A/N: Special thanks to Joy48, who I have noticed reviews every chapter, as far as I can tell, but who I can't thank by PM :)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 22
"You know, you can keep on standin' there starin', but the view ain't gonna change any."
Lemon looked genuinely startled as she turned to look at Wade up on the porch of the gatehouse, though she did her best to pretend he hadn't made her jump half out of her skin. God forbid anybody should get the upper hand on a Breeland. They really didn't stand for that kind of thing, Lemon most especially.
"Did I ask for your opinion, Wade Kinsella?"
"Not that I know of," he replied, shrugging his shoulders as he wandered down the steps towards her, hands firmly stuffed in his pockets, "but it seems to me with all what you have goin' on right now, maybe you could use somebody kinda neutral to talk to," he said pointedly.
"Neutral?" Lemon echoed, putting on her best haughty look and tone. "Well, my, my, your little doctor girlfriend sure has been teachin' you some fancy words, hasn't she?"
"You know, you keep up with the attitude, Lemon, I will just take my offer of a friendly ear right back into my house, then you can stand here stewin' on your problems all by yourself, if that's what you want," Wade told her smartly.
He knew better than to think she would actually send him away. After all, as much as they were not exactly friends at this point in their lives, they had been once, in high school and all. When you knew a person so long, in close quarters and everything, you got to know every little thing about them.
Wade knew she was hurting and confused, not her usual highly-polished Lemon self. She needed a shoulder and he figured there were few she could turn to right now. George and Lavon were out of bounds, that was for sure, and he couldn't think she would want to be confessing anything much to her daddy, her kid sister, or even her Belle friends, for fear of what they might say.
"You have alcohol in your place?"
Wade smirked and threw an arm around her shoulders. "You know I do."
Five minutes later, they were sat together on his couch, him pouring out two double bourbons while Lemon pulled her feet in real close, seemingly none too happy about how unpristine her surroundings were. Wade said nothing, knowing that once she started drinking and talking about her problems, she would soon forget where she was and care not at all about his scattered laundry and unswept floor.
"Here," he said, handing her a glass, then clinking his own against it. "Good for what ails ya."
"Not that it's going to fix much of anythin'," Lemon muttered, but knocking back much of the double shot in one hit all the same. "Oh my Lord!" she gasped right after, her throat no doubt burning like crazy.
"Atta girl," Wade congratulated her on getting as much of her drink down as she had, then following suit in gulping down most of his own. "So, you wanna tell me what happened with you and Golden Boy?" he asked then, leaning back against the couch cushions, half-facing Lemon. "Or do we need to start with this whole on-and-off thing you have goin' with the mayor?"
"I still don't know how you ever figured that out," she said, sounding put out at the thought.
"Lemon, if there's one thing I know about in this life, it's what sneaking around looks like, and honestly? Folks like you and Lavon just ain't that good at it. Sure, you fooled the rest of this town, but they don't all know you two like I do. Also, they don't live a stone's throw from where you were doin' what you were doin'."
Put like that, he didn't see how Lemon could fail to understand how easy it was for him to know about her affair. Of course, that didn't mean she didn't still have questions.
"If you've known all this time, why not say anything? I mean, you and George have been friends an awfully long time, close as brothers, I always thought."
"I guess that's true, at least before he went off to New York and all," Wade considered, "but I know better than most what it is to keep my nose outta other folks business. Few more people in this town oughta try it sometime," he said, side-eyeing Lemon, knowing as he did how much she liked a little gossip when she could get it.
To her credit, she didn't argue with him. In fact, she almost smiled before drinking down the rest of her bourbon.
"You know, I have loved George Tucker for so long, I don't think I could ever stop, even if I wanted to," she said then, heaving a sigh as she gave in and leaned back into the other corner of the couch. "He will always hold on to a piece of my heart, there's no changing that, but the truth is... the truth is, when he left for New York - and I was so mad at him for doin' that - I also knew that if I loved him enough, I woulda found a way to follow him there. A part of me thought he might change his mind and come back, but the larger part knew better. He had his dream job in the big city. I couldn't blame him for wantin' to fulfil his potential that way."
"Then along came Lavon," said Wade, reaching for the bottle and pouring more drinks.
"It wasn't quite so simple as that," Lemon told him. "First off, I wasn't sure how to be happy about a mayor that knew little more than how to throw a football around. We had some real blow-out fights in the beginning, and then... well, I got some news, about my Momma." She stopped and took a drink before going on with her tale. "It just brought everythin' crashing back at me, memories of losing her on top of losing George and... and Lavon, he was just so kind to me. So sweet and understandin'. He was what I needed, and then, as time passed, he became what I wanted too. Lord help me, I fell so plum crazy in love with that man, in the space of such a short time."
"You fell in love with him," Wade echoed, "and yet, when good ol' George Tucker came back to town, well, as I recall, you dropped Lavon like a hot potato and got yourself engaged to the Golden Boy like nothin' had changed at all."
"You're a fine one to judge, Wade Kinsella," Lemon snapped at him. "What do you know about bein' in love?"
He glanced away at the sound of that question, sure he didn't know what to say for the best. For the longest time, he'd have to admit he knew next to nothing on the subject of being in love at all, but these days, things sure were different. It just wasn't necessarily something he felt he should be telling Lemon about before he even got around to telling Zoe.
"Less questions, more drinking," he said, gesturing for her to get back to her glass already. "And get on to telling me how it is you seem to be in love with two fellas at the same time."
Lemon sighed, took a swig of bourbon, then did as she was told, for once in her life.
