Chapter 13
Both her friends went still, their attention snapping on her like a spotlight. “Your grandpa. How is he messing with you?” Petra demanded.
The concern on Petra’s face was echoed in the soft squeeze of Sydney’s arm by Tansy, and Sydney took a deep breath as she looked at her friends.
How much was she willing to tell them? How much was she willing to share?
She knew a lot of their secrets. But this felt different—maybe because she was supposed to be the smart one, which made it harder to untangle from logic or pride.
The soft grip on her arm released and the next thing she knew, Tansy bopped her one on the shoulder. “Spill the beans now,” Tansy ordered with a glare.
“Yeah. You’ve got that Sphinx look on your face,” Petra said, frowning deeply. “That’s your hiding-something-big face—and now’s not the time to bottle things up.”
“Just figuring out what to say,” Sydney protested.
“If it’s about your grandpa, start with this: ‘He’s a meddler of epic proportions.’” Tansy suggested.
“Say it,” Petra wheedled, dragging out her words. “Come on—Say. It.”
Which meant Sydney was actually laughing slightly when she spoke. “My grandfather…has strong opinions about what a woman’s role should be.”
Tansy blinked. “Okay. That’s not the direction I expected this to go.”
“I thought your grandpa encouraged you to go into medical school,” Petra said, her confusion deepening. “I’m sure that’s what you told us at one point.”
“He did. He and my grandma were instrumental in me attending university when I did.” She looked at both her friends.
“I was sixteen when I got accepted, and our family home was four hours away from the university. Grandpa and Grandma lived a fifteen minute bus ride away. Having their house as a home base was vital, especially when everyone around me was a lot older. So I lived with them from age sixteen until after I completed medical school and my residency.”
Petra eased her hip back on the table and folded her arms over her chest. “Enough beating around the bush. What’s the connection between the look on your face and us finding out Lexie is here because he’s keeping her apart from your brother?”
Even talking about it made her stomach churn.
“Grandpa wants the absolute best for his grandchildren. For us three girls, that meant jobs that piqued our interest and kept us mentally challenged. The worst possible life choice was to get tangled up with some guy too soon. Because somewhere down the road when we did decide to get married, he assumed that meant we planned to toss aside all our training and become proper wives and mothers.”
Now Tansy looked confused. “It’s possible to be a doctor and married and a mother. I mean it would be busy as hell, but life gets busy, no matter what.”
Petra slid an arm around Sydney’s waist and squeezed her for a second. “No, this is something bigger. Syd, I know you respect our friends who are homemakers. Why do you have that look in your eyes when you say it while talking about your grandpa?”
“Yeah. Why is your grandpa so irrational about this?” Tansy was nodding now. “And you know, if you lived with him for a bunch of years starting when you were sixteen, whatever his hang-ups are might’ve become your own.”
Sydney all but growled in frustration. “I’ll have you know it took me a couple of years of deep thinking to figure this out,” she complained.
“Just don’t take a couple of years to tell us about it,” Petra said.
Sydney stepped away and paced for a moment before turning to face her friends.
“My grandpa has a problem with women giving up their careers to become homemakers because that’s what my mom did.
She fell in love and gave it all up, and instead of the brilliant law career she could’ve had, she chose to stay home. ”
Petra shook her head. “Your mom and dad raised five amazing, extraordinary children. She might not have been working in a hospital or a courtroom, but she definitely did something of great value.”
“And I know that,” Sydney insisted before making a face.
“I know that in my head, and that’s why I have no issues with our friends who choose family as a career.
But somewhere deep down, the idea of doing that myself makes my stomach churn.
Like it’d be betraying everything I’ve worked for—even when I know better. ”
Silence fell for a moment as Sydney stared at the ground and tried to get her pulse to slow.
“Syd, This is something you need to talk to someone about,” Tansy began quietly.
“I know,” Sydney snapped before adjusting her tone apologetically. “I know, sweetie. It just didn’t seem worthwhile because right now I have the clinic and I need to—”
A quick knock on the door was followed immediately by Lexie’s arrival. “Sorry for interrupting, but Sydney? I just got a call forwarded from the emergency line at the clinic. Mr. Nagy phoned and he sounds delirious. Should I send an ambulance to find out what’s wrong?”
Dammit. “A patient I saw this week who cut himself while chopping firewood,” Sydney explained to Tansy and Petra.
