"It's not a set up!" Kim claimed as she drove Carmen to a concert, where she would be introduced to Roger's second cousin (or was it third cousin? She couldn't recall). Carmen was dating a guy her polite family quietly considered to be a bum, and Eric was working in North Carolina after a nasty break up. Neither was looking for a date. But at the 'GreatGoodFineOk' concert, they started talking... At the end of the evening, once all the innocent and friendly conversation was over, Carmen thought, "if I had my shit together, I could be with a guy like this," and immediately after thought, "well, I oughta get my shit together." One week later, Carmen was single. A week after that, she friended Eric on Facebook. Carmen invited Eric, who had no other plans, to spend Thanksgiving with her family in Indiana. He knew this could be bad: a week in a small house in Gary, Indiana, spending time with Kim's entire family, most of which he hardly knew. But he didn't want to be alone on Thanksgiving, and this Carmen chick was sweet. It was worth a shot. The trip went well: lots of board games and Westworld and way too much food. But there were some remarkable moments... like when Carmen tried to play the name "Datto" in nerdy Scrabble, and they realized they were both Final Fantasy nerds. Or on November 25th, Eric's birthday, when everyone had gone to bed but him, and Carmen hurried back into the living room in her bathrobe and smiled, "happy birthday." Or on the last night, when everyone else had left to take Adam to the train station, and the two laid on the deck in the cold and stargazed. Less than a month later, Carmen came down to Charlotte to visit her mom for Christmas. While there, on December 22nd, Eric took Carmen on their first true date. Japanese food. She wore a yellow dress. He wore a light blue shirt. They sat and talked on the couch for hours.

"Sun is going to set in 32 minutes, you might want to get up on deck," Ron said, checking his watch anxiously. Carmen smiled curiously. That was the third time he'd given them an ETA on sunset. Why was he so worried about them missing the sunset? Wait... was Eric going to... No. It wasn't happening tonight. Carmen had casually patted Eric's pockets earlier that evening, just to see if she could feel the ring- and she couldn't. They had picked the ring out together, he'd brought it on the cruise, she thought it would happen on the trip- but maybe it wouldn't. Maybe Eric would wait until the last night. Or maybe he'd wait until they were home to ask. Or maybe he wasn't ready yet. In any case, it wasn't happening tonight. "Yup, we should head up if we're going to catch the sunset," Eric finally conceded when Ron gave another update (only 20 minutes left). Carmen and Eric walked the eight flights of stairs up to the top deck. There were no pool chairs out with sun-fried tourists, no screaming kids, no crewmen holding hand-sanitizer singing "washie, washie;" just a humbling breeze, a lambent sunset, and the two of them. Eric held her around her waist and they watched the sun fall discreetly below the horizon line, able to see it sink with every second that passed. "Where's the moon?" Eric asked as he released Carmen from the hug they'd been in and stepped to her side. "Well the sun set there, so the moon's going to be back there," Carmen turned around and looked to the sky, but saw Eric drop in her periphery. On one knee, he pulled the ring out of his front pocket, holding back a giddy smile and offering it out to her. "Oh God, is it happening!?" Carmen tried to ask, but she was already tearing up. "Will you marry..." he said 'me,' but the word stopped in his throat. The ring slid on her finger and Carmen nodded as she tried to squeak out her yes. With the swirling amber and pink horizon behind them, the two silently latched onto each other in an endless embrace.

Coming Soon to a Venue Near You (or really far away from you, depending on where you are at this moment)