"I don't think I'm really in love with George Tucker anymore," she admitted. "I love him, like I said, and I always will, but... well, as much as I've been tryin' to deny it since George's return, my heart belongs to one Mayor Lavon Hayes these days. I can't help it, Wade, I just love him so much."
"So, it seems to me you don't really have a problem anymore." Wade shook his head in confusion. "George doesn't wanna marry you, you don't wanna marry him. You still love Lavon and he seems pretty hung up on you still. So go with God, my friend, and make it happen. Quite whining and just do it already."
With that, he finished off his drink and started to pour another, encouraging Lemon to try to keep up, even though they both knew that was never going to happen.
She took a token sip, then sighed. "I don't know that it can be that simple" she considered. "It is one thing for George and I to decide to call off our wedding because we don't want to be together anymore. It is quite another if I tell him that I was unfaithful when he was gone. I don't know that I can bring myself to hurt him like that."
"Hurt him or hurt yourself?" Wade countered, not at all phased by the look she shot his way. "Come on, Lemon, he honest," he urged her. "How much of this is you caring for George Tucker's feelins and how much is you thinkin' how bad your daddy and this whole crazy town will take the news of you and the mayor gettin' it on behind everybody's back?"
He knew her too damn well to think all of her trouble was George, that was for sure. Lemon was good people, even if she didn't always show it much, but Wade knew what her fine reputation meant to her. Right or wrong, she was not likely to want everybody knowing her business, especially when it involved her falling from grace in such a way as admitting to an affair.
"You know, you're a lot smarter than you let people think," she said then, looking as pissed off about that as she was amused somehow.
Wade suspected the drink had a lot to do with that. "Yeah, well, guess I have to be, don't I?" he countered, staring back at her. "But sweetheart, you're gonna have to make a big ass choice when it comes to what you want in life, and you have to be sure on it when you make it, 'cause there are gonna be consequences aplenty."
Lemon looked troubled for a few seconds, then took another drink, the frown lines on her brow smoothing out as she settled comfortably into the couch cushions. "How about you, Wade Kinsella?" she asked him then. "Have you made your choice with Zoe Hart? When I saw you two at the Sweetie Pie Dance, I could hardly believe my eyes. So, has it finally happened? Has wild boy Wade finally been tamed?" she asked, giggling as she poked him playfully in the knee with her pointer finger.
Wade smirked and glanced away, gulping down a little more bourbon before he gave her an answer.
"I got nothin' to be ashamed of, Lemon. Do I love Zoe Hart? Sure, I do," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders like it was just that simple, because honestly, the more time went on, the more it seemed to be so.
"You tell her that yet?"
"I... have not," he said, watching the last few drops in his glass go around and around as he tipped it this way and that. "Honestly, I'm not sure how she's gonna react."
"Hmm." Lemon shifted closer, letting her head fall onto his shoulder. "Well, sweetheart, you're gonna have to make a big ass choice when it comes to what you want in life," she told him, deliberately repeating his own words back to him. "Seriously, Wade, if you feel that way about Zoe, you should tell her. I can't imagine her bein' anything but happy to hear it."
Wade didn't have an answer for that one, so he said nothing at all.
"Thank you for this," said George, not for the first time, as he and Zoe sat across from each other in her office, safely behind closed doors from her latest patient. "I know it's a weird case and all, but Mr Sunberg is a good man. It's just that his wife means so much to him..."
"I get it, I do," Zoe assured him with a smile. "Honestly, I kind of love how dedicated they are. Gives me hope. I mean, there have been so many crappy relationships around me all my life. My parents, all three of them, that was a huge mess, and you know, the divorce rate these days is just... Oh, George, I'm sorry," she said fast, seeing the look on his face, remembering too late that her friend wouldn't need a divorce because he hadn't even made it down the aisle. "Why am I so stupid?" she asked herself, literally face-palming.
"Zoe, you're fine, and not at all stupid," George assured her, smiling just a little. "I think you proved today you are all kinds of smart, figuring out what was really wrong with Mr Sunberg and all," he said, hiking a thumb back to the exam room. "Me and Lemon, it is what it is. In the long term, we'll be better off for making the decision we have, I know that."
"I hope so." Zoe nodded. "I just want you to be happy, both of you. You're good people, you deserve good things."
"I could say the same to you." George smiled, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "And you do seem pretty happy yourself, from what I've seen. With Wade, and also, getting to know your uncle and all."
"Yes, I am happy. Very happy," she told him, smiling right back. "I admit, as great as Uncle Brando is, I have been putting off meeting the rest of the Wilkes clan so far. Don't ask me why," she said fast, sure that he would otherwise. "I guess I'm just nervous about how we'll all get along. Things are going so well right now, it'd be a shame to spoil it."
"That is true," George considered, "but you know, if you never take a chance, you could find yourself missing out on some really great things. I mean, you and Wade, that was kind of a gamble, right? But y'all took that leap together and look at you now. I, for one, did not see that coming, but it works. You two are like... well, like love's young dream or something. You know, you talk about how special the Sunbergs relationship is, but I see something just as special with the two o' you."
Zoe wasn't sure what to say to that. It wasn't that she didn't think what she had with Wade was special, because she absolutely did. The truth was, she loved the guy, though she had yet to actually tell him. If asked why, she never could've explained it, except she supposed it came down to the same reasons she gave for avoiding the rest of her family tree. Everything was so great for the moment, she feared spoiling it all.
"You know, you might be right," she said, thinking of what George just told her. "Sometimes, it is worth taking a risk. Sometimes, you miss out on too much if you never make the leap."
Zoe and George shared a smile then, before Tom Long came busting in with some apparent emergency. It seemed her impromptu break was over and any more of this heavy talk would have to wait until later.
To Be Continued...
