Rebounds & Reunions (5/12)
Wade tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, matching the beat of the song playing on the radio, while Lemon stared out the window, quietly singing along. They were still about 10 minutes out of Bluebell and the drive had been largely uneventful. Wade felt extremely relaxed, seeing as how they had just handed in their final projects and he had the entire weekend to forget about the class and the grades they’d get on Monday.
“I still think you should have let me read through your project,” Lemon observed.
Wade glanced at her. “I just wanted to do it all on my own,” he explained for what felt like the hundredth time. “I wanted to prove to myself I could.”
“Well…just tell me what it said now.”
Wade was silent. He rubbed his eye with the tips of his fingers and stared ahead at the road for a moment. “I had, you know, a sample menu and monthly budget. Promotions and special offers to get customers. Staff plans. How I picture the bar. That kind of thing.”
“How do you picture the bar?” Lemon asked curiously.
“I don’t really - ”
“Come on. Just tell me, Wade.”
Wade sighed loudly. “I guess different from what we have now. I don’t want to compete with the Rammer Jammer; I just want to give people another option. More booths, less tables. Quieter music. Dimmer lighting. More of a date place, maybe.”
“A bit classier.”
Wade snorted. “Never would have expected to hear anything associated with me described like that.”
“You know what I mean!”
“Look, I’m not saying it should be snooty or anything. That ain’t me. I just mean…”
“A place Zoe Hart would feel at home?” Lemon offered quietly. “So she didn’t miss New York?”
Wade didn’t answer for almost a full minute. “Not everything I do is about her,” he finally said. “You make me sound pathetic.”
“I don’t think you’re pathetic,” Lemon argued. “I think it’s kind of romantic.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Wade replied, clearly trying to shut down the conversation.
“Whatever happened between you two anyway?”
“Nothing.”
Lemon stared at him for a beat. “Wow, you answered that way too quickly. Which means you at least made out, probably more. Does she know about your feelings or…?”
“Lemon,” Wade complained, his feeling of relaxation completely gone. “Just leave it alone for once.”
August
It happened almost in slow-motion. Lemon could sense just when the heel of her left shoe broke, just when the dry-cleaning fell out of her hands as she tried to catch her balance, just when her ankle twisted and she almost went down to the ground after the clothes. She was aware of it all as soon as it was happening, and she couldn’t do a thing to stop it.
Instead, George stopped it, appearing out of nowhere and catching her in his arms before any more damage could be done.
“Oh my!” she exclaimed rather breathlessly, staring up into George’s eyes and trying very hard not to feel like a damsel in distress being rescued by Prince Charming.
“Lemon! Are you OK? Did you hurt yourself?”
It was possibly the first time he actually spoke to her since the wedding was called off, not counting when she told him she didn’t need his help returning the gifts and he told her the ring was hers to keep, as if she could bear to even look at it anymore. His voice now though was kind and concerned, and Lemon…hated it. She hated that this was how he saw her, this was how their first real interaction went, with George the hero and she being unable to stand up - for herself or in general. She had wanted to be poised, in control, beautiful. A woman scorned concealed by Southern grace and charm.
“No, I’m fine, George,” she finally replied with as much composure as she could muster. “Thank you very much.”
Her attempts at regaining some sort of control of the situation failed miserably when she tried to stand fully and he cautiously removed his supporting arm. Her foot rolled underneath her and she nearly crumpled to the ground. George quickly moved close again; his arm around her waist was both welcome and entirely unwanted.
“We better get you to your dad’s office,” he suggested as he awkwardly attempted to bend down and pick up her dropped items.
By the time they finally made it there at Lemon’s hobbling pace, much of her embarrassment and annoyance had faded. Thankfully she had also managed to rationalize away most of her response to George’s behavior. Of course she was grateful for his help, but it didn’t mean anything. She would have been grateful to anyone - and anyone would have offered help.
Perhaps that attitude was why she wasn’t even particularly bothered when Zoe appeared in the lobby of her father’s office. The three of them stood there facing each other for a moment, until finally George broke the silence.
“Uh, Zoe, Lemon’s twis - ”
“Is my father here?” Lemon interrupted.
“Um…” Zoe’s voice trailed off for a moment. “No. No, he was called to Mobile to see a patient.”
