When the text message came in, I thought it was sort of a joke.

"If you could go anywhere 4 a 3 day wknd, where?" Nothing fancy, but still the sort of question I received periodically from Sam. Because I was in the mood and hadn't been back there for a while, I sent back "San Diego / Ocean Beach". After the text was se nt, I didn't think anything more about it. I assumed she was looking to get away for the weekend and wanted to pick my brain. She would enjoy it and I would get a text a few days later "Thanks for the idea, it was great!" Don't get me wrong, Sam's a sweetheart and I was part of the "inner circle"; a g roup of friends who she kept around her after she hit the big time. She said we kept her grounded and reminded her of where she came from and what was important to her. While part of that inner circle, I was more one of the outer edges of i t. Not a big deal, just what it was. It was great when she would do a show in to wn because I would get free tickets and go backstage and would be invited to the after-show party. I went, but with all of the people there clamoring for her at tention, I would usually leave early, text her about her show, and exchange a fe w flirty comments. Friday morning came and I slipped into the office. I had recently decided to mak e a big career change and it had worked well. She was on my list of people to ta lk to that day anyway. Well, actually I needed to talk to her publicist. They wa nted website adjustments and she was one of my clients. We were friends before a nd she had encouraged me to go it on my own, since she told me I had encouraged her to finally embark on this career path. I think I said something like, "if yo u are going to keep waxing poetic, why not just chase the dream and damn the tor pedoes!" It worked, even if it sounded cheesy in retrospect. Just before noon, I received another text message from her, "I'm on my way, will be there in a few minutes, be ready to go!" Now I was a bit curious. I knew tha t the publicist wanted to talk to me, but that was typically a phone call and no t a visit from Sam. Maybe she was taking me to lunch for the discussions. At noo n, she sent another text, "Outside, waiting for you love." I exited my office an d went down to the street. She was in the platinum colored BMW she'd bought when the first album went platinum. I stepped in and she drove off. She navigated th rough downtown, passing most of the places I typically lunched with clients and then crossed the river. I realized then something else was up, but she was on a call to her publicist advising she would take care of the web site meeting today , she had already been in touch with today anyway. She turned into the downtown airport and parked over by general aviation. So I asked what was going on and sh e started laughing. "You told me where we were going this weekend, remember?" I laughed unconsciously because I had assumed she meant something different with the text message and now I was standing beside her car, looking at a private je t and realizing, I was about to head to San Diego for the weekend. When I looked over at her, she grinned like the Cheshire Cat. I realized as I saw what she wa s wearing that had I paid attention to the outfit, I would have known what was g oing on. She was wearing a lower cut blouse and a pencil skirt slit way up the l eg. It was exactly the sort of outfit I've told her I thought was perfect on her . She had heels on to complete the look and the jewelry was sparse, almost non-e xistent as was her make up. Both again, nods to things I had said to her in the past. The grin widened as she watched my eyes move up and down her. "So, how do I look?" She laughed as she asked the question. "Fantastic!" I answered. "So, I take it our plane awaits." "It certainly does dear. Shall we?"

She held out her hand and I took it to escort her to the plane. She paused at th e top step for a moment. She was teasing now and making it clear she was having fun since she knew I am a leg guy. Then she slipped in and yelled back, "Hey lov e, can I give you a ride?" The flight out was a lot of fun. I'd not flown on a private jet before. I was al ways the commercial coach type. There were few seats in the plane and as she sat down, she asked me to sit across from her to face her. As we prepared for take off, she extended her legs and encircled mine, grinning at me. She was teasing m e more and I certainly wasn't objecting.