A/N: Thanks to those who recently reviewed and welcomed me back - much appreciated :) Now, who's ready to celebrate Zoe's birthday? :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 21

Wade had his eyes closed, all ready to drop off to sleep with Zoe in his arms, when suddenly she said something about her birthday. That had his attention in a second, though by the time he pulled himself up enough to look over and see her face, she was out for the count and not likely to come around for a while.

Zoe's birthday. It was funny because Wade was pretty sure she never did mention before when it was. In all their conversations, he never did recall such a thing coming up. Seemed strange to him, since most women he knew were all for dropping hints when their big day was due soon, hoping for gifts and a big fuss and everything. Zoe mentioning her own birthday seemed almost accidental and certainly it was at the very last minute. Of course, that didn't mean Wade couldn't do something about it.

Once he was real sure that Zoe was asleep and unlikely to stir if he moved, he slipped out of bed, threw on some clothes and went out onto the porch to think it over some. He figured going up to the house and talking with Lavon might be a arrange some extra special breakfast for Zoe at the very least. He did consider going and knocking on the carriagehouse door to get Rose involved, but then thought better of it. Probably scare the poor girl half out of her wits or something.

Going towards the house, Wade was so busy thinking about Zoe, both in terms of the great night they had as well as her birthday, he was right by the back door before he realised there was something going on inside. Yelling and cussing a plenty was happening in the kitchen, both from Lavon and from what sounded like Lemon. Wade quickly retracted his hand from the door and backed up around the side of the house.

Maybe Zoe had been right and Lemon did tell Tucker about her affair with Lavon. Either which way, that was not a situation Wade wanted to involve himself in right now. Standing alone in the dark, he scratched the back of his head and gave some serious thought to what he might do next.

So much for a special breakfast for Zoe, there was a good chance there wouldn't be breakfast at all with what was happening up at the house. This late, all the stores would be closed, so there was no chance of him getting food or a gift or anything in town. That was when Wade had a really crazy idea.


Zoe woke up warm and happy, but briefly confused when she opened her eyes. She recalled very quickly that she was over at the gatehouse, smiling widely as the whole of the night before came back to her in glorious Technicolor. The Sweetie Pie dance, then coming home with Wade, it had all been so wonderful. What bothered her was that his arm was no longer around her, and when she turned over, he wasn't even in the bed at all.

"Wade?" she called out, certain he must just be in the bathroom or something, and yet, feeling oddly nervous that he might be gone somewhere else.

A couple of choice curse words from beyond the window proved neither of her theories were well-founded. Zoe moved as if to get out of bed, but stopped short when Wade came rushing back into the house, closing up his cell phone as he did so.

"I'm so sorry, baby," he apologised, coming over to the bed and wrapping his arms around her as he kissed her good morning. "But you weren't supposed to wake up until I got back."

"What's going on?" she asked, as concerned as she was curious, if she were honest.

"Nothin'," Wade told her, before changing his mind. "Well, nothin' bad anyway. Look, don't expect me to ever say somethin' like this to you again, but you might wanna put on some clothes already."

"Okay," Zoe agreed, though her brow remained crinkled as she started to hunt for her underwear and dress from the night before.

Wade was checking his phone screen and smiling as she got herself dressed again. It was only then she realised he was more dressed than a person who just now hopped out of bed to take a phone call might be. If she didn't know better, she would say he had shaved this morning and combed his hair too.

"Wade, what is...?" she began to ask again, stopping short when someone suddenly knocked on the door.

Before she could look to see who was there, Wade was opening said door, and in walked Rose, with a heavy-laden tray in her hands.

"Happy birthday, Zoe!" she declared loudly, a huge grin on her face.

"Happy birthday, doc," Wade said at the same time, hands spread as if he were presenting her friend and the breakfast tray like a prize on a game show. "It ain't much, but it's the best we could do on real short notice."

