2023/08/23 - Dan + Bonnie (+Marcel)

As indicated in my "Introduction", many of my stories are influenced to greater or lesser degrees by the NAST files (see "Introduction" for details about NAST). This is a highly expanded account of a story related by one of our patients.

We had a number of sessions with a woman in her late 20's, who came to us seven and a half months pregnant. The backstory and seduction is depicted essentially as she described it to us.

She conveyed to us that she was aware that she was impressionable by nature, liked to follow the crowd, and was always willing to immerse herself in transitory interests. She feels that these traits, taken together with a skilled seducer who could read her like a book, created the perfect storm. Her husband actually did witness her fall for her seducer right before his eyes.

By the time she became our patient, she was back home living with her parents, but was still hopeful that her marriage could be saved, although they were estranged and not in communication.

Our patients vary in their reasons for coming to us. Many, as was the case here, have a target result in mind. Our patient was working on understanding why she did what she did, with the end goal of getting her estranged husband to forgive her and return to her.

By the time the divorce was final, she understood that he wasn't coming back, so she had no incentive to continue with us. Also she had given birth along the way and her redirected energies gave her less time to carry on with our sessions. So, the expanded story is a fiction, although informed by our knowledge of the patient herself.

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Daniel Cooper and Bonnie Gordon got married when he was 23 and she was 22. Dan was a whizz kid two years out of college and everyone knew he was on track for corporate advancement. He had always been the guy that people flocked to even though you'd never pick him out of a crowd.

Average in all respects but subtly handsome. Light brown hair, light brown eyes, average mid-European colouring. He had an earnestness about him that made people want to be his friend. He was trusted and respected all through school and that followed him into the business world, where it served him well.

As steady and down-to-earth as Dan was, Bonnie was carefree and happy-go-lucky. As a girl, she was all unicorns and rainbows. She'd been the typical college idealist. When the campus socialists told her how great Marx was, Bonnie was a communist for, like, 5 minutes. When she met refugees from Cuba who'd fled for their lives, dodging sharks and clinging to an inner tube, she changed her mind. She wasn't stupid, but it was clearly Dan who had the grey matter in their relationship.

She was capable, pleasant, pretty and positive. The glass was always half full with Bonnie. Everything was worth considering and she was highly impressionable. When two of her college girlfriends came back from spring break in Brazil, she was intrigued by the dresses and bikinis they brought back. Suddenly, and again for 5 minutes, everything Brazilian was cool, so she went to import shops and indulged her obsession.

A boy she liked just before she met Dan in her junior year liked heavy metal music and leather, and so suddenly all heavy metal music was good, regardless of whether it was, and she bought leather garments, both real and faux.

In fact, Dan met Bonnie at an on-campus clothing drive. Dan was volunteering for the charity that collected used clothes for the poor and homeless. Bonnie was dumping everything that wasn't leather and wasn't black. She was stood, rooted to the spot, watching this warm, engaging boy, interacting effortlessly with donors and other charity volunteers alike. She watched in amazement.

He gracefully diffused any complication, difficulty or crisis. His calmness under pressure was infectious and people deferred to him. She'd never noticed him around campus, had she? He certainly wasn't the kind of guy who would catch every eye walking into a room. No, you needed to get close to him to observe him working quietly.

She introduced herself and he did likewise. They chatted a bit and in short order she was hooked. She couldn't believe it; there she was, the leather-clad, wanna-be metal head, asking about the charity and the campus volunteer group, and there was the solid young man conversing with her effortlessly, politely and attentively. She took her leave as he got busy again.

Bonnie went home, and went to work, desperately sifting through what remained of her old pre-leather wardrobe. She found a presentable ensemble, washed the "metal" out of her hair and scrubbed it from her face.

The following day she saw him walking about the campus. Bonnie hoped that if she could cross paths with this guy, he wouldn't recognize her from the day before. She'd be so mortified if he recognized her as the metal poser he'd met the day before.

She choreographed it with perfection, backing into him as he browsed through greeting cards at the Big C, the campus convenience store. Feigning a startled look, she said "Oh, I'm so sorry..... hey, aren't you Dan?" He brightened up like a sunrise. "Oh yeah.... hey, Bonnie, right?". Right now, she thought that maybe a bit of disarming sincerity was in order, "Yes! Wow, you remembered. I looked so different yesterday, how did you even recognize me?"

