Charlotte’s heart did not know whether to jump for joy or retreat back into the shadows that had concealed it for so long, when she saw him. He still had that smiling, I don’t care look about him. His eyes still sparkled and shone so that the person on the receiving end believed there was no one else he would rather be a with at that moment. His laughter, as powerful as ever drifted across the room, as she had heard it do so many times before. She stood there trying to look as casual as possible, looking round at all the old familiar faces, and noticed to her surprise that most of them had seemed to stop in time, as if in the 20years since she had seen them last, for just a fraction of a second seemed like only 20 minutes ago.

Some of them, glanced up at her as she stood with her hand resting on the bar and her other hand holding a glass of the best champagne. One man in particular who was seated with his back slightly bent with age and his leg outstretched as if the effort of bending it would be too much for him, caught her gaze and just for a second he though the tall attractive woman at the bar was someone he once knew. But after looking at her eyes, he realised it could not possibly be the same girl, and it must be his mind playing tricks on him. The girl whom he thought it was would never have stood so aloof and unsmiling. She would have been laughing and her eyes dancing with the music. Not dark and unseeing as this lady was. And his mind not fully remembering what it was he was supposed to be reminiscing about turned round to his old mate Bill and carried on chatting.

It all seemed so strange to Charlotte, another dream come true for her as so many others had in the past twenty years when she had decided with much heartache but determination, that she was not going to live a life of poverty, that love was nothing but a foolish emotion, and one which in her future would have no place in her heart ever again.

When she looked back her first 30 years had not been easy, yet once she set her heart on something she always attained her goal, well at least nearly always. There was one exception and one that had slipped through her fingers no matter how hard she had tried. In the end she had to give up, hurt and bewildered, but with more determination to succeed than she had ever had before.

The room she stood in now had been a planned nearly 20 years ago.

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