The problem had occurred when Kayla started thinking about family and the future and having babies. Now that we were back in L.A., in the land of the beautiful, rich, and famous, she would get back to normal. She just needed to be reminded of the fun. I had a brilliant idea, and decided to give her a call.
"What are you doing tomorrow?" I asked her. It was the first time I had called her, and she'd answered on the first ring, letting me know she'd been anxiously waiting for my call.
"That depends on you," she stated cautiously. "Do you have an answer for me?"
"I have something better. A date. Go out with me tomorrow."
"Ethan. I can't keep doing this," Kayla sighed, but I cut her off.
"I know you can't. I've been thinking about it these past few days and I have your answer, but I don't want to just blurt it out over the phone. Go out with me tomorrow, and by the end of the date, you'll know.
"Okay," she agreed. I felt my heart turning flips in my chest. It was so loud, I wondered if she could hear it, too.
Beaming with excitement, I said to her, "Use my account to buy yourself a new dress. I'm taking you to the hottest club in L.A. Dinner, drinks, and we'll go dancing all night long. The paparazzi will go crazy, and you'll feel like the shining star that you are."
"Oh." She sounded disappointed, and all my excitement deflated out of me like a punctured balloon.
"That's not what you wanted? Okay, I'll tell you what. You pick the date. Where do you want to go tomorrow? Anyplace in the city. The sky is the limit."
"Any place in the city? Really? You mean it?" I grabbed onto the hopeful note in her voice.
"Of course. Just tell me where."
"Well, the place I want to go is best if we arrive early during the day, and then we won't want to leave until after midnight."
"That's fine."
"And, you are going to want to wear comfortable shoes and probably shorts and a tee-shirt."
"Okay." Now I was intrigued. "Where is this place?"
"The happiest place on earth!" she cried out with girlish glee.
"Disneyland?" I couldn't believe it. Of all the amazing places in this city, she picked a child's amusement park, but I had agreed, so I couldn't back out now. "You got it. Grab your mouse ears, and I'll pick you up in the morning.”
When I pulled up in front of her apartment the next day in the Ferrari, she looked adorable with her blonde hair parted in the middle and tied back into two pigtails. She was wearing denim cut off shorts, walking shoes, and a tightly fitted red tee-shirt that made her breasts look like two, gigantic, luscious cherries. I felt like a fool in brand new khaki shorts and a polo shirt. It was the most casual outfit I had, and I'd never even worn it before.
"Ready to go?" I asked as she climbed into the car.
"Yes! I'm so excited. I haven't been since just before Tommy's heart surgery to treat his myotonic M.D. The whole family took a trip together just in case the he didn't survive, so we would have a special memory of him to share."
"Man, that's tough." I didn't know what else to say.
"It's okay. It turned out we didn't need it; obviously, he survived fine, but we still got the awesome memories anyway. So, how long has it been since you've been to the Magic Kingdom?"
"Actually, I've never been," I confessed, and she looked shocked and horrified.
"How can you spend your entire life living in Los Angeles and not have been to Disneyland? It's the happiest place on earth."
"Well, my childhood wasn't very happy. My mother abandoned me when I was a kid, and then I was taking care of my father. By the time she came back, I was working and going to school full time. In college, my idea of the happiest place on earth was getting high on speed, and after that, it was burying myself in work. As I aged, it became building my company, and now it's having sex with you."
"Well then, it's about time you discovered a whole new kind of joy. No wonder you fear commitment and the family life; you've never had the chance to be a real kid and do real family things. Get ready for the experience of a lifetime." She beamed at me as she took me by the hand and led me up the front gate.
I felt like a fool. What was a 42-year-old man going to do at a kids’ amusement park all day? But Kayla was right. There was a magical quality to the place that allowed me to put aside such notions and throw myself into the fun. The trip on Space Mountain was my first ride on a roller coaster, and for the first time, I understood what the excitement was all about.
I loved watching Kayla's eyes glisten with joy as she sang along with the mechanical parrots in the Tikki Room, and as our boat drifted through the dark caves of It's a Small World, we kissed tenderly and I longed to make love to her so that we could make a child of our own to bring back there someday. It was the first time I had ever had those feelings, and I knew it was from feeling all the joy that filled this magical place of play and wonder.
Making it out of the crowded parking lot was hell, but we finally did it, and I had to admit it had been the perfect way to spend the day.