Zoe was stunned. There was a moment when she wasn't even sure how they knew it was her birthday, before realising that she might have mentioned it last night before falling asleep. She had wanted to wake up in Wade's arms, which hadn't actually happened, though she wasn't sure she could really complain, given what she was getting instead.

"You two are just the best," she said, sitting down on the bed as Rose laid the tray there too. "I can't believe you did this."

"Wasn't easy, let me tell you," Wade assured her, sitting close alongside her. "I planned on having this whole big breakfast thing up at the house, maybe with some kind of banner and balloons or whatever Lavon had to hand, but... well, let's just say, he had other things goin' on, so I had to improvise," he explained.

Zoe wanted to ask more about Lavon, but she was well aware of Rose's presence, and the significant look in Wade's eyes told her that was a conversation for later. Instead, Zoe was quick to dive into all the delicious food on her tray, inviting her best friend and boyfriend to join her, while Wade explained he had to take himself over to the Rammer Jammer to get all they needed for breakfast.

"I put the coffee in a Thermos and vetoed anything cooked on account of never gettin' it back here hot," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Best I could do for ya, doc."

"Wade, I love it," Zoe assured him without hesitation. "Didn't anybody ever tell you, it's the thought that counts?"

"We'd have given it a whole lot more thought if we knew it was your birthday a little sooner," said Rose with a look. "Why didn't you mention it before, Zoe?"

At that question, she couldn't help but heave a sigh. "Because... I've just had so many crappy birthdays before. I really don't mark the day at all anymore. It never really seemed as if I had much to celebrate."

"Well, now you do," Rose told her definitely. "You live in Bluebell, as a successful GP, with the greatest best friend and the greatest boyfriend that a woman could ask for."

Zoe smiled widely and looked to Wade who shook his head. "Don't expect me to argue with the girl. Apparently, I'm the greatest boyfriend you could ask for."

"I'm talking from Zoe's point of view," Rose clarified, "so don't go thinkin' I'm crushing on you, old man," she said, poking out her tongue.

It made Zoe laugh to hear them bicker, almost like a brother and sister might. She was okay with that. It was a shame that they couldn't be with Lavon for her birthday breakfast, but that was another bridge to cross later in the day. For now, she really couldn't be any happier with the start to her birthday.


"What can I get you, Tucker?" Wade asked his friend the moment he sat down at the bar.

"Just a beer, thanks."

George was certainly lacking his usual enthusiasm for life and Wade was about to say as much, before he recalled what he had seen last night at the dance. Also, what he had heard up at the house on the plantation between Lavon and Lemon. Chances were good there had been some kind of big blow out. Wade knew best of anyone he ought to tread carefully.

"You okay there, bud?" he asked, putting a bottle of beer in front of George. "Trouble in paradise?" he checked with a half-smile, aware of making it seem too obvious that he knew more than he probably should.

"You could say that." George nodded, taking a swig from his beer. "Uh, last night, at the dance... Well, I think I called off my wedding."

"Hold up now, you think you did?" Wade checked, leaning on the bar and meeting his friend's eyes. "How's that work?"

"Well, Lemon was... Well, the fact is things haven't been right with us for a while. Not exactly how I thought they'd be since I got back from New York, if I'm honest. I guess you could say I've been havin' some doubts, more and more since the wedding started getting so close. Then last night, Lemon admitted that she was feeling a little less than certain too. She hadn't wanted to admit it, not even to herself, but she realised maybe it was the reason she mislaid our Save the Date cards the other day. I mean, you know how Lemon feels about being organised and the proper etiquette and all."

"Do I ever?" Wade rolled his eyes, though there wasn't exactly a whole lot of humour to be had in the conversation. "So, she told you she wasn't so sure she wanted to marry you?"

"More or less." George nodded. "Then I said maybe she had a point. That as far as I could tell, there were reasons enough why we should postpone things or even call the whole thing off. In spite of her own misgivings, she didn't take that so well."

