Free Meant to Be: Southern Heat Series by Jenna Harte

flopping back onto her bed. Mitch was right to be angry and to suspect her parents of thinking he wasn’t good enough. Before learning about his attempts to contact her, she’d been upset with him for not calling. Guilt rose. He had tried to reach her, but she hadn’t tried to contact him. She was the one who’d failed him. Failed them.
    Sydney took a moment to compose herself before joining her friends. She entered the living room to find Julia poking at her phone and Patrick standing at the back patio door, looking outside.
    He turned. “You have tulips.”
    “I’ve always loved them.”
    “Is it time to eat?” Julia asked.
    “It’s ready. I poured you some wine. I know it’s early in the day, but you looked like you could use it. ” Patrick handed her a glass.
    “It’s that obvious?”
    He reached out, took Sydney’s empty hand, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “No matter what, you have me.”
    “And me. Can we eat now?” Childlike impatience laced Julia’s tone as she slumped into her chair at the table.
    Sydney laughed, grateful to have her friends. “Absolutely.”
    “So, what did she say?” Julia asked after they’d all been served.
    “She said she kept him from contacting me.”
    “Really?” Patrick’s surprise matched her own. “I didn’t think your mom would be the type.”
    “I didn’t either. She didn’t even try to deny it. She said she’d do it again.” Sydney put down her fork, the pain and frustration whirling in her stomach.
    “Did she say why?” Julia chased a tomato with her fork.
    “We were young. I still had medical school and he was going away with the military. She was afraid I’d give up med school to follow him.”
    “Well, if you were married, you’d sort of have to, wouldn’t you?” Julia gave up on the tomato and stabbed some lettuce.
    “We figured he’d be deployed to fight in Iraq, where I wouldn’t be able to go.”
    “But he wouldn’t be deployed all four years that you were in medical school?” Julia looked to her brother for confirmation.
    “Plus, you had another four years of residency after school, and it’s doubtful that he would have been stationed near New York. Eight years is a long time to be apart.”
    Sydney drew in a calming breath. She knew they were right, but her immediate impulse was to talk about how much she and Mitch had loved each other and would have worked it out — the things an in-love but unworldly twenty-one year old would say. And yet, attaining any goal in life required work, sacrifice, and commitment. That was how she’d gotten through medical school. Why would sustaining a relationship be any different?
    “I guess when you’re in love, anything is possible.” Julia squeezed Sydney’s hand.
    Because tears threatened, Sydney simply gave her friend a grateful smile.
    “Real life has shown otherwise,” Patrick said.
    Sydney jerked her gaze to Patrick. “You don’t believe in love?”
    He stared at her for a moment, and Sydney regretted her question. Patrick wiped his mouth with his napkin, as if he needed a moment to gather his thoughts. “I believe in love, but not in fairy tales, and that’s what twenty-one-year-old kids think love is.”
    “Maybe it was different for them,” Julia said.
    Sydney smiled at Julia, appreciating her support.
    “You’re not the same now as you were when you were twenty-one.”
    “Most people say I am. It seems to be a problem for them.” Julia’s eyes challenged Patrick.
    “Touché. But Sydney isn’t the same. And from what you say, Syd, neither is Mitch. Imagine if you’d married, spent all that time apart, and one day woken up where you are now, not knowing who your husband is.”
    “Except, if we’d married, we would have grown and changed together. My mother took that option away.”
    “The chemistry is still there.” Julia took a sip of her wine. “I never saw you two together when we were younger, but if it was anything like I saw today, I’d put my