Hey!
Sorry it took so long, I had some technical problems.
I also wish you all a happy new year. (even if it's a bit late already).
Have fun reading!

Chapter 11

The voices of the townspeople came through the door of the Rammer Jammer. Lemon stared at it, her stomach in knots.

"Ready?" George wanted to know. He had stepped up next to her.

"No." Lemon replied with a sigh. "But I guess that doesn't change anything."

George just nodded. Then he took Lemon's hand and interlaced his fingers with hers.

"Let's go then." George said and pulled Lemon gently but firmly towards the bar.

Wade looked up as a strange silence spread through his bar. The reason seemed to be by the door. As soon as Wade straightened up, he realized what was going on.

George and Lemon were standing in the doorway. With their hands clasped together. Wade's mouth dropped open. Interesting.

The entire room seemed to be in some kind of shock.

"Um, hello." Lemon's soft voice could only be heard throughout the room because there was dead silence.

"We want to tell you all something." She fell silent, casting a quick sideways glance at George before managing to continue.

"I'm going to have a baby. George's baby."

A shocked murmur went around the room. Wade wasn't particularly surprised. He had been waiting for this revelation for weeks. Nevertheless, he suspected that there was more news to come.

With the room still in tumult, George continued, "Also, Lemon and I are a couple again."

The murmuring stopped abruptly. Everyone in the Rammer Jammer stared at the two of them. George and Lemon stood there like deer in headlights. Lemon's gaze met Wade's. He raised an eyebrow questioningly. Lemon continued to stare at him, her eyes seeming to beg him to do something. That made the shock subside, at least for Wade.

"Well, congratulations to you both! I'm happy for you." He said loudly into the silence. Heads turned as the guests looked at him in irritation. Then, as if Wade had broken through the blockade, questions and exclamations burst into the room.

"How long have you been back together?"

"What month are you pregnant?"

"Are you sure this is wise, George?"

"I'd advise you to run away before he dumps you again, Lemon!"

"Girl or boy?"

"You'd be better off not doing that!"

"Have you chosen a name yet?"

"Will you get married again?"

George raised his hand to stop the barrage of interjections. "Okay, okay, calm down for now. Lemon and I will answer all these questions, or at least most of them, but not right now. We've told you the most important things, the rest will take time, all right?

The answer was murmurs of agreement from all directions. "In any case, I wish you all the best." Wanda commented. "Yes, so do I!" "You'll manage." Congratulations!" now rang out across the room.

Wade could clearly see the relief in both George and Lemon.

"We're going to have dinner together now. Thank you all!" George called into the commotion, then led Lemon to an empty table in a corner of the bar. Wade could understand why they preferred to sit a little apart. He found it rather surprising that they didn't leave immediately.

Wade waited briefly until most of the guests had turned back to their own tables, even though they were probably still discussing the news there, before he went over to George and Lemon.

"So that's how it is." He said with a grin, resting his hands on the tabletop in front of them. "And you didn't think it was necessary to let me know a little earlier?" he asked, turning to Lemon.

She laughed. "I hope you're not offended." She replied jokingly and then added more seriously: "I'm sorry, I actually thought I'd tell you beforehand, but the opportunity hasn't really arisen in the last few weeks. The revelation today was also rather spontaneous."

"That's okay." Wade waved it off. "Like I said, I'm happy for you. You've both had bad luck with your relationship for long enough. Although it remains to be seen whether the bad luck is over." He grinned. Even wider when Lemon punched him indignantly on the arm.

Without responding, Wade sat down on a chair opposite them. "Pretty brave of you, anyway." He stated, making a gesture that included the Rammer Jammer and all the people.

"We had little choice," George replied with a shrug. "We've certainly got the interview with Dash to look forward too." You could tell they weren't really looking forward to it.

Wade watched them closely. Lemon looked a lot less nervous than Wade would have expected, given the fact that they were almost certainly the talk of the town for the next week. She looked almost relieved. As if now that the news was out, the burden of keeping it a secret had been taken away. George, on the other hand, seemed as if he wanted to somehow protect Lemon from the judgments of the others. He had an arm around her shoulder.

"Could I borrow your boyfriend for a moment?" asked Wade.

Lemon frowned, but then decided to nod in agreement.

Wade grabbed George's arm and pulled him a few steps away. George looked at him with the same uncertainty and raised an eyebrow, prompting Wade to explain.

"You realize what you're doing, I hope." Wade hissed quietly so that neither Lemon nor anyone else could hear.

He hadn't actually intended to interfere. Lemon and George were adults who could make their own decisions. And Wade was certainly not normally someone who had to play the protector. But right now, he just couldn't help himself.

"You having a child together doesn't have to force you back into a relationship."

"I do realize that." George replied in the same whisper. "Believe me, we've thought about it. And no matter how many people in this town will tell me in the next few days that we don't have to or shouldn't do this: I'm not going to let that stop me from being with the woman who makes me happy." Despite the whisper, George seemed to be getting angry.

Wade fixed his eyes on George. He seemed to be serious. "I'm sorry. I only wanted to make sure." Mumbled Wade apologetically. "Just promise me you'll take care of her, will you?"

George's expression relaxed again. "Of course." he said firmly.

Together, they walked back to Lemon, who was watching them with a suspicious look.