Yet more silence.
“I could take a look,” Zoe added, her forced eagerness plainly revealing the reluctance behind the offer.
For one hysterical moment, Lemon considered turning around and walking out of the office. And then she remembered she wasn’t going to let them see her hurt again. And she was supposed to be with Wade and not care about them. And, most importantly, she couldn’t walk anyway.
“OK,” Lemon finally agreed.
“OK,” Zoe echoed, looking somewhat shocked. Then she turned to George, adding “Can you please help her into my office? Lemon, I’ll be right with you.”
And before Lemon really knew what was happening, she was alone with George again and he was half-lifting her up onto the table. His hands stayed around her waist just a second too long as he looked at her with what seemed to be sincere concern in his eyes.
“Do you want me to stay with you?”
Lemon searched her feelings. There was a vague sense of nostalgia, similar to what she felt when looking at the pictures from years ago. A bit of relief that she didn’t have to try so hard to make everything perfect anymore. If she was entirely honest, a strong desire to say ‘yes, please stay with me,’ and still a great deal of love warring with the pain. Quite a bit of exhaustion with the whole situation, really. And ultimately, overwhelmingly, a sense of freedom as she answered truthfully:
“No.”
“Oh, OK,” George responded after a barely noticeable pause.
“Thank you. I’ll be fine on my own.”
It was then that things snapped into place and Lemon finally realized that she would be fine on her own. Part of her, maybe even most of her, didn’t want him back. Not like this, not with how things had ended between them, not while she was still trying to figure out what she wanted from her life, and definitely not until George made up for the way he had thrown away her heart.
She was still going to break them up, of course. If not for herself anymore, then for Wade.
Zoe walked into the room and George rather obviously took a step away from her. He backed away toward the door as Zoe, with an extremely strained smile, stepped closer to the exam table.
So maybe a large part of Lemon’s motivation at this point was revenge, pure and simple. For the principle of the thing.
“George,” she called out sweetly just before he left the room. He turned and faced her inquisitively. She gave him an innocent smile and added, “Could you please ask Addy to call Wade and ask him to pick me up?”
She didn’t know if George’s dumbfounded expression or the sudden stiffening she felt from Zoe was the better reward.
**
“I can’t look. I can’t,” Wade objected.
Lemon stared at her own project, equally unable to turn to the last page and find the grade she’d receive for the class. For some reason, it felt like this one moment would tell her if she was on the right path, if she could actually do this, or if this was just another stupid, unrealistic dream she’d have to give up, like her mother coming home someday or George Tucker marrying her. And worse even, because she would be solely to blame if - she shook her head quickly and nearly ripped the front page of her report as she opened it. A moment later, Lemon sighed in relief. An A-. After so long out of school, she’d take it. She looked up at Wade again, only to find him still immobile.
“You want me to look?” she offered.
“No,” Wade answered quickly. “I don’t.”
“Then…”
Wade shook his head. “I can’t move.”
“Wade!” Lemon yelled, unable to stop her laughter.
He finally flipped to the back of his own project, giving no further reaction as he looked at the teacher’s comments. He didn’t move; he didn’t say anything; he didn’t even blink. Lemon couldn’t stand the suspense.
“Well?”
“I got,” Wade choked out. He cleared his throat. “I got a B+.”
“Wade!” Lemon exclaimed. “That’s really good!”
Wade fell back against the wall, laughing in stunned disbelief and stressed nerves. “I passed,” he finally said.
“You know what this means?” Lemon said, smiling as she looped her hand around the crook of his elbow and began to lead him down the hall. “We’re well on our way to becoming business owners.”
Wade glanced at her. “I don’t think it’s quite that easy,” he disagreed.
“Well no,” Lemon agreed with a shrug. “But it’s a start. And you know, now you have to take that class with me, the marketing and advertising one.”
Wade groaned in complaint, tilting his head back. “We just finished a class.”
“This one’s only four weeks!”
“You never give up, do you?”
“Never,” Lemon said with a smile. “You haven’t realized that about me by now?”
“Oh, trust me. I’ve realized.”
“Well, then, you won’t be surprised when I say I’ve had an idea.”
Wade looked at her curiously. “What’s that?”
“You’ll see,” she replied enigmatically.
Chapter Six