All Comments on 'Enough was More than Enough'

Slightly confusing story. Was she really cheating on him? There's nothing definitive about her behaviour. Just because she doesn't answer all his suspicions, just because she leaves the page blank regarding the last 3 questions, does not give any indication of her infidelity. So is the ending to the story only based on Dennis' assumptions? If so, was justice done to Debby? I'm really confused.

It’s a sad story in a way because too many people let their jobs dictate the path their lives will take . And then they land up alone with no one to share their accolades with , I feel sorry for her .

Why do you use the word "their" wrongly?

He was an ass. Like his girl friend said, sit down and have a heart to heart talk.

Stupid ending. I don't care about her secret test taking formula, the questions were too easy if she even read them. Absurd.

Husband was a total jerk. Then again her freeze out of him for 9 months was surreal. What a mess.

Extraordinary, loved it.

I liked it. At least she showed him that the job was more important to her.

← We all make mistakes. Some more than others. . / the scars I have prove it. He /should Have been with his wife with her bosses!

Only water bed. Of merit was young and A beauty However,,she had A cat..,with nai… let us say it wasn't your ordinary we tspot!

Loved the story, but not the ending. 5 Stars

I liked it. Give it a 4. Too many readers complain about the characters. I took it as a fictional short story, nothing more. A unique twist on an old genre. Well done. DMW aka

Damn, maybe she was trying to be cute with her answer? If not, that’s cold and divorce is warranted. The mc was an ass, but didn’t deserve the attitude she gave him for a over a year.

Hard to believe I missed this way back when, thanks for sharing.

It was ok. He was an ass, I mean a bet with your student to retake a test if she'll show her tits if she fails? How childish and frankly creepy.

And instead of trying to fix the marriage or get it y he had an emotional affair. We never know if she did.

Meh. Clearly the wife wasn't interested based on the note she left though. Probably better for it too.

Well written, but sad.

Unsatisfactory Femdom agitprop. No answers. No ending. Just like real life…

Usually like your writing but this one not really interesting just sad.

Never finished... poor writing skills.

Interesting story, with interesting characters but unfortunately I'm left with lots of unanswered questions. Did Debbie cheat on him with more than just a job? Did she care that he took another woman to their bed? Did she have regrets when she realised wha she'd lost? Given how interesting the characters were, this story had real potential but there just wasn't enough of it to be truly great. What there is of it, is good, but it feels unfinished, almost like reading a book with missing pages. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, the idea of 2 geniuses (each in their own way) trying and failing to make a life togetger is an amazing premise, but it truly felt like reading chapters 1 and 3 of a book thats was missing chapters 2 and 4.

Ellen was a home-wrecking bitch!

This MC was pussywhipped desperate cunt for Debby

Incomplete

Some say she never cheated. She did. With an inanimate object. Her job! But? Did she come home after the dinner to find Ellen in bed with hubby?

humm not sure why but just left me flat as it were well written and interesting characters, um maybe because there really wasn't a sympathetic character to root for. It was hard to pick your favourite jerk, and non were nasty enough to really hate, either, it still could have worked if it were a longer piece maybe?

I have liked some of your other stories. It’s been a while since you’ve written, so I doubt you will read this. I hope this comment can help other writers pull the readers in more emotionally.

The tough part about the story was that all of the main characters were unsympathetic.

The MC is a self-absorbed, self impressed bore who does not expend much energy to saving his marriage. In fact, he starts dating while still married.

The wife is also self impressed and unaware or uncaring about the feelings or needs of her spouse.

The girlfriend Ellen is a homewrecker.

Why would Ellen want Debby's leftovers? The MC was a self impressed, insufferable POS. He was obviously NOT a genius in the art of introspection or the practice of humility. It would have been more rewarding to be married to a computer than his pompous prick.

I have read almost all of your stories and this one was one of the best (jaybee186) Oh I forgot I have been hacked three times so I can not join the lit circle of friends Can you do me a favour and ask the heads to make a new section called "CUCKOLDS" I am sick of all the cuck stories appearing in LOVING WIVES Keep writing some of your stuff is great

I have a theory... when the most intelligent and gifted people are dysfunctional and deranged, there is nothing that can match their insantiy... these two prove that uneqivocally.

Both characters are broken people. Why do people assume she never cheated?

I agree with xhristianj, this is a story about a self-centered asshole who completely torpedoed his wife's career and then got all up in his feelings because she worked hard to salvage something from the wreckage. Meanwhile, he started an emotional affair and then cast her aside. Villain as protagonist.

