Free Meant to Be: Southern Heat Series by Jenna Harte Page A

money on your making it.”
    “Thank you.”
    Patrick sighed.
    Julia’s eyes softened in concern. “But even seeing that connection, you could tell he didn’t want to go down that road with you again, Sydney. I’m sorry to say it, but what’s done is done, and I worry about you trying to get something back that you can’t.”
    “Thank you.” Patrick lifted his wineglass in a toast to his sister.
    Sydney looked down, trying to manage the dueling feelings of hope that Mitch’s kiss meant there was something still there and grief that it wouldn’t matter because Mitch was lost to her.
    “It’s too bad you have to spend the next ten months stuck here.” Julia refocused her efforts on the rogue tomato.
    “I like it here.” Sydney wished her phone would ring, calling her in to deliver a baby. She was tired of this conversation. Of having her and Mitch’s love doubted or brushed off as puppy love. It had been real.
    “I guess a year of moonshine and fried Oreos while helping the poor isn’t a bad way to spend your time. And when you come back to New York, we’ll be there, like always. Won’t we, Patrick?” Julia’s eyes implored him to be supportive.
    “Of course.” But the flatness with which he said the words hinted at annoyance or maybe disapproval. It was as if he could read her mind and knew she wasn’t quite ready to let Mitch go.
    Until that moment, she hadn’t known, or at least admitted to herself, how much she still cared for Mitch. Rationally, it was ridiculous to think that after ten years there could still be something between them. But now that she understood the circumstances, she still didn’t have the closure she needed.

    S ydney woke Sunday morning and dressed in her running clothes without waking Julia, who would probably sleep for another few hours. The sun was up, but just barely. Patrick would likely be sleeping too. It was the perfect time to take a run, clear her mind, and deal with how significantly her mother had altered her life. And Mitch’s. No wonder he was so bitter and resentful. And yet, he’d kissed her. Thoroughly and well. Even though, it was clear he hadn’t wanted to. There was something still there. A thin, tenuous thread. Could it be strengthened?
    Mitch wasn’t the same man she’d left ten years earlier, but looking into his green eyes, she knew that man was still there. But he’d need to forgive her, and she wasn’t sure he would. The Mitch she remembered had been an easygoing, affable man. Today, he was guarded. He had gone to war after all. She couldn’t imagine anyone going into war and not being affected to the point of changing. She’d seen the physical scars from his service. Had she also seen the emotional ones? The question was, had he changed so much that he’d never let her in?
    Sydney extended her route, running up the oak-lined street filled with large brick homes. It looked like a movie set. Ten years earlier, when she and Mitch had been making plans to spend their lives together, she thought she’d end up in a home like these, filled with love and children. How quickly that dream had slipped away.
    But as she ran along the street with the large climbable trees and family cars parked in the driveway, the ache in her heart grew. Sydney had achieved everything she’d set her mind to. She’d worked with at-risk women at home and abroad. She was currently helping build up the services in a rural town’s free clinic. But, for all her achievements, one of the most important things she’d wanted still eluded her: a man to share it with.
    Sydney turned the corner and headed back toward her home, wondering if she was wasting time on fairy tales. On Mitch. Deep down, the unsettled feeling that had made her impulsively pack up and come to Charlotte Tavern lingered. The problem was, Mitch had clearly moved on, or at least didn’t want to look back. That would mean finding closure and seeking a new dream with someone else. Sydney wasn’t sure that