Chapter Text
Everything sucked.
Zoe Hart wasn’t sure when her life had taken such a turn, but there was no doubt in her mind that she had hit rock bottom. Even though he was in the same profession she was herself, her boyfriend got tired of her only ever talking about medicine and surgery and dumped her. Her mother was driving her crazy all of the time. All of her friends were getting engaged or married or having kids already. To top it all off, her cardiology residency was over and she had no fellowship residency to move onto.
Yes, everything sucked, absolutely everything.
Walking into the apartment, Zoe slammed the door, dropped her bag on the floor, headed straight for the couch and face-planted onto it. She needed something, anything, to go right for her. What she really needed was a sign, some direction, a way forward.
Zoe wasn’t sure if she was wishing or praying or just thinking out loud, but when she suddenly lifted her head, her eyes caught on the unread mail piled on the coffee table, and she was sure somebody, somewhere, somehow had been listening.
“Harley Wilkes.”
Sitting up, Zoe reached for the latest postcard on the table, turning it over in her hands, reading the message from the strange Southern gentleman she had met only once in-person. He had shown up at her med school graduation, congratulated her on an excellent speech, and offered her a job. Of course, Zoe said no. She hadn’t wanted to be a GP in a small town in Alabama. She was going to be a surgeon, just like her father. The same father who she had barely heard from in more years than she cared to count.
The postcard in her hands urged her to come visit Bluebell. To finally accept the job Harley Wilkes had offered her repeatedly over the last three years. Zoe had no idea why he wanted her at his practice, except for the fact she was top of her class at Johns Hopkins and made a decent commencement speech, of course.
Flipping the card over again, Zoe stared hard at the picture on the other side. A pretty, white, flower-covered gazebo in the middle of an immaculate town square, surrounded by cute little buildings and smiling townsfolk. It was like a fairytale, not even real.
“Reality isn’t really my friend right now,” Zoe muttered to herself, making a quick decision.
Within a minute, she was on her feet, headed for her bedroom, already trying to figure out what in her closet would actually be suitable to wear in Alabama. The kind of heat they had in the south was far away from anything New York ever experienced, but she could probably make it work. A few things she bought for the gym, or for beach vacations, plus she could probably buy other things when she got there.
Zoe’s hands stilled in the next drawer of her dresser. When she got there. To Bluebell, Alabama. Was she really going to do this? Take a job more than a thousand miles away in a town she knew next to nothing about, with a man she only met once in passing?
“Why not?” she asked herself, beginning to shove clothes, toiletries, and other essentials into her suitcase. “What do I really have to lose anyway?”
“Dr Wilkes? You left your cell behind in reception again.”
“Thank you, Emmeline.” He smiled and took the phone from her. “I swear, if I didn’t have to have this for emergencies...”
“I know, but we all have to get used to these new-fangled things,” she sympathised. “Like you said, for emergencies. Oh, you had one incoming call, but since it wasn’t a local number and couldn’t be one of those emergencies, I let it go to voicemail.”
“Voicemail.” Harley nodded, though he didn’t entirely understand.
“You want me to get to the message for you?” Emmeline asked kindly, holding out her hand to take back the phone.
“Sometimes, I don’t honestly know what I’d do without you,” he said, letting her help.
Harley knew he told her that a lot, to the point where perhaps she didn’t pay any mind anymore, but it was as true as the first time. He looked to Emmeline as almost a daughter, even though she had parents of her own, of course.
Shaking his head, he tried not to think too much about what might have been, if he had his own children around about the place...
“Here you go. Message is about to start,” said Emmeline then, encouraging Harley to take the phone and put it to his ear.
He thanked her quickly, retreating into his office as she answered a call of her own out at the desk. In his ear, a robotic voice explained there was one new message, from a number he didn’t know at all, and then, a voice he hadn’t heard more than once in his whole life spoke into his ear.
“Hey, Harley Wilkes. This is Zoe. Dr Zoe Hart. The one you keep sending all the postcards to? Anyway, you got your wish. I’m headed down to Bluebell, Alabama to help out at your practice. I don’t know how long for, or if you’re even serious about this job, but I guess we’ll find out. See you soon.”
It was only when the message was over, the robotic voice returning to give him options he neither heard nor needed, that Harley realised his mouth had dropped wide open.
“Dr Wilkes, I’m sorry, but there’s a... Well, what in the world is wrong?”
Emmeline looked genuinely panic-stricken when Harley glanced up at her then, and he felt truly awful for scaring her.
“My daughter,” he forced out around the lump in his throat. “My Zoe, she’s... she’s coming here,” he explained, gesturing with the phone, in the hopes that explained it all.
His rear hit the desk chair rather harder than he intended, as he sat down fast before his legs gave out. Harley was only vaguely aware of Emmeline closing the office door and rushing to his side, until suddenly she had taken a hold of his hand.
“Harley, are you sure that’s what she said? She’s comin’ here?”
“She did. She is,” he said, nodding his head, suddenly realising his cheeks ached from the wide smile set across them. “Oh, Emmeline, after all this time.”
“You did say if we kept on sending those postcards, eventually, she would come on down here. Guess you know her better than you thought you did.”
