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The knock on her door came promptly at
seven. With a final smoothing touch to her hair, she picked up her clutch purse
and opened the door.

Damn, but why did men have it so easy? He
wore an open-necked blue oxford with the sleeves rolled up. A simple brown belt
held up jeans just tight enough to show off his ass, even if she couldn’t see
it from here. Tonight he wore a Stetson, which he now pushed back on his head
as he gave a low whistle.

“You clean up mighty fine, Miss Lauren.
Mighty fine.”

She laughed. “And good evening to you too,
Mr. McAllen.”

He held out his arm and she took it,
pulling her door firmly shut behind her. With a quick twist of the doorknob to
be sure it had locked, she set herself proudly, gave Mrs. Boorman a swish of
skirt and disappeared down the hall with her young man.

“Hope you’ve had a good day,” he remarked
as they walked to the curb where his SUV sat waiting.

“I did. And you?”

“Quite fine. Thought up all sorts of
activities for us.”

The way he said the words gave her shivers.
Activities? For them? Immediately her thoughts flew back to his threat to tie
her up and make love to her. But they were at the car and he’d opened the door
for her. Instead of taking his bait, she simply smiled coyly and accepted his
hand up.

Parker’s, a mid-sized pub with lots of live
music and friendly banter, lived up to John’s promise of excellent chicken
wings. Hot for him, mild for her. “No thanks,” she told him when they ordered.
“I like the lining of my throat, thank you very much.”

The band’s equipment sat ready for them in
the corner, but as yet, no one had come forward to play. The waitress delivered
their wings and a beer for each of them. Lauren gestured to the array. “What
time do they start?”

The waitress grinned. “Whenever they get
here.”

Lauren only raised an eyebrow and the
waitress explained. “MishMASH
is a unique group of guys. You’ll see. I
expect they’ll be coming in soon.”

She left and John explained. “These are all
older guys who get together and play for the fun of it. They have a standing
gig here to play every Friday night. The setup you see there?” He gestured to
the mikes and speakers, the drum set covered with a drop cloth and a low piano
that had seen better years. “That all belongs to the owner here. He provides it
for bands who don’t have the money—or roadies—to bring their own stuff.”

“And MishMASH doesn’t have a lot of their
own stuff.”

“Right.”

At her doubtful look, John just gave her a
reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, you’re going to love them.”

They dove into the chicken wings, the honey
sauce of the mild wings dripping from her fingers and the tangier hot sauce
making John grab for the celery and bleu cheese. Their banter, light and
frivolous, felt just fine to Lauren and she relaxed into the ease of the
evening as she downed her second beer.

John listened to Lauren tell him about a
band she’d heard play overseas and noted how her guard seemed to be down
tonight. She spoke of being away from home as if it were the most natural thing
in the world. From his own experiences, he understood how two extremes could
live in the same psyche. There were times he “forgot” about his years in the
desert. There were times he actually thought he enjoyed it. And then there were
times when the nightmares came.

Tonight Lauren remembered only the good
things. He liked watching the way her eyes sparkled as she told the story of
the band’s mishaps. He wondered if she’d been a groupie, she seemed to know so
much about them.

But then her eyes widened and her head
dropped as if she didn’t want to be seen. A hand dropped on his shoulder and he
turned as a loud voice boomed out. “Hey, John, how the hell are you?”

John looked up, relieved to see Pete, the
lead singer of MishMASH. “Hey, Pete. I’d shake your hand, but…” he gestured
with the chicken wing he held as an excuse. Pete laughed.

“It’s okay, bud. I’ll excuse you this time.
Who’s your friend?”

Lauren looked up and John could swear he
saw guilt in her eyes.

“Lauren! I didn’t know you were back in
town!”

“Hey, Pete.”

Her voice was faint and her smile weak.
Obviously they’d met before and Lauren didn’t want to renew the friendship.
Pete didn’t seem to notice.

“This’ll be great. All the guys are here.
Ted, Shaheim, Sinbad. Hey, don’t tell them you’re here. Let’s spring a surprise
on ’em!”

“No, that’s—”

“I gotta go get set up. This’ll be so
cool!”

“Pete, I…” Lauren called after him, but the
singer had already left.

John simply raised an eyebrow in inquiry.
Lauren dropped her chicken wing onto her plate and sat back.

“Damn it. The band I was telling you about?
This is them.” She closed her eyes then opened them in entreaty. “John, I
didn’t know…”

“And Pete’s the lead singer you…spent some
time with.”

She nodded. “It was nothing. You can see
that. He didn’t even try to kiss me.”

John understood perfectly. Liaisons
overseas in the heat of battle had urgency and meaning that faded upon
returning home. He had a few of those in his past as well. Yet, with Lauren, he
wanted something more. She would understand his demons just as much as he
understood hers. When he told her about them.

Tonight, however, her relationships and
demons came first. “We don’t need to stay.”

For a moment he thought she would take him
up on his offer to leave. Then she took a deep, steadying breath and put both
hands, palms down, on the table. “I’d like to stay. But I need another beer.”

John grinned. “That’s the spirit. Give ’em
hell right back at ’em.”

That made her laugh out loud and John liked
the sound. “We were together in the hospital unit,” she explained. She nodded
with her chin as she picked up her wing again. “Ted and Shaheim were orderlies,
Pete was another of the nurses. I never knew Sinbad real well, but you can tell
which one he is.”

“The big, black, bald drummer?”

“Right the first time.”

“Not his real name, I hope.”

She laughed. “I doubt it. He never said
much. Was pretty quiet.”