What's funny about this story was the husband is and was an Insufferable Ass. I mean how fucking narcissistic can you get I'm a genius and I'm the most loyal blah blah blah! He fucked his wife over and she was well within her rights to be fucking pissed! He had absolutely no ambition whatsoever typical teacher she was driven and ambitious so he passively aggressively fucked her career what a fucking piece of shit!

She never cheated and he was a dick who did 1*

When the cunt introduced herself as someone who wasn't willing to learn and work at his class but just try and find the cheat codes he should have known she was worthless.

I thought it was a very good story and had some interesting precepts. I think both of them were just too stubborn for their own good and even if he was unhappy he should not have had the affair. I do disagree with others that the test was a mistake I just think that her answer to the test did not fit with where she was at in the marriage.

@ErotFan, what's tricky about that test? 1) You still love your husband Dennis? Yes, 2) You think your job is more important than your marriage? No. 3: Do you don't want a divorce? I think "don't" is a typo, should be, "Do you want a divorce? No. Easy-peasy. SignedBTW, you say it WASN'T a typo. In that case, I'd explain my answer: If "don't" is a typo, then my answer is "no," if it's an awkward negative, then my answer is "yes."

\

@Anonymous Re: Husband killed the marriage? - How? He made a statement that SHE had taught him! It'd not his fault that the bosses took it the wrong way. He apologized, and she nursed the grudge for MONTHS!

\

@Anonymous Re: Ending - What's to get confused about? She couldn't figure out a SIMPLE test, they got divorced and he married Ellen.

\

@Anonymous Re: Where;'s the ending? - Her "reaction" was obviously to give him the divorce.

\

@Anonymous 2* - It doesn't matter if there was any cheating or not! She couldn't say that she loved her husband, that her marriage was more important than her job and that she didn't want a divorce. Any one of those is reason for a divorce even if she wor a cast iron chastity belt.

Re: Anon, 6 Months Ago

Explained the 3 question test at the end very well, I thought it was pretty obvious but it seems others didn't and some only saw a typo... I did have an instructor give a test once the same way he described; read all of the questions first with the last one telling you not to answer any but just sign your name at the top.

...

I may have mentioned this somewhere in more detail but I had an engineering class test once with exactly 100 questions. Part way down I spotted the pattern, A,B,C,D all of the way down. I caught Mr. Mann's eye with a questioning look and he just gave me a smile. Never scored an easier A. Except for that one time I always followed something I learned in Statistics, Debby was correct in one thing, there usually is a pattern. In multiple choice, at least back then if in doubt, choose C. One other trick, in either multiple choice, true or false or essay, skip any that you don't immediately know the answer to and answer all that you do. There are frequently clues to the ones you didn't know further down giving you a chance to answer them meaning you have a chance to get at least partial credit. In the worst case you didn't get gigged for ones you did know but ran out of time before you could answer them. No matter whst others thought a very clever, well done story with a set up that was unique wnich has to be tough to do in a LW story. Apparently quite a number of folks never really think before they jump to their goregone conclusions. Be pretty boring if they were all some kind of BTB or all RAAC, me, I choose 'C'. Signed: BTW

1 star - This story was just a bad idea - the 'marriage' was a sham from day one.

Maybe I read this wrong, maybe I just didn’t understand the story that much, it’s prolly just the theme of the story you were trying to tell and I couldn’t get it. I’ve read a few of your stories, and at least some of them I’ve noticed that the main fight at the end of the day is caused by the stubbornness of the characters, and failure in all cases of communication. Like I understand that little things pile up, and especially if it’s been piling up for months, but in this story in particular I just find it weird that one mistake (albeit a big one) that the guy did set everything in motion for a otherwise good marriage to implode like it did. Like at the end she was trying to extend the olive branch in some since, but the main character was too stubborn to even try? It felt more like the guy wanted an exit because he didn’t want to back down and work on the relationship. I felt like the test at the end was just a cop out in the end and left me really unsatisfied. Maybe I’m just stupid and it was a marriage that needed to end, but this story and a few others from you that I’ve read felt like the main characters stubbornness just make mountains out of mole hills to the extreme degree.

Sorchak - it's a moderately obvious trick question.

The correct answer should be "Yes," as is she does not want a divorce. So, she should have answered "yes/no/yes" to score a 4.0.

