The large country house where Ken Simpson and his wife lived was the main result of his successful venture into the stock market. Deals that he had made over the past ten years had made him wealthy and he and his wife, although they had become used to it, considered themselves to have not been changed at all by it.
Ken was 45 years old; his once wavy red hair was now rather thinning on top. He never worked out at all but he was still relatively fit. Ken was not a tall man at only 1.65m, and at 120 lbs could be considered quite skinny in build. His busy life style had taken its toll on his stress levels and an occasional visit to the therapist had been necessary to point him back in the right direction.
Denise Simpson was the same age as her husband, but naked looked a lot younger. I say naked because when dressed she looked like a 60 year old. Being a housewife was something Denise had taken for granted in her marriage and this had meant that for the most part of her active life she looked rather dowdy and homely in her appearance.
Being slightly taller her husband, at 1.78m had never been a problem with her but had made Ken feel a little intimidated by her. This made Ken happy to see his wife dressed as she usually was, as the dowdy look went some way to alleviate these unnecessary feelings. There was always the underlying fact in his mind, however, that underneath those drab clothes Denise had a magnificent figure.
Keeping such a large house on her own was hard work for Denise and although happy to do so most of the time, she did from time to time feel the employment of a house keeper would make her life a lot easier. Ken did not agree with this, although lack of finances was certainly not the reason. If Denise had more time on her hands she might spend it improving on her appearance, and Ken would need even more therapy to control his feelings of inadequacy.
Ken's work meant that he met a lot of new people during his working day, most of which were younger, fitter and better looking than him. He had never combined his work with his home life in any way, god forbid that any man would meet his wife and like her, let alone fancy her. The drive home from the office every night gave Ken time to reflect and always filled his mind with thoughts of what would happen if he and Denise ever parted.
Denise whilst spending her day cleaning, tidying and whatever else was needed took brief moments to think the same as Ken. What would happen if they parted? She loved her husband and never took these thoughts seriously, but she still had them. Denise did not realise that these faint notions had developed over the last few months and were now a regular part of her daily life.
Sexually Denise, although she wouldn't admit it, was frustrated. Ken was an attentive lover but orgasms for her were rare. Denise just put this down to the fact that they had gotten used to each other and as long as she made her husband happy in bed, that was ok. Their lovemaking usually lasted long enough for her but for the most part consisted of Ken banging away at her for a while before pulling out and cumming on her tight stomach. This particular Wednesday evening, Ken returned home as usual. Parking his Lexus in exactly the same spot as he always did, he made his way to the large oak front door and entered. The daily ritual of hugging his wife and hanging his coat on the stand in the hall was observed as it always was.
"Hello honey, how has your day been?" he chanted like a broken record.
"Fine dear, how about you?" was all Denise ever replied.
As he did every day Ken kissed Denise lightly on the cheek and said "Another day another dollar, you know how it is," in his monotone voice.
Tonight the normal ritual suddenly changed, and did much to make Kens stomach turn as Denise made a different reply. "I had a surprise phone call today honey"
"Really dear? And who might that be from?" Ken asked shakily.
"That's the surprising thing my love, I don't think you will know her, it was Karen" she answered.
Ken frowned slightly and replied, trying to control the hollow pit in his guts, "Karen? What Karen?"
Smiling as she replied, Denise carried on. "Karen James, she and I were at school together, I have no idea what made her think of me or even where she got my number, but it will be great to see her after all these years."
"See her, what do you mean see her? She's not coming here is she?" Ken replied trying not to panic.
Although he felt no threat from women sexually, Ken was worried that they may have an influence on Denise in the wardrobe and make up department. Not wanting his dowdy downtrodden wife to change in any way made him limit her contact with other people to as least as possible. Ken made sure that for Denise to get out and meet people was damn near impossible. Visitors to their house were out of the question; Ken had regularly turned down requests for visits and invitations from work colleagues.
"She kind of invited herself, but isn't it great?" Denise chirped as the pair of them entered the huge lounge.
Ken sank down onto the leather couch and tried quickly to think of a reason for rejecting the visit of Denise's schoolmate. His wife's enthusiasm made this difficult and resulted in him making the exact excuse that wouldn't work.