Harley would’ve argued that point if he had the voice or the strength to do it. In that moment, he had neither. All he could think about was Zoe, his own precious daughter, coming to live in his town, work at his practice. Twenty-eight long years of mostly keeping his distance, and finally, she would be in his life.
“I have so much to do,” he realised, moving to get up again. “She’ll need some place to stay, my guest room is in a bit of a state, but-”
“Oh, Harley, I wouldn’t... I mean, your guest room?” Emmeline asked awkwardly. “I’m not certain any young woman is going to just move into the home of a man she’s barely met. Even if you told her right away who you really are to her...” she trailed off.
“You’re right, of course.” He agreed without pause, knowing that Emmeline almost always was right about these things. “The Whippoorwill might work, but that would be so temporary. I’d much prefer for her to feel she belongs. I wonder if Mayor Hayes would be so kind as to give her a place on the plantation?”
“Now, that is a wonderful idea.” Emeline smiled widely. “I can give him a call, see what he has to say on the matter.”
“I would be obliged. Thank you, Emmeline.” Harley smiled, squeezing her hand. “My daughter’s coming to Bluebell,” he said out loud, marvelling at the fact all over again. “I can hardly believe it.”
“I can’t believe this!”
The trip from New York to Alabama had not been the smoothest so far, and now, after a bad plane trip, a lot of waiting around, and a smelly bus ride, it seemed Zoe was about to have a long walk on her hands too.
“Hey, you Zoe Hart?” a voice called.
When she turned to see who was there, catching sight of a guy in denim and plaid, leaning against a truck on the opposite side of the road, her mouth dropped open of its own accord. All thoughts of complaining flew right out of her head too.
He looked like something from the cover of a romance novel. The kind where the sweet innocent virgin girl got swept off her feet by the rugged cowboy type, and a lot of very hot sex scenes followed. Zoe shook her head in hopes of clearing those thoughts away fast. She also prayed that any colour in her cheeks could be blamed on the heat rather than embarrassment for her brief moment of fantasy.
“I got the right girl?” he asked, coming over to her, pulling his aviators down his nose to stare into her face.
“Uh, yeah. Yes. I mean, I’m Zoe Hart,” she agreed, nodding her head. “Dr Zoe Hart, actually.”
“Then I have got the right girl.” The stranger grinned at her, replacing his sunglasses and reaching to pick up her case. “Oh, I’m Wade Kinsella,” he explained, offering his free hand for her to shake, which she did. “Ol’ Harley wanted to be here himself, but there was one o’ those pesky medical emergencies goin’ on. He called up Lavon, but he had mayoral business of his own to deal with, so yours truly got pulled into the breach.”
Zoe was listening, she really was, but it was also very easy to be distracted by Wade’s muscles straining under his shirt, as he effortlessly put her luggage into the back of the truck, then opened up the passenger door, ushering her inside.
“You feelin’ okay there, doc?” he checked, clearly wondering why she was staring dumbly and not moving at all.
“I’m fine,” she said fast, shaking her head one more time, as she finally got herself in motion and slipped into the passenger seat.
Wade whistled low. “Wow. Now, those are some serious shoes you have there. Not so sure how easy you’ll go on, walking around Bluebell in those. We don’t exactly have a lot of smooth, flat sidewalks like you’re prob’ly used to in the big city.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” said Zoe, smiling politely, watching as Wade closed the door and then hurried around to get into the driver’s side. “Thank you for coming to pick me up,” she said, just as soon as they were both strapped in safely. “I take it you work for the mayor?”
“Kind of.” Wade shrugged, as he put the truck into gear. “See, I live on the plantation, which the mayor owns, and in return for doin’ maintenance work and all, I don’t pay so much rent for my place. ‘Course another perk to my living situation will be the new neighbour.”
“New neighbour?” Zoe felt bemused, especially given the strange look on his face.
“Well, you, doc.” Wade laughed, clearly amused by the fact she didn’t seem to know what was going on. “I’m guessin’ Harley never got the chance to tell you about the livin’ arrangements he made for you yet, but the fact is, he squared things with Lavon for you to come live up at the carriagehouse. Me myself, I got the gatehouse, right across the pond from your place. Like I said, we’re gonna be neighbours.”
He looked very happy about that, which Zoe chose to take as flattering, rather than anything else. She wondered if maybe she ought to be more freaked out about a stranger looking at her with such interest, but Wade didn’t really have a dangerous vibe about him, just a friendly one. Not to mention hot. So. Very. Hot. If anything was going to outdo the weather in that sense, it was going to be Wade Kinsella.
“Um, so, this town, Bluebell, it’s small, right?”
“Pretty small.” Wade nodded in agreement. “But prob’ly just about the friendliest place you’ve ever been in your life. Means most folks are in your business more often than not, but most times they mean well enough, even when they’re driving you crazy.”
“Sounds... interesting,” she said, glancing out of the window, as finally some buildings and more trees came into view.
Right on cue, they passed a sign indicating they had arrived, and Wade grinned across at her, as they headed for the town square.
“Welcome to Bluebell, Dr Zoe Hart.”
She smiled right back, so far having no regrets at all about her decision to be there.