Present Day:

Charlotte and Justin stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. Before they could even think about what they might say to each other, the doors opened again. Even though it was just before 7 PM, the hotel's revelers were ready to party. On their way down to the main floor, Justin and Charlotte found themselves pushed into a corner of the elevator as it filled up with people. Justin took the opportunity to put his strong arms around his date to keep her from being pushed into a boisterous group of drunken insurance salesmen from Tacoma. She pressed warmly against him and turned to look into his eyes with a smile of approval. After an eternity, the doors opened and the throng made their way to wherever they were going. Justin smiled again at Charlotte. "Well, that was fun. I don't know if I want a vodka shooter with Jason or to buy whole life from Carl, he was the salesman of the year you know."

Charlotte laughed. "I'm hoping that those guys are not going to the same party we are. Come on J follow me. The bar is most definitely open and there will be live music."

Charlotte took his hand and confidently led the way from the lobby to the grand ballroom. At the door, a formally dressed man was checking tickets. Charlotte gave Justin a wry glance and a wink. "I'm pretty sure that we are on the list."

She then reached into her small handbag and provided two tickets to the large bouncer. "Here we are. Janssen party of two."

The large man scanned the barcodes, checked the readout on his iPad and raised a brow at the very attractive young couple. "Of course, Ms. Janssen. You are at table number three just to the left of the stage. Please follow Maurice and he will escort you to your table."

The tuxedo-clad server quietly took them to their table at the front of the room near the stage. Justin looked around and quipped. "These must be the good seats!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes at the old Bob Uecker joke. "Could be, I told you that over the last six months or so I have met quite a few people in this crazy town."

Justin smiled and took the opportunity to take another good look at his beautiful date. "I'm sure that you have at that Char."

Charlotte looked down at her wrist, smiled to herself as her usual watch was back in her room and opened her small clutch bag to check the time on her phone. After a quick glance, she looked up at her tall friend. "J, they don't even start serving salads for 45 minutes or so. Care to help a hungry girl find an hors d'oeuvre tray and a glass of wine?"

Justin smiled and did his best not to roll his eyes. Instead, he held out his hand. "Indeed, let's find something to keep your blood sugar level steady."

Charlotte rolled her eyes at the comment as the attractive couple made their way through the crowd to the main bar. Justin found an empty four-person stand-up table. "Char, why don't you save our spot here and I'll get us a snack tray and a couple of glasses of wine. Does white sound good?"

Charlotte smiled. "Indulge yourself J, you know what I like, I'll wait here."

A few minutes later while Charlotte was waiting, an attractive older couple in elegant evening wear approached her. The woman smiled and held out her hand. "Ms. Janssen is it?"

Charlotte smiled and shook the woman's hand. She knew her from somewhere...

The woman grinned as she saw the searching look on Charlotte's face. "I'm Mrs. Narita from HR, This is my husband Uchiro."

Charlotte smiled in recognition of another of the airline's many VPs. "Yes of course, sorry I have met so many people since starting with the company. Some of the training did end up in a bit of a blur."

The woman nodded. "Yes, I know. But it goes with running a business in the modern world, I assure you we do our best to make it as painless as possible while trying to teach every new employee our company and team philosophy." In a low voice she continued, "but sometimes I think all we have to do is tell people to be nice to the other kids, share their toys and don't throw sand!"

Charlotte was trying desperately to think of something witty and not politically incorrect to say to one of her new company's senior vice presidents when she was rescued by her date who was carrying a tray of snacks and two wine glasses. "Ah yes here he is. Ms. Narita, Mr. Narita, this is my friend Justin Crawford."

Justin was in a quandary. What should he do? In an instant, he made a decision and handed his date a glass of wine, presented the snack tray to the table in front of her, wiped his hand on the cloth under the tray, and thought carefully before responding without making any judgment about these unknown but evidently high ranking people. "Hello, Justin Crawford from Boise, I'm pleased to meet you."

Charlotte took the opportunity to rescue him in this awkward situation. "My friend Justin is from Boise. He just finished remodeling my 100-year-old house. It's all quite spectacular and surely worth a spread in Boise Style if there was such a thing."

"Indeed. It's nice to meet you Mr. Crawford. Please carry on Ms. Janssen and enjoy the party."

With that the older couple left, Charlotte took a look over her shoulder, winked at Justin and took a long sip from the provided wine glass. "Well, that was close."

Justin looked over his shoulder. "What?"

Charlotte shrugged, picked up a cracker with cheese and shrimp and whispered. "I think that that was another test from headquarters. Someone sent down their minions to check me and by default you out."

Justin gave her a puzzled look. "How so?"

Charlotte shrugged. "This is a bigger event than I thought when I signed us up. Lots of Seattle movers and groovers here if ya' know what I mean, but I think that we passed, at least for now."

About that time, a four-piece jazz band began warming up for their first set of the night. As the band began to play Charlotte asked Justin. "Do you like Jazz J?"

He shrugged and leaned into her ear to whisper. "I know I'm supposed to be cool and all sophisticated and shit and say that I do, but no not really, it all sounds like elevator Muzak to me. But, I have always liked live music of all types. Just so you know, I'm more of a country and classic rock kinda' guy. How about you Char?"

She looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Metal, the louder the better, I love classic Zeppelin and Iron Maiden but I also like some of the newer symphonic metal from Europe. I especially like the ones fronted by powerful female singers. Have you ever heard of Floor Jansen? We're not related as far as I know, but she is definitely a rock goddess. Anyway, one summer when I was stationed in Germany I got to listen to a whole bunch of bands live at the Wacken Open Air Festival. It was a huge party with lots of awesome, loud sing-along music."

Justin smiled. "Well okay then. You pick the concert and we'll go. We can start at the Tree Fort Music Fest this summer in Boise. The music is live, loud and the fries are hot."

Charlotte rolled her eyes at the Idaho potato reference, but then again it was true.

Justin looked around and whispered. "And by the way, you might not want to tell that nice lady from HR that you are a closet head-banger!"

A few minutes later as Charlotte and Justin were sipping their light Snake River Viognier from the Cinder Winery, an attractive couple walked by on their way to the bar. Justin had a gleam in his eye like a little boy. "Char, did you see that, that's Russel Wilson, the quarterback of the Seahawks and his wife, she's some kind of supermodel."

Charlotte smiled. "I know that J, I do watch football now and then and besides, I flew the team plane a few times this season. He was always very nice to me and the crew, but I was a bit surprised at how short he is. He can't be an inch taller than me. Do you want to meet him?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "The sports radio comments about his height are all true Char, but you are tall for a girl. But no, even though I grew up as a Hawks fan, I'm not that kind of a fanboy. Let's just pretend that we are cool and that we actually belong here."

Unfortunately, that strategy did not work out. A few minutes later, the famous quarterback and his new bride made their way to where Charlotte and Justin were trying to maintain a low profile. The football player smiled and held out his hand. "Charlotte, you were one of our pilots from this season, right?"

Charlotte shook his hand and smiled. "Yes sir, I flew the New York, Nashville and Florida games this year. Please let me introduce you to my, my boyfriend Justin from Boise."

Russel rolled his eyes and offered his large hand to Justin. "Enough with the sir stuff Charlotte, to my friends I'm Russ. Justin, I'm pleased to meet you."

Justin's heart skipped a beat as he heard Charlotte use the boyfriend word and then the two men shook hands while the two women appraised each other with catlike intensity. Justin tipped his glass to the Super Bowl winning quarterback and his stunning wife. "Nice to meet you, and good luck next week."

"Thanks, Coach C gave us the night off, but we are back at it on Monday." He then gestured to the tall, lithe woman next to him. "Charlotte, Justin this is my wife Ciara."

Justin nodded dumbly as Charlotte answered for the two of them. "We're pleased to meet you, it's been fun for me to be a small part of the team."

"Thank you for making sure that Russ and the guys make it home safe every week."

The quarterback then gave Charlotte and Justin a broad smile. "Um, C and me had a little debate before we came over here. She insisted that you were a model from the cover of Seattle Style last month and I said, no she's a pilot. I said that she must be mistaken 'cause I knew you from a couple of our charter flights, but then she Googled the cover...do you have a twin sister or something? Help a guy out here."

Charlotte took a sip of her wine and composed a few thoughts for a moment. "Yes, that was me, it was mostly the airline's idea and I assure you that was a one-time good deal, my modeling days are definitely over."

The gong then sounded in the hotel's chief maître d' announced. "Ladies and gentlemen, dinner service will begin in 15 minutes. Please make your way to your seats."

Russel looked at the head table. "We're at table #1, how 'bout you guys?"

Charlotte smiled, "We're right next to you at table #3, shall we walk over together?"

As the two handsome couples made their way to the front of the room, the event photographer stopped them for a quick photo. Ciara smiled and whispered to Charlotte and Justin. "Smile, it's all for the kids after all."

After the photographer finished, Ciara looked at Charlotte and asked. "Beverly V did that cover shoot for you, right?"

Charlotte nodded. "Yes, it was a lot of fun, but way more work than I had imagined."

Ciara smiled. "She is marvelous to work with. Did she say those funny things to make you laugh?"

"Yeah, she did. All of that really put me at ease, and the results were well worth it."

Charlotte fished into her small bag for her phone. She checked a setting or two and handed it to Ciara. "Would you mind?"

The beautiful woman nodded. "Sure, I do these all the time for fans, we'll all just stand..."

Charlotte gestured to her date. "No, sorry, I don't want to impose, but if you don't mind would you take one just of Justin and me? It's our first real date you know."

The supermodel laughed. "Of course, sometimes I forget that the world does not actually revolve around Russ and me."

Charlotte pulled Justin close as Ciara moved the sexy couple a bit to the left to capture the best of the New Year's Eve cityscape behind them. She snapped a couple of pictures with Charlotte's phone, then turned it sideways for a panorama. "Okay, this one will be great, smile and say, it's our first date!"

Justin and Charlotte both laughed as Ciara took a quick glance at the phone, smiled and handed it to her new friend. "I'm thinking that that last one is a keeper, Charlotte."