"The eyes. Bonnie, I saw your eyes yesterday, and ha! You still have 'em. You know, ya gotta change your eyes, too, if you don't want people to recognize you."

Bonnie was stunned and softly said, almost to no one in particular, "You remember my eyes." Dan gave a warm chuckle and confessed "Well, they are hard to forget." Damn, she felt her nipples harden and the telltale signs down below. She knew that if she didn't get a grip, it was going to be "cleanup on aisle 5." She tagged along and chatted with him as he queued up at the cashier's.

She followed him out the door and announced that she had to get going for a business class that started in 10 minutes on the other side of campus. Dan had no more mechanical engineering classes for the day, so he unlocked his bike from the rack and patted the crossbar and told her to have a seat.

As he rode her across campus in three minutes flat, she whooped and squealed with delight. He stopped at their destination, and she began to slide off uneasily as the bike tilted. Dan reached out and wrapped his arm around her midriff as she gained her footing. She put her arm across his thin but well-toned back, and tarried just long enough to telegraph that she didn't want to leave his side.

"What time does your class let out?" he inquired. Bonnie told him it was 90 minutes. "Um Bonnie," his usually confident demeanour crumbling, "uh, can I.... I mean would it be alright to walk you home after class.... um, uh, maybe grab something to eat?" She squealed, gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and dashed off to class. "I guess that's a yes," Dan smiled to himself.

He sat there and thought about her. She was quietly pretty. She was bubbly. He liked her figure. She had medium sized boobs and a cute ass. Her hair was a lighter brown than his, and because she wore it loose, the sun shining through it showed subtle blonde highlights that were all natural. And dark blue eyes.

From that day, they were an item. Neither was a virgin when they met, but they weren't wild either. A couple of short relationships, a couple of ill-advised one-nighters. Their scorecards were evenly matched, more or less. But from their second date they belonged only to each other.

Dan was strong and steady in bed, albeit somewhat conservative. But he could deliver, and did so again and again. Bonnie was uninhibited. Bonnie liked to talk, coo, laugh and move. She was energetic and wanted to try every position imaginable. She surprised Dan, in a good way, and made him a very happy man.

They had a wonderful relationship and were best friends as well as lovers. Dan had always been good natured but Bonnie really made him smile. Dan took a bemused view of Bonnie's fascination with passing fads. At a certain time, a handful of films and hit records drew attention to the emerging talent pool in Australia. And Bonnie jumped on board. Anything and everything from Australia became her obsession.

She rented "Crocodile Dundee". She listened to everyone from AC/DC to Helen Reddy. She started talking about shrimp on the barbie. And just as suddenly it passed. But for those few weeks, everything Australian was better, and the Ozzies could do no wrong. He did not recognize the seeds of anything catastrophic here, and so it became just another silly trait that couples endure in one another for the sake of the greater good.

He graduated and went to work for NCP (Newton-Cole Partnership, Engineering Consultants). She entered her senior year and they moved in together. They got engaged. Bonnie's parents loved Dan and Dan's parents adored Bonnie. Matt and Diane Cooper were just swept away by Bonnie's zest and her obvious love for their son. A wedding was planned for the following year, a month after Bonnie's graduation and two months after her 21st birthday.

Matt and Diane decided that their wedding present to Dan and Bonnie would be a honeymoon in Hawaii. Bonnie's parents, Herb and Alice Gordon were in on the plan, and sworn to secrecy. Matt and Diane embarked on a research mission, ostensibly to make sure things went flawlessly. But to treat themselves to a bit of fun as well. They flew into Honolulu, posed in front of a palm tree and texted the photo to Herb and Alice, with the caption "Halfway to Paradise". Then they grabbed a puddle jumper to Lanai, and disappeared from radar on approach.

Dan's parents were two of the twelve people whose remains were recovered a week later, some 200 yards off shore. The wedding was delayed for a year, and Bonnie nursed Dan through the heartache. Herb and Alice became so much more than Dan's in-laws. To Dan they became Dad and Mom.

