Slow Love 2-It Ain't Over

Chapter 5

I finish all my online studies and classes for my teaching certificate, passing the exam with no problem. The classmate who followed me, aka the stalker, apologized when I saw him with my new bodyguard at the next class. He never really figured out who I am. Sometimes when I'm out and about by myself, I wear my mother's plain gold wedding band as to not draw attention to his symbol ring I was married with as my wedding ring. My classmate thought I was single and when he realized I was married, he was so embarrassed. He also thought he scared me when I went to the police station. All was forgiven and we are good. The exam was a timed computer generated test, we know instantly that we passed and our certificate for teaching will be recorded immediately if we want to start working right away. 

The gal my husband hired to be my bodyguard is a lovely woman, about my age. She is a retired detective from the Minneapolis police force. After thinking about it, I decided to tell my classmate, Jerry, who I am on our final trip out to the parking lot. When we get to the lot I turned toward him, "Jerry, there's something I want to tell you." Jerry looked at me kind of puzzled, "Karen, I hope you're not still mad at me for following you two weeks ago?" "No, Jerry, I'm perfectly fine. I can't believe you don't recognize me?" He looks at me a little mythed. 

"Jerry, Karen Neal is my maiden name, my married name is, Gigi Neal Nelson. Ring any bells?" This next part is so priceless to see a 50 something man acting like a teenage girl made my day; squealing and jumping up and down. "Oh my god, Oh my god, oh my god! I can't believe I spent the last few weeks in class with Prince's wife and didn't even know it. You were not joking when you said you were going to teach at Paisley Park. Is Prince really going to open Paisley Park as a music school?" 

My bodyguard, doing her job, stepped between us and he got real quiet all of a sudden, "I'm surprised you didn't have me arrested and thrown in jail for following you. That's what happens, right?" I laughed, "No Jerry, there would have been a restraining order first. Yes, we are opening Paisley as a music school next year. Please, mums the word for now." 

We all laughed and he agreed to keep it a secret. I motioned for the bodyguard to move out of the way. Jerry picked up on it. "Karen, this lovely lady is not your friend giving you a lift to class is she?" I had to chuckle, "No Jerry, she is my personal bodyguard, Barbara; retired police detective. My husband insisted I have her with me in case you decided to escalate the incident from two weeks ago. He wanted to make sure I was safe." 

All flustered, "Karen..." "Please, call me Gigi. The only one that ever called me Karen was my mother, God rest her soul." He went on, "Gigi, I apologize for causing all this grief from me acting like a frat boy on hormones. Please allow me to take you to dinner or something to make up for this huge misunderstanding." 

"Aww Jerry, that's not necessary. No harm was done. However, I would like to invite you as my guest to Paisley Park this weekend for a Paisley After Dark Party. It is this coming Saturday night, usually late like around 10:00 pm. I'll give them your name at the box office and you will be escorted to my table." Poor guy, I think he's about to either pass out or pee his pants. 

"Are you serious? I wouldn't miss it for the world, I can hardly wait." He finishes seeing us to the car and as I watch him go to his car, he is jumping up and down, throwing his fists up in the air like he scored, it's like he's having a vertical seizure. God love him, he is really a sweet guy. 

He comes to the party and has a wonderful time with me at my private table. This was an 'unannounced' party with a performance for the album contest winner where one purchase in the US of the album gave you a chance to win a flyaway to Paisley Park for a performance, specified in the contest conditions to be in the week of 12-19 October. One 'Dorothy' won the contest.