As it turned out, there was no need to brace himself for drama because it was all just a coincidence. Kurt did not know, but there were important company papers that needed to be signed that day and h
is father had been scheduled to head into Portland for an accounts meeting. Obviously, because the health scare had occurred, he could not make the discussion, but he had spoken to Clive over the phone from the hospital and suggested that someone bring the papers around for him to sign in the evening. Because Clive could not come himself, he had thought it a good idea to send the family a friendly face by asking Darlene.
Earl and Brenda were delighted to see an old family friend right then, greeting her warmly and asking her all about how her first days in the job had gone. All the while they had no idea there was something going on, though Kurt was aware he was saying very little, being afraid that the chemistry between them might be obvious when they spoke.
Darlene stayed for dinner and so the evening proved another warm family gathering. It was only when she got up to leave that Kurt was able to get a moment alone with her, as his father had some boxes of paperwork he had intended to take to Portland earlier that day.
‘Don’t even think of it, dad,’ he ordered, when Earl seemed about to get up and do the heavy shifting. ‘I’ll take them to the car for Darlene; you do as mom says and put your feet up.’
For once his father had no choice but to listen and Kurt headed outside with Darlene.
‘You gave me a surprise there, babe,’ he told her.
‘I know! I volunteered at the last minute and only considered that you might…’
But she cut her sentence short and Kurt turned to find her staring down the road at something.
‘Is something up?’ he asked.
‘I don’t believe it! It’s him,’ she replied, clearly struggling with what to think.
‘Who?’
‘Jefferson – he’s right there in that jeep, staring right at us.’
‘Who’s Jefferson?’
Of course, Kurt had never actually asked for the name of Darlene’s ex. Up until then he had complete zero interest in the man and, being worlds apart, he never expected to lay eyes on him.
‘My crazy ex. He must have been following me all the way from Portland,’ said Darlene.
‘Are you sure?’ Kurt asked. He could see the man’s face but could make out no distinguishing details. If asked to describe this Jefferson, he would have probably asked you to picture the most boring looking man in the world; a cardboard cut-out with a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses.
But Darlene seemed pretty sure.
‘He must have come all the way over from Boston. What does he think he’s doing?’
It had been a fairly surreal day and so perhaps Kurt can be excluded from staring back a bit dopily at first, but Darlene’s last question caused him to wake up a little. If there really was some weirdo following his girl about the place, then he was not going to stand idly by.
‘Damn straight, girl! I think I’ll be having a word with this bozo,’ said Kurt, dropping the box of papers onto the front lawn and then taking the first purposeful steps of what was going to be a march towards this Jefferson. His movement saw a response from the jeep, however, and so he only managed a few steps before stopping. From what he had heard of the man, standing in the road when he was endeavouring to speed by was quite possibly not the wisest decision.
How unhinged was this guy, after all?
The two of them then stood back and watched the jeep pass by, at which point Jefferson wound his window down, stuck his head out and shouted, ‘You slut! Burn in hell!’
Then he carried on past and down the road. Kurt got the impression he was trying to speed away but, from the sound of the engine, there was the distinct impression that Jefferson was having trouble getting the vehicle into gear.
‘Well, that wasn’t very nice,’ Kurt reflected.
‘And I thought it was all over with,’ said Darlene, ‘I can’t believe he’s followed me all this way.’
‘You did say he had been like a stalker.’
‘Annoying phone calls and Facebook messages, but nothing like this.’
‘That was why you deleted your Facebook account?’
‘That’s right!’