worse that much they knew. If they wanted to go back to camp they'd have to behave until it was time to go, they had fun the previous summers and they did want to go back and see the friends they had made while there.
"So much for a night alone," Zoe sighed, leaning into her husband.
"We've got the summer," Wade said hopeful. He knew there wasn't much for kids to do around town with it being such a small town as kids grew, he too found himself breaking curfew and doing things that he shouldn't have done, and he had been brought home by the sheriff, but for it to be his own kids, that scared him because that was one life for his kids he hadn't ever thought about, but now he couldn't stop thinking about picturing them in a squad car.
Zoe nodded, getting up. It had been a long day walking around looking at cars that she knew nothing about but well worth it seeing the excitement on Wade's face and even more exhausting when they had made it home. She was happy that the kids hadn't gotten into too much trouble, she really didn't care that had been out late, it was Bluebell and the possibility that nothing would happen to them was wonderful, she didn't want to risk it so she did agree with the curfew but they really hadn't been harming anything. But they were like their parents very opinionated at times and she couldn't fault them for that, but she had taught them to respect their elders. They didn't need to be showing off for friends.
"At least they keep things interesting," Zoe responded, practically falling into bed. "Could you imagine our lives without them?" She questioned, moving into him when he joined her in bed.
"If it wasn't for them, there is a good chance that we might not even be here, you might not even be in Bluebell or you would've had a reason to stay in that city of yours. I really don't like thinking about our lives without our lovely kids," Wade quickly told her not liking the very possibility that he wouldn't have his wife or that his life wouldn't be as good as it was with the ones he loved.
"Best doctor in New York had been a lifelong dream of mine," she told him dreamily. She had been so lost in her childhood dreams that she didn't feel her husband tense up as he started to panic at her words.
"We could always move to New York for you to achieve that goal," he told her. He really didn't want her to have any regrets in life and he would always support her in whatever decision she made. Even if he didn't want to leave Bluebell, he would do it for her.
"You would do that for me? Move from the only home you've ever known to the city, states away from your family?" She questioned him surprised he had suggested something like that. To her it was a silly childhood dream, she wanted to be the best doctor but it didn't matter where she was at to achieve that dream. She had ruled out moving back to New York years ago and she was fine with that, or so she had thought.
"I admit I'd much rather raise our kids here than in the city, but I don't want to hold you back, Zoe. This isn't a matter we can take lightly. I can find work anywhere, I don't want you in any amount of years from now second guessing yourself on the what ifs in your life," he explained.
"I find it sweet that you would consider doing something like this for me," she smiled, looking at him. She had been so sure that she didn't need to work in New York or the city to be happy, because she was happy with where her life was at, she had everything and more that she could ever want or need in life. But her husband was offering her a chance at going back, but did she really want to go back?
"You have given up your whole life when you moved here, it is the least I can do for you, Zo. If you want to move back, it's something we need to really think about and talk through it, factor in the kids. But you need to think about this without factoring in anyone else, Zoe." Did he want to live in the city that could only be his hell? No, but he'd do anything for his wife, for the mother of his kids.
She quickly shook her head, "Everything I gave up, I wanted to give up. But I will think about it for a few days," she told him, resting her head on his chest. It should've been an easy choice to make, but it wasn't, not really. When she had made her comment she didn't think it was going to take this turn, she had more to say, though now she couldn't remember what it was she was going to add, not when her thoughts of New York were filling her mind. When the idea of never going back was certain she had been okay with that, but now that the offer from her husband was there she wasn't sure what one was the right thing to do. Moving it would be harder because she'd have to find a place to work and it wasn't going to be that easy and not only that it meant that she'd have to face her mother but that was something she has wanted to do for a while now, it was time to make amends with her mother.
"Are you okay?" Harley asked, seeing that his daughter was off in a world of her own. Zoe gave him a weak smile, shutting the folder that she had been looking at for the past hour.
"I want to say it's nothing," she sighed, looking up at her father. "But that isn't the case, it's something that's very serious and I don't know what to do about it," she confided in her father. She had to talk to someone about this, who better than her father?
"Have you talked to Wade about this?" Harley asked, taking a seat seeing just how serious this talk was going to be.
"He was the one to suggest it," Zoe informed her father. "I made a silly comment about wanting to be the best doctor in New York when I was a little girl, back when I thought Ethan was my father, back when I had two parents at home that loved and cared for me, before I lost all of that," she slowly started to fill him in. "He made the comment that we could move back if it was something that I wanted to do and after thinking about it most the morning, I don't know what I want to do," she confessed.
"That is a hard choice to make," Harley commented, feeling at a loss on what he should tell her. He didn't want her to move back to New York, not when he had spent time with her because it still wasn't enough time to him, not after all the wasted years they had missed out on. "You have to decide if living in New York or Bluebell is what makes you the happiest, where can you be the happiest at?" He questioned her then.
"That's the thing," she sighed. "New York had been my home for so long and I love it there but Bluebell is my home now and I love everything about this place, I can't pick one over the other. I want to go back to New York to see if it's something that I can do after being here for so long, but again I don't want to because being here has changed my life in such a good way and I love what I do and who I am here."
"I think you need to have a much longer more serious talk with Wade about it all. You can't make a decision like that all on your own, you've thought about it right?" He asked getting Zoe to nod her head. "Than you need to take it all to him, everything thing that you are thinking about, you need to share with him," he told her getting up. "Whatever choice you make will be the right one, sweetie," he told her. He wanted to be the father that would tell her she couldn't do such a thing but he wasn't in a place to do that and if moving back was something that she wanted he couldn't control her and force her to stay where she didn't want to be.
Zoe nodded, leaning back in her chair, she knew her father was right and she was going to tell Wade everything that she was thinking about when it came to either moving or staying, it was going to be the only way that they could figure this thing out. It wasn't up to her, it wasn't just her life, it was his and their kids as well, and she couldn't make a choice like that alone.