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Dan excelled at work. Everyone who met him knew instinctively that he was on his way to great things. Bonnie used her degree in business administration to get an entry-level administrative position at the local hospital.

The eventual wedding was a bittersweet event. Two floral arrangements were left on the otherwise empty pew where the groom's parents would have sat. They did go to Lanai for their honeymoon. Herb and Alice paid for it in memory of Matt and Diane.

On their first day there, Dan and Bonnie chartered a boat which took them to the crash site. They threw a pair of wreaths into the indifferent sea, said a prayer, shed some tears, and made their way back to the resort to enjoy the rest of their honeymoon the way Matt and Diane had intended.

Dan and Bonnie decided between themselves to hold off on having kids until he had a couple of promotions under his belt. But they gave themselves a deadline. In the off chance that promotions didn't come, they'd start their family when she hit 28. As good fortune would have it, a senior member of the NCP team put in his retirement papers, and the resulting chain of vacancies pulled some of the junior guys up the ladder, Dan included. He was 28 and had been on the job for over 5 years. Bonnie was 27.

Their only disappointment was that the promotion was for one of the out-of-state facilities. So, Dan and Bonnie pulled up stakes, and moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina. It was early July. Herb and Dan rented a pair of UHauls, hitched them up to their cars, and hauled the young couple's lives into the up-and-coming college town of Slottersville.

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After tearful goodbyes, the Gordons headed back north, and Dan settled into his new job, in his new office. Bonnie spent a few weeks setting up their happy home. It was a two-bedroom flat, close to Dan's office and not too far from the the rest of the action the town had to offer. They could look for a house to buy at ther leisure. After a month, Bonnie started looking for work.

Despite her hospital experience, none of the currently-vacant positions at the local health care facilities seemed like a good fit. Then she saw a vacancy at the admissions office of the local college.

She had driven past the school a few times over the previous weeks and had thought it a pretty campus. Maybe it was time for a change. Hospital jobs just weren't jumping out of the woodwork, and hospitals seemed cold, clinical and institutional. Square buildings with funny smells, on busy streets with funny smells.

She liked the look of the college campus. Pretty gothic buildings festooned with ivy. Large greens and commons, criss-crossed by walkways, shaded by trees. Students picnicking on the lawn. Frisbees sailing and music wafting. She remembered college fondly and suddenly Bonnie was off to the races with her latest obsession. Working at the college would be so cool. So invigorating. So rejuvenating. So romantic.

Bonnie interviewed for the job and within days was called back. Dan supported her decision, whatever it might be. So, at the beginning of September, two months after rolling into town and settling into their new apartment, Bonnie landed a job as an assistant in the admissions office at Lambley College and started on Monday.

A day or two into her first week on the job, Bonnie was invited by the department to attend an after-school social in the Great Hall. She was encouraged to bring Dan along so he could meet the people with whom she worked.

He came home from work early enough, not only to get ready for the event, but also to have a quickie with his sweetheart. They made love, then frolicked in the shower, and after they dried off he tried to take her a third time in the bedroom. "Ooh Danny, save some for later! I'll give you the full treatment after the social." Dan leered, "Damn right, hot stuff. God, I love you." "Mmm, baby," she cooed as she snuggled her back into his chest, "I love you, too. I'm yours."

The school also encouraged faculty from various departments to attend the event. It was a good thing for the admissions people to have some familiarity with the Lambley faculty. One of the people they met was the man who in the blink of an eye would become The Love of Bonnie's Life, Marcel Philandre, a visiting French Literature professor from Paris.

He had spotted Bonnie and came up to introduce himself, nearly ignoring Dan. Bonnie listened to the professor's beautiful accent, gazed into his fascinating eyes and felt herself carried away to another place. She took in his odour, a cross between cologne, sweat and cigarettes. Dan thought he smelt obnoxious. Bonnie found it intoxicating.

Dan watched them fawn all over each other for what felt like the longest 30 seconds of his life, and then cleared his throat. Bonnie snapped out of it just long enough to introduce her husband. Dan was a quick judge of character and was rarely off mark. The smarmy professor made superficial conversation with Dan. He poured on the well-practised Parisian charm. Dan saw right through him.