"Yes, you were definitely channeling your inner Beverly V."

A few minutes later as they were sipping their drinks Ciara asked Charlotte innocently enough. "So, how long have you two been together?"

Justin and Charlotte looked at each other before Charlotte answered for them. "Well, it's kind of complicated you see. We have known each other since we were kids. I was nine and J was seven when, um, I moved back to Boise."

Charlotte looked away and was unable to continue for a moment. Justin squeezed her hand put his arm around her waist and finished the story. "So, you see, Char's folks died in a car crash when she was nine, and she came to Boise to be raised by her grandparents and that's when we met. She was in the same grade school class as my older sister and lived on the same block as us."

Charlotte took a sip of her drink and looked up. "So yeah, as J was saying, his sister Lena has been my, my sister and best friend ever since then. As it turns out, she has been trying to set me up with her little brother for like forever." Charlotte turned to Justin and winked. "Who is not so little anymore... Anyway, this really is our first real date."

The supermodel then looked into her husband's eyes and then at her two new friends. "Well, it looks like it has turned out all right."

The gong sounded again and the two couples took their seats at separate tables. Charlotte and Justin were seated next to a dotcom bazillionaire and his partner on one side and a banker with his trophy model girlfriend on the other. Thankfully, across from them was one of the Mariner's radio broadcasters and his wife of 30 years. They were a pleasant couple and had many stories to tell throughout the evening.

After a few minutes of small talk, Justin took Charlotte's hand in his under the table. He leaned over and whispered to her. "Do you know any of these people?"

She shrugged ever so slightly, squeezed his hand in return and whispered. "No. Not personally, but I have seen some of these people on TV, at the Oscars and in the owner's box at one or more of the local sportsball teams. But other than that, no."

Justin looked around again at all of the VIPs. "So, how in God's green earth did we end up at this table?"

Charlotte shook her head and the mystery remained unsolved as the efficient team of servers brought the salads to the table. Justin spied the butter plate and absconded with a few extra pats and placed them in front of his date. "I hear that the sourdough in this town is good, thought that you could use a little extra butter."

Charlotte thought about making some wise-girl comment but instead took the offered butter, placed it on her plate and smiled. "Thank you, Justin. You know how to keep me happy, at least so far..."

Justin gave her a sexy look that she had not seen from him before he looked right into her eyes and whispered. "I'm hoping to keep you happy in other areas too."

Charlotte blanched but recovered her composure and deadpanned her response. "You mean like being nice to my friends, doing the dishes and taking out the trash. Stuff like that?"

Justin smiled but did not take the bait. "Exactly, stuff like that."

Not surprisingly, with all of the VIPs in the grand ballroom of the old hotel, no one paid much attention to the handsome couple from Boise. They ate their dinner and desserts, sipped some wine and even gave it their best attempt at slow dancing. Finally, the stroke of midnight arrived and Charlotte and Justin found themselves in the exact center of the dance floor under a giant mirrored disco-ball and were oblivious to everything around them. In the background scene, people cheered, party horns and whistles sounded and the two lovers embraced, Justin pulled Charlotte's eager body close and kissed her passionately. She responded with equal enthusiasm. "We should have done that a long time ago."

"I know, but I think that it was worth the wait Char."

They looked into each other's eyes and the universe stopped for at least the time it takes for an electron to change quantum states. They held each other close and a much longer period of time passed. Finally, after an eternity and a moment, they broke the embrace and locked eyes. She just pulled him close and whispered huskily. "Well, that's not a kiss we'll soon forget. That was very nice, would you like to kiss me again now?"

He agreed wholeheartedly and did.

Soon after that, the universe crowded in on their moment as the partygoers made their way back to the dance floor and servers brought many glasses of champagne to the crowd. Charlotte and Justin each took a glass, and still mostly oblivious to their surroundings, toasted each other and took a sip and said simultaneously to each other. "Happy New Year!"

After a second sip of the light dry champagne, Charlotte looked around at the crowd. "J, we could hang out with these people until the wee hours or we could..."

He smiled at her, took her warm hand in his and led her off of the dance floor and towards the back of the room. On the way out, he grabbed an unopened champagne bottle from a bar cart. He winked at her and smiled. "Just in case we get thirsty later..."

She gave him her sexiest look and winked. "Right, could be a long night."

The two lovers and their purloined bottle of Washington champagne found themselves in one of the side elevators. As soon as the doors closed, they embraced and kissed each other in earnest. Sometime later, the doors opened on their floor near the top of the hotel. Later on, neither of them could say who led the way, but they made it to their luxurious suite. Charlotte fumbled about with her small clutch bag, found the key card and swiped the lock. When the light turned green, she flashed a seductive smile at Justin. At just above a whisper, she managed. "So, J, here we are at our rooms."

He nodded silently. "Yeah, Char I... I don't know what to think or say... I..."

She put a finger to his lips and then moved in and kissed him ever so gently. "J, don't think, don't talk."

Charlotte took his hand, led him into the room and closed the door. She gave him another sexy grin as she tapped the do not disturb key on the digital lock. "Don't say anything Justin, just love me the way we both have wanted for so long."