I've seen, read, and heard of MUCH worse questions.

Heck, my father had a mid term or final in HS.

What does everyone tell use every year of our scholastic career? "Read all the questions first."

Dad finished the two page test in two minutes...the last question told him to make no marks on the paper, lay it face down and place his pencil on the exam. The collective groan when the rest of the class sped through the exam and reached the last question was...loud.

No one else passed. I've seen variations on that theme myself.

Good story.. and in fear of sounding petty... get a new grammar editor

I wouldn't want to be married to either the genius professor or the marketing maven. Neither have much appeal but both have plenty of baggage.

Good story, but her reply to the quiz just felt too trite, especially considering she was signing off on the death of their marriage. Ending with that made the whole thing feel a bit cheap.

Not the first time I've read this, but now I'll comment. Debby was too reliant on finding the pattern in tests, especially this one. There can be a pattern, but not much of one, in only 3 questions. And her needing to know the answers to the first and second last questions were, in this case, her downfall because only SHE knew the answers. Lastly, please fix question 3: Do you don't want a divorce?

Even if anybody could have seen what he said was clear he didn't have to say it. Sometimes it's a good idea to just shut up. Too bad since they did make a good couple.

It takes two to make a marriage. It doesn't matter if all her time is at work or she's having an affair also. Like the Eagles song, she's 'Already Gone'! Thank you for your story! 5*

somewhere east of Omaha

There is more than sex to cheat a marriage - taking time away from your partner is one of them, regardless of the reason.

She needed to put an effort into her relationships.

By the time my first child was born she had been divorced for a second time. She just could not act like a normal wife should.

By the time my daughter was 10 she had been divorced 3 times. She still did not get it. By the time my son graduated she had been married 5 times and divorced 5 times.

Eventually she got it but by then it was too late.

She is now 65 and I am 78 she rang me the other day asking to talk. We talked for several hours and she told me she never cheated on me but she did hold her lack of promotion against me. That was why she became so nasty. She also told me that she never stopped loving me and the reasons her other marriages didn't work was she always compared her husbands to me.

Ego boost? Not really I felt sad for her.

She also told me she threw away a damned good marriage because she was bitter about what I had said. To this day I still don't understand why she was pissed as I had just repeated what she had said to me, and I told her that.

She also told me she had only several months to live as she had cancer and needed to clear her soul so she could pass without regret.

Over the next 5 months my wife and I spent as much time with her as we could. We were there when she passed and her last words were to me "We will meet again."

She passed peacefully. None of her other husbands came to visit while she was going down hill, just me.

Reason for low score was there really wasn't enough evidence to suggest cheating, it was implied but never proven, she could of been working harder than before to get back to promotion level within the bosses eyes.

But to be fair when a spouse refuses to communicate and does everything possible to make sure that work takes up all their time, what type of marriage would you think could survive that?

Also for me to bump up this score it needs some form of epilogue or another short chapter to tie up the loose ends, I'm sure they would of spoken when papers were served, It implies heavily that she cheated and didn't care about what he did, but did she? I have a feeling she didn't but could be wrong.

These types of stories that don't have a proper ending, leaves me frustrated, it's a great story just needs a way better ending.

There was no real ending. What was her reaction? Great first half of story, but I'd like to have the rest of it.

Wow, it sure appears that most LW readers have never worked with any PhD's. And this one is a 2x PhD and in Mathematics & Statistics - do you know how eccentric that makes him? I've worked with many PhD's and all but a very very few had their feet on the ground - usually they are in their own little world having no social awareness. She knew his shortcomings. So she should have been like glue to him at any work social gathering to help guide him. Yes, he goofed up but he owned it; her solution was to cut him off.

/

So his true friends saw what was coming and pushed him towards Ellen. Ellen became a real friend becoming more when the opportunity rose, lucky Dennis.

/

Debby emotionally dumped Dennis when she did not get that promotion; Dennis moving into the guest bedroom was his scream for her to notice but she was already gone - she let the marriage die.

/

5*, Hooyah, salute! an almost PhD w/dyslexia

Was a bit confusing and unsatisfying. Kinda wished it had been stretched out a bit.

Still a hood read until the end.

did not get the ending

Crap ending.

He destroys ger career that she spends years building and then he just wants her to get over that betryal quickly? Then he accuses her of cheating with no actual evidence but is having an emotional affair with anothet women? Being smart is not an excuse to be a jerk to other people but that seems to be the only ability he has besides being good at math.

