Chapter 7
Maybe it hadn't happened, maybe it had all been a long, incredibly detailed dream. Click your heels three times and you're back in your bed. There's no place like home. It was a nice theory, anyhow.
Still, Loren Singer knew it had happend, that everything had happened.
With a sigh she stood up from where she was sitting on the ground and walked over to her laptop. Maybe talking to VIE12-25 could help her clear her mind.
JAZZFAN: Tonight I need a friend.
VIE12-25: That bad?
JAZZFAN: My day is getting better and better. No, scratch that. It's a freaking nightmare. First I blew up on my boss and...
How should she tell him the truth? She had never told him about her past. Not even VIE12-25 knew about the disaster that was her life.
JAZZFAN: My whole life is a disaster. I had this fiancé, I left him standing in front of the altar and left behind the life I had.
Now she'd done it and started talking about more private things. She hadn't told him her name, maybe never would, but when she had started chatting with him she had made a promise to herself to never ever tell him about her past or Derek. Today she had broken her promise.
VIE12-25: Are you going to tell me about it?
JAZZFAN: Why I left?
VIE12-25: Yes.
JAZZFAN: I didn't want to be myself anymore. I didn't want to deal with all the things I'd done, the mistakes I'd made. What a mess I'd made of my life. I thought I could escape it all and be someone else.
VIE12-25: Did it work?
Loren pondered the question. No, it hadn't worked, not the way it should have. She had learned that love and marriage would end one day.
There was an old pain in her chest, one she wished would leave her. Painful, humbled first pangs of love, buried deep inside. She was going to lose everyone she loved sooner or later.
That was part of the reason why she'd closed her heart off to any emotion, but two people had made their way into her life, one being her online-friend VIE12-25 and the other one being Harmon Rabb Junior. Both of them knew only a part of Loren Singer.
No one had ever known the real Loren Singer and she would make sure no-one would ever get close enough to hurt her.
--
DAYS LATER
When they got back into Washington life went back to usual.
Except for one small part... her sister was visiting and they were supposed to meet at Murphy's Tavern.
Oh joy. Loren knew that people she worked with, the Roberts, Commander Rabb or LtCol Mackenzie could be there too. She had argued with her sister about meeting somewhere else, but Annie had adamantly declined. More than declined. She had asked her sister if Loren was afraid of people she worked with knowing there was more to Loren Singer than just the Lieutenant in the Navy. Defeated, Loren had given in and still hoped that today none of her coworkers would appear at Murphy's Tavern, but she had no such luck.
When she entered the establishment she immediately heard, more then saw, Lieutenant Roberts.
"Oh no, the Roberts!" she mumbled to herself, but still loud enough for her sister to hear.
"Friends?"
"Coworkers, Annie."
"Introduce me."
Loren knew she couldn't argue with her sister. Resigned, Loren followed Annie to the Roberts' table, but as the two of them reached Harriet and Bud she realized they weren't alone. Harm and Mac where there, too.
"Lieutenant Singer." Harriet looked at the two women surprised.
"Hi, I'm Annie Parker, Loren's older sister. We came here for a drink, mind if we join you?"