With Sinbad on drums, Ted on the bass and
Shaheim on piano, Pete rounded out the quartet with lead guitar. With no
introduction, they launched into a rousing rendition of
Anchors Aweigh
,
getting the patrons to join in on the chorus. John had heard them play several
times here at Parker’s and always enjoyed their liveliness. Watching them with
Lauren, however, made him thoughtful.

He wasn’t concerned about the fact that
she’d slept with Pete. That was over there and had no bearing on over here. No,
there was something else. Another dynamic at play here he couldn’t quite put
his finger on.

The band launched into the Army’s song and
again, the crowd joined in to keep those “caissons a’rolling along”. From there
they went to the “halls of Montezuma” in a salute to the nation’s Marine Corp.
From experience he knew they’d launch into the “wild blue yonder” next. Beside
him, Lauren chimed in on the choruses for each of the military songs,
applauding and whistling with her fingers between her lips at the end. Her
third beer was already gone. John knew that was going to be either very good or
very bad.

“And now, I’d like to call on an old friend
to come up here and sing the last song in this set.”

The band members exchanged puzzled glances.
John frowned. The four songs of the armed units of the US military forces were
the only four in this set. He knew their routine.

“Ladies and gentlemen, a special treat
tonight. Fresh back home, the Siren of Iraq herself, Lauren Carr!”

The three guys in the band broke out in
grins. John looked at Lauren, who stepped into the limelight with only a small
smile of apology for him. She must’ve known what Pete was going to do and even
though she’d protested, she’d decided to stay and sing. With mixed feelings,
John watched her take the mike like a pro and nod to the others in the band.

The opening notes gave away the number and
a smattering of applause greeted the familiar tune. For over ten years it had
been the theme song of a popular TV series, although John doubted that more
than a handful of viewers actually knew the lyrics. But he did. And so did
Lauren. Her voice, a soft, sexy alto sang out the words, “Through the early
morning fog I see…” She swayed with the music, losing herself in it. When she
got to the words “suicide is painless”, John saw her close her eyes in pain and
he had to wonder just how much was an act. Why hadn’t he put it together
earlier? MishMASH they called themselves. They started every evening with the
same four songs to salute the military. He knew they were all former soldiers,
but it never occurred to him that they might have served together in a hospital
over there. Not until Lauren stood to sing that haunting song.

She finished, opened her eyes and bowed to
the audience who sat mesmerized under her spell. Breaking it, she threw up her
hands in a whoop and called out to the band, “Come on, boys, let’s finish with
a flourish!”

Shaheim pounded out the opening notes of
Great
Balls of Fire
and she and Pete shared vocals on the rousing number. Her
eyes sparkled and her voice was incredibly good. She’d given him no hint of the
talent that lay inside her. Her showmanship put the audience in the palm of her
hand.

It ended and the house erupted in applause.
She was a hit. Giving each of the band members a hug, she waved one last time
to the audience and came to rejoin him at their table.

“I hope you don’t mind. That
was…unexpected. And fun.”

“You’ve performed with them before.” John
wanted to curse the inanity of the obvious, but he couldn’t quite figure out
his feelings all of a sudden.

“I did.” She pushed away the remaining
now-cold chicken wing and downed the rest of the beer, apparently not realizing
she had just finished off his second bottle. The waitress had come through and
cleaned out the three Lauren had already polished off.

“Do you want to stay for the rest of the
set?”

She shook her head as if suddenly realizing
he might be upset. “No, that’s okay. I’d rather not get into a prolonged
conversation with them. We’d be here all night.”

John signaled for the check, paid it, and
stood to go. By the time they left, the band had cycled through a ballad,
another sing-along and was moving into a Coldplay piece. Lauren waved and blew
them kisses they promptly returned and the two made their way out into the
fading twilight.

Lauren felt light on her feet. The music
had put her in a wonderful mood. She hadn’t sung like that since being home.
They’d had some good times over there. The one-night stand with Pete she had
brushed out of her memory and she gave it a mental swat as it tried to nag at
her now.

And beer? How long since she’d indulged in
a glass of beer? No, more than a glass. She giggled at the thought and, at
John’s glance at her, tried to put on a straight face. Yeah, she’d had more
than a glass tonight, that was for darn sure.

“I’m not drunk,” she announced.

“I didn’t think you were.” He handed her
into the SUV with the same polite care he always took of her.

“You didn’t expect me to sing.”

He shrugged and closed the door. For some
reason that miffed her. When he got in the other side, she confronted him.

“You didn’t think I could sing.”

“I never really thought much about it. You
have a good voice.”

“Thank you.” He started the car and she
couldn’t decide whether to pout or not. Hadn’t he just said she had a good
voice? Why did she think she’d been insulted?

He took the turn to her apartment and she
shook her head. Somehow she’d blown it tonight. Or he had. Not that she’d
wanted to go to bed with him tonight. Hadn’t she just told Beth she wanted
something more? Why couldn’t she think straight?

The SUV stopped at the curb of her
building, but John made no move to get her door as he usually did. He sat back,
looking at her, and Lauren shrugged guiltily.

“Guess I probably shouldn’t have gotten up
to sing. That wasn’t very polite of me to leave you at the table like that.”
Did she just slur her words?

“Is that what you think?”

“You haven’t said a word since we got in
the car. I don’t know what to think.”

John put his fingers under her chin and
tilted her head toward him. Leaning forward, he gave her a chaste kiss. “I
think you had a good time with some former friends.”

“I had a good time with you.” She smiled.
“They just happened to be there. To be honest, I didn’t even know any of them
were back in the States yet.”

“But you’re glad they are.”

“Of course I am.” She sat back, puzzled.
“No one wants to see anyone left over there. Do the job and get home, that’s
what I feel we should do.”