Wade more than understood that. Lemon Breeland was all fine and dandy when she was in control, giving orders and whatnot, but if George went ahead and agreed too strongly with her that they should be over, she was bound not to take too kindly to it. Dumper was fine, dumpee was not.

"Wish I knew what to say, Tucker," he told his friend, rubbing the back of his neck as he considered it all. "I guess if you both feel the same about breaking things off, prob'ly better now than at the alter, or even after, right?"

George sighed and smiled just a little. "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish that Lemon hadn't gone off mad and that she maybe answered my calls last night, or this morning, or something. I still care about her, Wade, I really do."

"'Course you do, and I'll bet she knows that. Sure she cares about you too. You'll figure it out. You know, not get back together exactly, if you don't want, but make it so you can get along again, in time, maybe?"

He had no idea what he was saying, but then, giving advice to the lovelorn really only worked for Wade when he was helping them to get laid. Real relationships were not his speciality at all. All that love and commitment stuff, it was pretty new to him since he fell for Zoe. There was no way for him to know how to help anybody else with it.

"I don't know, Wade." George sighed one more time. "I think I could use another beer though, and maybe some fries, else I'll be three sheets to the wind before long."

"Comin' right up," said Wade with a nod of his head.

"You and Zoe are doin' okay, right?" asked George then.

"More than okay," his friend said with a smile he couldn't help at all. "Not something I ever expected to happen to me, that's for sure, but Zoe is just... she's every damn thing to me."

"That's good." George smiled like he meant it. "I mean, I could not have seen this coming. Me and Lemon breaking up, you starting to settle down. Sometimes I swear God has a sense of humour."

"I guess he does," Wade agreed, giving his buddy a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I'll go get you those fries."


"So, all that yelling that Wade said he heard over here last night, it wasn't because you told George about you and Lemon?"

"Come on, Zoe, you know I would never do a thing like that," said Lavon, shaking his head. "The last thing I ever woulda done was make Lemon's life harder. I figured she knew that more than anyone, but it's what she accused me of. Said it seemed like maybe George had found out about us somehow, but I know I never told him. I told her neither you nor Wade woulda done either."

"We didn't," Zoe told him fast. "Absolutely not."

"Which is what I said," Lavon confirmed, "though she didn't altogether seem to believe me."

Leaning forward with his elbows on the counter, the poor guy put his face into his hands. Zoe felt just awful for him. After what Wade told her about all the yelling last night, she was convinced there had been a big love triangle blow-out, but maybe not. It seemed that George couldn't know about the affair, since the only four people in town who did know hadn't said a word. That meant he wanted to break up with Lemon anyway, for his own reasons, which didn't surprise Zoe all that much, after their talk the other day. Still, it was one big old mess, that was for sure.

"Oh, Lavon," she said sadly, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder as comfortingly as she could. "I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault, Z," he told her with a sigh. "Lemon had no right accusing me or any of us and I told her as much, which made her more mad, and then, we got into a whole lot of fighting about just about everything there is for two people to fight about. Me letting Wade and you find out, her dumping me for George and never letting on about what happened with us. Me telling her a while back that I still loved her, her making use of me sometimes when she wanted a shoulder to cry on. It's just such a great unholy mess."

Zoe wished she knew what to say to make it better, but she didn't. Honestly, she ought to be used to having crappy birthdays by now, and today, it seemed as if she was passing her crappy day vibes onto her friend, with all the worst of it hitting Lavon rather than her. She had been hoping to talk to him about how much fun she had at the Sweetie Pie dance and how she felt like maybe she was in a place where she was prepared to tell Wade she loved him. Somehow, it just didn't feel like the right moment for that. Besides, it was probably better that she told her boyfriend about her feelings for him before her best friend got to hear. She was pretty sure that was the way romantic relationships should work, she was just never absolutely sure of herself when it came to that kind of thing. Zoe wished it was a comfort to know that other people, like Lavon and Lemon, sometimes struggled just as much, but today, most especially, it really wasn't.

To Be Continued...