“He might’ve got an infection. Or he might’ve decided to medicate himself with that bottle of whiskey like he was doing before I saw him.
” She considered for a moment. “He lives hell and gone in the foothills. I’d hate to send the EMTs out if what he needs is to be told to go to bed and sleep it off. ”
“If you plan on going out there, I’m coming with you,” Petra informed her.
Tansy bumped Petra’s side. “There’s someone else willing and able to accompany our lovely doctor friend on her house visit.”
“Oh, of course. He’s perfect.” Petra pulled out her phone and her fingers flew over the keypad. She paused and met Sydney’s gaze head-on. “I assume you have no issue if Declan accompanies you? In case you need some grunt labour lifting a body into bed?”
Just what she needed. Declan Skye in her space when her brain was already tangled and confused.
Still, there was no fighting her friends when they got in this kind of mood. Sydney put on a happy face. “Tell him to meet me at the clinic. I’ll grab supplies and we’ll head out.”
“I’ll leave another message with Mr. Nagy, asking him to call back.” Lexie offered. “In case he becomes lucid enough to check his phone.”
She vanished from sight, but as Sydney headed toward the door, Tansy caught her arm and held her in place.
“This conversation isn’t over,” her friend warned. “You’ve been keeping secrets, which is absolutely your right. But this secret is making you completely miserable, and that’s not allowed. You’re our friend, and we won’t let anybody be mean to you.”
“Not even yourself,” Petra chimed in from the opposite side.
“You’re such jerks. Why do you have to be my friends?” Sydney mock complained. She gave them each a quick hug before extracting herself and tilting her head toward the door. “I need to go do my doctor thing, but yes. We will talk about this more. And I’ll think about—”
“You’ll think about what you want. You, Sydney Jeremiah, person of extraordinary intellect with a big old ginormous heart.” Tansy dipped her chin firmly and pushed Sydney toward the door. “We’ll make sure that happens—don’t think for a second we won’t.”
The best and the worst part of it was Sydney knew she could trust them to follow through. Which was both heaven and hell.
Friendship. Bossy and loving and painful all at the same time.
Sydney hurried to grab her things and head to the clinic.
Petra: Sydney has an out of town emergency visit and needs you as back up. It’s not a high speed situation, but meet her at the clinic ASAP. Confirm you got this.
The message was the last thing Declan had expected. Thankfully, he got it before he finished the message he’d been about to send, warning Sydney to expect him at her house.
Declan: I’ll be there.
The roads in Heart Falls were a wash of puddles and mud. It took less than five minutes to get to the clinic, but she’d beat him there. The lights were on, shining through the glass windows of the reception area. Rivulets of water ran down in shimmering streaks.
He pushed through the unlocked door carefully. “Syd?”
“Nearly ready. Come and grab this bag.” She lifted those amazing silvery grey eyes to meet his. Concern was written on her face and dark shadows lingered. “Are you okay driving?”
“Sure.” He picked up the oversized duffel bag she’d indicated and eased it over his shoulder. “Got everything you need?”
She lifted a bag of her own then gestured toward the door. “This is it. Let’s go. I’ll give you directions once we hit the highway. We head south to start.”
The storm was no longer kidding around. In the thirty seconds it took to get from the front door of the clinic into his truck, both of them were drenched.
Declan grabbed a towel from the back seat where he’d put them earlier and handed it over. “Dry off.”
“You don’t want me to get your seats wet,” she teased.
“It’s wet enough outside. We don’t need it raining in here,” he agreed.
He clicked the seat warmers on, making sure hers was set to high, then focused on reaching the highway safely.
The wipers flipped back and forth at such a rapid pace it brought back the memory of the metronome Aiden had broken when he was a kid. The thump, thump, thump sounded so quickly it damn near made Declan’s heart race in an attempt to keep time.
“Thanks for coming with me,” Sydney said quietly, gaze fixed firmly on the highway ahead of them.
“Of course.”
“Sorry to pull you away from the bachelor party.”
He snorted. “I left a while ago.”
“Well, shit. I interrupted your relaxing evening?”
“Hardly.” He hadn’t intended to tell her this quickly, but it seemed the appropriate time. “I left the party to go and do something important.”
She didn’t say anything, but her gaze lingered on his face.
“I was at your place,” he confessed.
Sydney snickered. “Well, there’s me messing up what should’ve been a lovely booty call.”