"So?" she asked.

"Not important." George replied reassuringly. Lemon still didn't look convinced, Wade decided to leave it to George to find out what he wanted to say to Lemon.

"I'm going to get back to work now." He glanced at the two of them. George had already clasped his hand with Lemon's again. With a shake of his head, he said, "You're insane."

"You must know that." Lemon replied sarcastically, but now with a smile.

Wade also grinned briefly. Then he finally turned around and walked back to the counter. The dream couple was back. Well, they would probably have to restore their reputation first. But Wade was convinced that they would manage it.

"You don't seem that surprised. Why?"

Wade turned to Zoe, who was sitting at one of the bar stools. She had turned away from him and was watching Lemon and George instead, who were still sitting in the Rammer Jammer. Zoe hadn't hesitated to come here after hearing about the latest development. Wade put a glass of wine down for her.

"Well, I knew about it." Wade mumbled, scratching the back of his head uncertainly.

"You knew?" Zoe looked at him, visibly surprised.

"Not everything." Wade corrected her immediately. "Just the part about the baby."

"Ah." Zoe furrowed her brow. Then something seemed to occur to her. "That's why you were so worried about Lemon!"

Wade nodded in response. Zoe glanced back over her shoulder at the two of them. Wade concentrated on cleaning the glasses. Lemon and George were already being stared at by enough other people.

"And you don't think it's...; I don't know; weird? I always had the feeling that the two of them didn't really go together at all."

Wade shook his head in amusement. "You mean you told yourself this to ease your guilty conscience."

Zoe gave him an offended look. "I just don't think they were ever the dream couple everyone said they were." She contradicted.

Wade put the kitchen towel aside with a sigh. Then he looked at Zoe. "I guess that's because you only met them three years ago. And yes, at that point, what you say is probably true."

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

Wade finally looked over at the two of them. They looked like a normal couple. Their hands were clasped together on the table. The only unusual thing was that many of the people present glanced over at them every few minutes, while others didn't even bother to look away in between, as if a rare natural spectacle was taking place at their table.

"You should have seen them when they were younger. They were definitely a dream couple." Wade said with determination before he began to explain.

"Lemon always put a lot of pressure on herself about all sorts of things. It got worse after her mother left. But when George was around, she was completely different. Lighter, happier, more like you'd expect a teenager to be and not like an adult with a thousand worries. No one could make her smile like George. And believe me, there were a lot of boys who tried.
And George, he wasn't always the highflyer. Often in competition with his brother from what I know. As crazy as it sounds to you, George used to be rather shy. Well-behaved and a little reticent, that's what I would call it. For Lemon, he rose above himself. She made him stop hiding. In a way, Lemon turned him into the golden boy.
You noticed it in both of them when the other was around. There was an incredibly strong bond between them, you could tell as soon as you were in the same room with them for more than a few minutes. And this bond has grown stronger over fifteen years. I don't think there's anyone who knows George better than Lemon does, or the other way around. They were everything to each other for fifteen years. Even if the love may have faded at some point, a connection like that doesn't just disappear. So no, I don't find it weird to see them like that. If anything, I find it weird that they could pretend that this connection wasn't there for so long."

Wade finished what he was saying. Zoe sat in front of him, mouth half-open in astonishment. It took her a moment before she could reply anything.

"I guess it's true, I've never seen them like this. I don't think I realized how much fifteen years are. That it's more than a number." She finally mumbled.

"That wasn't an accusation either." Wade clarified. "I was just trying to show you that there was also a pretty long time when the relationship you saw just short of its failure worked very well.

Zoe nodded and looked at Lemon and George again. She scrunched her eyebrows together. "I still have to get used to it, though." She then sighed.

Wade laughed softly. "It'll work out."

George had just completely emptied his suitcase. For the last few days, he had been busy almost non-stop moving all his stuff out of the houseboat and into Lemon's apartment. For having lived on a boat, he had an astonishing amount of things. But now the last of his stuff had finally been put away.

George pushed the suitcase under the bed and turned around. Surprised, he noticed Lemon standing in the doorway. She was staring at him penetratingly, a strange expression on her face that George couldn't interpret.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her uncertainly.

"George I..." she broke off, looking away from George, down at the floor, obviously trying to clear her thoughts. Then she lifted her head again and looked at him again, almost shyly.

"I love you."

Her words were only whispered. But they brought George's entire world to a standstill.

"I kind of just realized that." Lemon added.

She nervously pressed her hands together and waited for George's answer. It took him a moment to convince himself that it had actually happened. It wasn't his imagination. Then he approached Lemon and grabbed her clasped hands.

"That's good. Great, actually." He smiled slightly. Lemon was obviously almost as surprised by her words as George was. "Because I love you too."

He put his arms around Lemon and held her tightly. The smile on his face was impossible to remove. For weeks, even months, he had been waiting to be able to say those three words to Lemon. He had waited, patiently, because he knew that it shouldn't happen too quickly. George had known he loved Lemon ever since she had left on that engagement cruise ship. But he had waited until Lemon made the first move. So that she could set the pace. And now Lemon had said it. Just like that. And George could hardly believe his luck.

"I don't know how I ever thought I'd be fine without you." He murmured quietly into Lemon's hair.