Part 1 is in the October Archives...
Adrian was surprised when Kidd showed up in a Black Lexus SUV, and sporting a pair of slacks and a sport coat. But his new look still matched his seemingly adventurous lifestyle. They met in front of a Target store at 10am. It was Kidd’s idea—some odd gesture of chivalry or polite dating, as not to impose the pressures of disclosing private addresses at such an early stage in courtship. And meeting at the KFC would have been a tacky unimaginative suggestion. In lieu of flowers, Kidd presented Adrian with a new pair of ‘Eagle Eyes’ sunglasses—another off-beat surprise.
Adrian did not look pretty. She was beautiful. Adorned in a very low cut white dress with matching white heels, a light blue sweater, and the most eye catching necklace Kidd had ever seen; dangling on a silver chain was a light blue gemstone pendant at least an inch and a half in diameter. It sparkled like a huge 25 carat blue diamond. And when Adrian slid onto the soft leather ivory seat, she did so as if riding side saddle, with a grace and manner of a princess. This did not go unnoticed by Kidd, whose eyes immediately looked down and got stuck on pause.
“What are you looking at?” The gentle lady said, transforming into a modern day woman and effectively hitting play. Kidd looked up and apologetically replied, “Sorry, I was envious of your legs, compared to my own that I have to cover up with slacks to hide the horror beneath.”
Twenty minutes into their trip to San Francisco, Adrian pulls a 360 on all of Kidd’s glamorous plans for time out in the City. “Let’s go to Disneyland instead.” She said chuckling. “What?” Kidd replied, showing a hint of annoyance at being trumped, and knowing he would basically agree to anything she wanted.
“We can drive down today, and go tomorrow, first thing in the morning.” Her eyes sparkled as she stared at her invisible plans floating between her and the windshield.
Kidd heaved a sigh. “Sounds pretty good I guess, haven’t been to Disneyland in a while.” Adrian beamed a smile and Kidd added, “But I have a better idea. We’re half way to SFO already. We can take my leer jet and be in L.A. in less than an hour. Better yet, we can fly into Santa Barbara; spend the day there instead of wasting it driving. Then we can hop into Orange County tonight and hit the town, and recuperate in Disneyland tomorrow.” Kidd glanced at Adrian and raised an eyebrow, fishing for an approval. Adrian sat and looked at Kidd quizzically. Leer Jet? What kind of guy is this Kidd anyway?
“Okay. I can’t believe this?” Adrian said, incredulously. “I love Santa Barbara. You have a jet? You can fly?”
“Yup, ever since I was a kid I wanted to have a plane. After I read about the Hardy Boy’s flying their father’s Cessna. Fenton Hardy was the father.”
“I didn’t read the Hardy Boys. I only read Nancy Drew, and I read one of that other book, what was it? Umm…Oh yeah, Tom Swift!”
“I can’t believe you read a Tom Swift book,” Kidd said, surprised. “I thought only guys read that book. I had like 20 Tom Swift books.”
“Well, I was a Tom Boy as a kid, no pun intended…The book I read was about pirates in the sky or something. I think they ought to have a modern day version of Tom Swift.”
“Yeah, I read that one too. It was Pirates on an Asteroid or something. It would be cool if Steven Spielberg took over writing a new Tom Swift series.”
“Ha ha!” Adrian laughed.
Adrian gazed at Kidd and gave him a long level look. It seemed like a life time ago since last she felt this comfortable talking with anyone.
…To be continued.