"You know honey that this weekend is impossible as I planned to do the garden" Ken stammered.
Quick to answer Denise retorted, "That's ok dear, she's on her way now and will be here in an hour"
In that single moment of brief conversation, Ken's stomach and head had swapped places several times. The sick dread that his wife would see a woman who would undoubtedly be a lot more glamorous than her filled his thoughts. Giving his wife a halfhearted smile Ken bowed to the inevitable and stopped talking. Denise turned and left the room heading upstairs to get ready. Ken closed his eyes and rested his head back on the couch, thinking of the impending visit to the therapist that he would soon need to make.
Ken had spent the hour since Denise's announcement drinking brandy and pacing the lounge. Denise had been upstairs getting ready, but as she owned mostly housecoats, jeans and thick jumpers she had found this a harder task than she had expected. In the end she came downstairs and entered the lounge in a cotton floral summer dress cut just above her gorgeous knees. Her shoulder length auburn hair, that was always tied back, hung down around her slender neck.
Ken looked at his wife and smiled, he had somehow forgotten that his wife, however much she wanted to, could not dress much differently than normal, as she had no special clothes to do so. This fact went a short way to alleviate the worries of Ken's insecure mind but the fact that his wife was so enthusiastic about meeting Karen made them linger still.
Suddenly the doorbell rang, startling them both, as it was such an unfamiliar sound. Ken had jokingly hoped, to himself, that it had broken with non-use over time. The moment of Ken's fears was upon him and he gulped slightly as Denise turned and bounded towards the door.
Ken stayed put in front of the lounge fireplace, a large brandy cupped in his hand. Suddenly Denise made a pronounced squeal of delight as Karen bounced in and almost knocked her off her feet in a huge hug. As the two women were rapped in each other's arms in the middle of the hall, Ken's heart nearly fell out into the fireplace as a large dark-haired man walked in behind them clutching a medium-sized suitcase in his fist.
Standing there open-mouthed Ken had to lean on the side of the couch for support as they all entered the lounge towards him. In the following few minutes as Ken had sat himself down, along with the others, it appeared that the man was Karen's new husband Billy. The suitcase contained enough clothes and possessions to allow Karen and Billy to stay for a few days. Denise was overwhelmed with joy that she would have company in the house for a while at least.
Ken thought quickly and tried every excuse he could think of why the pair of them shouldn't stay but to no avail. The outcome was that Billy and Karen would be staying for a while and that Ken would have to put up with it. Ken mentioned that he could take some time off from work but Karen and Billy had stated that they didn't want to disrupt anything.
There they all sat, drinks in hand, chatting mostly about their lives and the old school times between Karen and Denise. Billy was a garage owner and had apparently met Karen when she had brought her car in to be serviced. Karen jokingly said that she had received a better service than her car had from Billy, and Denise had not quite understood the pun. Ken knew exactly what she meant as he stared at the well-built man on the chair opposite him.
"Well well, you lucky girl," Ken heard himself state without thinking.
Denise looked puzzled as Billy smirked and replied "No luck about it dear boy" as he patted the front of his jeans.
Karen laughed and blurted out "Stop bragging you oaf, these guys don't want to hear about your equipment thank you"
"What equipment?" Denise said naively.
Both Karen and Billy laughed loudly together at Denise and Ken put his forehead in his hands as Karen replied, "My god Denise, what kind of sheltered life have you had?"
The rest of the evening went in similar fashion and Denise had provided a nice meal for them all. Ken felt sure that Billy was peering at his wife's legs as she sat opposite him on the couch, but he told himself that it was down to his paranoia. The feeling, however, was compounded as Ken saw Karen tap Billy's arm and whisper something in his ear as she had obviously noticed what Ken had.
Denise was enjoying the evening so much. She had never felt so relaxed. Sitting on the couch she took her shoes off and pulled her legs up under her, giving Billy a quick flash up her skirt. Karen also noticed this and gently scolded him again as he moved to make himself more comfortable.
The alcohol was beginning to have a real soothing effect on Denise as she relaxed in to the evening. Ken thought he needed to break the flow of the conversation and suggested that the dinner table needed clearing.