When the good professor Philandre sensed that he was making little headway with Dan, he excused himself with a bow and a flourish. Bonnie swooned. Dan tried not to vomit. "So Danny! What did you think of Professor Philandre? Isn't he so interesting?"

"Well Bon, I'm not all that impressed."

She scoffed good-naturedly as if he couldn't possibly mean that. "No, baby, I mean, he's so different, so interesting! I mean.... France! He's from France! I've always thought France was such an amazing place!"

"Is that right? Bonnie, this is the first I'm hearing of it. I've known you, what, 7, 8 years almost, and I've never even heard you ask for French Fries."

"Oh come on Danny, ya gotta admit, he's got that whole sophisticated thing going on. I mean, he exudes it!".

"Yeah he exudes bullshit, Bon. And he exudes B.O. The guy needs a shower."

"Oh please! That's the way they are over there. It's a different culture!" She went to the ladies' room and Dan looked around. He looked at the people in the Great Hall. The spinstery admins who seemed to gather in one corner. The various faculty members, some genteel and cordial, others full of themselves and holding court.

And of course, there was the forty-something Marcel Philandre holding court, oozing continental unction to a handful of gullible girls. Secretaries, teaching assistants, work-study students who were supposed to be carrying the hors-d'oeuvres trays, any woman under the age of 25. They hung on his every word.

Jesus, where the hell was Bonnie? Oh there she is. Here she comes. She walked toward Dan until she caught sight of the gaggle of competitors surrounding Marcel Philandre. She made a beeline for the professor and jostled her way into proximity. The two of them locked eyes and the gaggle was quickly ignored.

Dan watched the two of them from across the room, gave it a few minutes then made his way over. Bonnie reluctantly made the rounds with Dan. "Oh Danny! Marcel was just telling me that he's a visiting professor. He's here for this semester and the next. What a fascinating man! Don't you think so?"

Dan stopped dead and looked her in the eye. "No I don't find him interesting or fascinating or any of that. Bonnie, I get a real bad vibe off him. He's a phony."

She got her hackles up. "Why Daniel Cooper! I'm surprised at you! You hardly know the man. You've barely said three sentences to him. I have spoken to him at some length and he's not like that at all. He's wonderful!"

Dan looked at her with enough of a shock on his face to temporarily pull her out of her delusion. She went into quick-fix mode. "Danny, baby, you know what I mean. You know I love you, but you've got to let me make friends here at work. I don't expect you to like all my friends, but please, baby.... give them a chance."

They made the rounds as a couple and introduced themselves to other department heads and other faculty. But every time Dan would get into a conversation with a new acquaintance, Bonnie would find a need to go to the ladies' or to grab herself a drink. Sometimes she would just slip away without a pretext. Every time Dan would look up from his conversation, he'd spy her across the room with Marcel Philandre.

She was in a haze and didn't hide it. Finally Dan had seen enough. He walked up to his wife and, ignoring Philandre, coldly told her "Mrs Cooper. I'm leaving." She suddenly felt fear. "You can come home with me now, or you can sort out someone else to drive you to the apartment." She noticed he didn't refer to their place as Home.

"Perhaps Professor Philandre should give you a ride since you seem to prefer his company." She told Dan to get their coats and they could leave. Perhaps it was best that Dan was out of earshot, as Bonnie took her leave of the professor, conjuring up what in her mind passed for sophisticated banter, "Oh Marcel, you simply must forgive my husband for his behaviour. He just doesn't understand the ways of your culture. We simply must meet again. Au revoir, Marcel."

She then affected the whole kiss-on-each-cheek thing. Just like they do in France! She floated dreamily to the front door of the Great Hall, where an unhappy Dan awaited her with her wrap. Things were frosty on the way home but she didn't care. Bonnie was on cloud nine.

All promises of romance after the social were quickly forgotten. Dan was angry and hurt. Bonnie was oblivious.

The following day they got ready for work. Bonnie was chipper. She spoke to Dan as if it were just another day. Dan barely uttered a word to her and left without a goodbye, let alone a kiss. It was the first time they'd parted company without a kiss since the day he'd ridden her to class on his bicycle.