Dan Henderson looked like your average guy, average height, average looks, but he had very above average intelligence, and above average charm. His intelligence had made him sought after as a software engineer coming out of college; his charm had won him the job, and a very attractive wife.
Dan had met Kelly in college while he was studying engineering in Texas, and she was a freshman without any idea what she wanted to study. Not that she wasn't intelligent, she was very smart, but she was one of those people who had trouble making up their mind. She had spent most of her life sheltered, with her parents telling her what to do and how to behave, and for the most part she obeyed. She rebelled a little, in the way all teenagers rebel against their parents, but she had grown up a very good daughter.
Dan had also been a good kid growing up, but his mind was always working, trying to figure out how to accomplish this or that. Yet he always worked within the framework of rules his parents laid out for him.
When they first met, Kelly wanted little to do with Dan. He was tutoring her roommate in physics, a job he took so he'd always have a few bucks in his pocket, and when he first saw her he fell instantly in love. Kelly was used to dating jocks or very attractive men, and she virtually ignored him when on that first meeting.
He pursued her for several weeks, and she continually shot him down, but his persistence and charm eventually won her over and she agreed to a date. She had the time of her life and found him to be the most intelligent, witty, and caring man she had ever met. They were inseparable from that night forward.
They dated throughout the rest of his time in college, and even after Dan graduated and got a job at a small software company. He took the job because it was near the school and he could see Kelly every day. He guided her through college and she graduated with a degree in biochemistry. At the graduation party her parents threw for her, he proposed and she happily accepted. Her family adored him, his parents loved her, and it seemed a match made in heaven.
After they were married, Dan got a job with a much larger software firm in Dallas, a few hours from where both their parents lived. They bought a house in a quiet neighborhood filled with retired people, and a few young professionals like themselves. For a few months, Kelly halfheartedly looked for a job, but she could never decide on one, and enjoyed her time taking care of the house. She didn't need to work, and Dan never made it in issue; he enjoyed coming home to a well cooked meal and well decorated, clean house.
Kelly had a very close relationship with her mother and younger sister and would often make the hour long drive to visit them on the family farm. She would spend the day with them, chatting and helping out, then drive back home to have dinner ready for Dan. She loved her dad and brother too because they were family, but was not nearly as close to them and her mother and sister.
While her dad had treated his wife like a queen and his daughters like princesses, he objectified other women. He was a frequent visitor to topless bars, had occasional one night stands, and even took his son to Nevada for his eighteenth birthday and got them both prostitutes for the night.
Her brother, Tom, held the same views as her father, but was not as smart at hiding it, which ended his marriage in divorce. Since then her brother dated one girl after another, not even pretending to look for a serious relationship. Kelly had even caught him eying her and their little sister up and down on more than one occasion.
Dan was an only child, and had a great relationship with both his parents, although neither one quite understood his intellect. They knew he was smart, and that he understood things that many other people did not, but that was the extent of it. One thing he shared with his father was a love of woodworking, and in their new house Dan had a workshop built into their garage.
About a year after their marriage, Kelly's mother died suddenly from a stroke. Less than six months after that, her sister got married and moved to California. The two losses so close together sent Kelly into a depression. Dan realized this but was unsure how to help her. Although they lived comfortably, money was tight, but Dan offered to pay for a trip to visit her sister in California. Kelly was so depressed that she refused his offer.
Their sex life suffered too, and for several weeks Dan was understanding about it, but when those weeks turned into months he couldn't take it anymore. He loved his beautiful wife to death, but her unwillingness to have sex was making him angry. Things finally came to a head one night, as he got worked up watching her sexy body as she changed her clothes before bed. When she completely ignored him as she sullenly climbed into bed he threw his head into his pillow in frustration.
"Nothing again," he muttered, angrily.
"What?" Kelly asked, not hearing what he said.
"When are you going to snap out of this funk you're in?" he asked instead of answering her. "We haven't had sex in about three months."
"I'm sorry," she snapped, rolling over away from him. "I'm sorry that my mother died, and my sister moved away. And I'm sorry that my grief is keeping you from getting laid!"
Dan got angrier at her words. He had given her plenty of time to get over her mother's death. He knew it wasn't the response he should give her, but he was so mad he couldn't control himself; he reached over and grabbed her arms and dragged her out from under the covers.
