Don't Marry Your Contractor*

Chapter 23 - Sunset Cruise

Present Day:

The next day, Justin and Charlotte took a leisurely hike on one of the trails around the east side of the ancient glacier Lake. In midafternoon they returned to their suite, made love in the shower and took a nap together. Upon waking, they made love again, showered again, separately this time and then dressed for their sunset cocktail cruise. The day before, Justin had paid the concierge a generous tip to make sure that the young couple had the best table near the bow of the booze cruise boat. As they sipped some light Washington Chardonnay, Charlotte mused. "Sure has been a great trip babe. We need to keep the phones O-F-F more often."

He raised his glass to his beautiful date. "No kidding, but you are right that using the GPS maps on our hike didn't count as long as we ignored the rest."

Charlotte nodded. "As your pilot in command, I did check the NOAA weather app for our trip home tomorrow. The forecast is clear and a bazillion, with a bit of mountain wave turbulence over the high ridges. But, we should have a sweet ride home."

Justin looked over at the slowly setting sun and made a quick calculation. It was one finger above the horizon, about five minutes give or take. He then asked absently. "I know I've asked you before, but you really don't mind flying that little bug smasher after flying the big jets?"

She smiled at him and shrugged. "No, quite the opposite. I love it. No schedules to keep. No copilots or grade sheets and no passengers other than the one I woke up with this morning. And don't forget, I have over 1,000 hours in Gramp's old Super Cub. I just love it, especially when we can fly to beautiful places like this."

Justin glanced over at the setting sun. It was now just a fraction above the high mountain ridge to the west of the perfectly smooth lake. He put his wine glass down and reached over to hold Charlotte's hand. Just as the sun touched the mountain he opened up his other hand palm up and displayed the ring. "Charlotte, I love you more than anything. You are the best thing to ever happen to me. Will you marry me?"

With tears of joy in her eyes, Charlotte nodded and managed to whisper. "Yes, yes, I love you, Justin."

He reached over and gently placed the ring on her finger. It fit perfectly. The light from the setting sun glistened off the diamonds in a kaleidoscope of colors. They leaned together and kissed each other gently with promises of many more to come. Justin then gestured to the waiter who brought over an ice bucket with a chilled champagne bottle. The young man smiled at the couple who just got engaged, poured two glasses and quietly stepped away. Justin and Charlotte raised their glasses to each other. Charlotte managed to regain the use of her voice. "I love you J."

They toasted each other again. "I love you C."

Charlotte looked down at her new ring. "Justin, this is awesome, how did you?"

Justin smiled. "I had a little help. I was going to get a big ass rock to chase all those pilots away, but Grace and Emma pointed out that if I actually wanted you to wear it at work it had better not get caught on levers and stuff to use their words."

Charlotte looked down at the ring again. "Well, you did great, better than great. I love it and won't take it off." She gestured to the people on the boat and then to the lake in front of them. "So, how long have you been planning this?"

Justin shrugged. "Um, since yesterday. I mean, I've been planning on asking you for a while, just didn't know when or where. Almost asked you yesterday in bed, but figured out that might be an embarrassing question to answer. I mean for the rest of our lives when someone asked I didn't want to say. "Oh, we were naked in bed after trying out something from the Kama Sutra, you know from the middle of the book."

Charlotte laughed at the remembered passion and sipped her champagne. "Well, that was a pretty good page. I most definitely talked to several gods and made a few happy noises. But yeah, a sunset cruise on the lake is a way better answer!"