The ending doesn't work.They were three simple yes or no questions,there was no pattern to work out.It was an excuse for the author to team him up with Ellen.

Their marriage was doomed from the beginning. Dennis had achieved his success and with an IQ of 195 was stable. Debby had an obsession to succeed at any cost and became the victim of her ego. I've experienced too many couples such as these two. If success mean more than your love for you partner the marriage doesn't have a chance.

I enjoy reading your stories. You have a talent in writing literotica sex stories. You have a depth of thinking that goes beyond just a sexual experience.

Good story, loved it

Did he ever find out if wife cheated? Or was she married to her career?

Nice ending...

Of college and a girlfriend. Had a college tech class at night, machine shop, welding, etc. Most of the class was made up of factory workers going for classes and/or degrees to help them improve themselves personally and professionally. One night the instructors gave us a 100 question T/F test. I got down probably 10-15 questions and noticed a pattern. All of the answers were A, B, C, D in order, 1-4 then repeat all of the way down. He was walking around the room looking at the students and their answers. When he got to me I looked up at him with a questioning look and he just smiled and walked on. As I looked around there were a number of worried people with some changing answers. I just kept going and when I was done the pattern held true. Might have been the only time in college I ever got 100% correct except for my Engineering Statistics class, a lot of others in that shop class didn't do so well.

The girlfriend couldn't figure out how I almost always seem to win at the board game Clue. Just about the only time I lost was when my brother was in the game, he was the one who taught me. So I explained if you had two of the three cards and someone else asked a question containing one or both of the cards you had, when the other person showed their card you knew where either one or the other was. Keep track of who answered when and with what and you narrowed things down very quickly without even asking anyone anything. If someone else showed you one the the cards from an earlier play you then had two answers at one time. Just like watching Columbo. She insisted I was cheating and wouldn't play Clue with me anymore.

"It wasn't my favorite but I could stomach everything but smoked eel; I didn't even like the way it looked much less tasted." Don't know about eel but I can't get passed octopuss and squid, there's a reason they call it escargot because no one would eat it if they just called it snails. What is caviar? At least my second read and enjoyed it even more. I assume (yeah, I know the joke) that Question 3 had a typo and it would be interesting to know what happened to Debby but it's just curiosity and doesn't matter at all to the story. But I'm wondering where and with whom she spent the night since there wasn't any evidence that she was cheating other than a passing comment in anger. Still can't fathom people reading intelligent, unique stories and then coming up with the most stupid comments like "cuck shit". Signed: BTW

In slirpuff other stories the wife flirts, talks trash about her husband and everyone says the husband is overacting asshole and he's not letting his wife be herself. This husband is a genius and he an asshole for being smart. Wow......talk about a double standard.

I understand it now and I like it.

Kind of unusual. All in all, pretty good.

Aside from the wild spelling errors,which were sometimes quite funny e g "corgel" for cordial, this story shows little to recommend it. I gave it one star. But then, I've always been a generous guy.

Wow that main character is a total asshole. Sure, the wife didn't seem too agreeable from his perspective, but since he consistently made everything about him, and never made any real effort to communicate with his wife, well... Excuse me if I don't trust his judgement.

Other than that, the story was poorly written. Several sentences didn't make sense, the characters were shallow and uninteresting, and the plot wasn't near fleshed out. The story simply lacks effort.

Yes she was selfish but how many men do the same thing and expect the woman to suck it up. Stupid on her part just as stupid on his if he did the same thing.

And didn't like other either

Younger days read average book a day record 7 one day was up almost all night

Love to read way more than TV movies etc

Reading Is my relaxation

He knew what she was like he was smarter than her figured out better way to handle relationship or move on

I don't think I rated the story high enough. It is original and I think it serves as an ink blot test of sorts. Different people seem to see very different things in it. From one comment to the next it's like they are commenting on two very different stories with the same characters. I'd give you ten to one odds the people who blame him skew significantly Democrat and vice versa.

Did I like it or.not? I had to read it twice, but yes I liked it.

...what happened to Debby. The story is good and could have been great.4*s.

Debby was self centered and selfish. She fully expected his okay after almost a year of her behavior? At least he now has what makes him happy.

Wonder what happened to Debby ...

Reading your stories for the second time. I have enjoyed them all. Glad this one ended up the way it did.

But he decides his marriage and his future on a test? Without actually TALKING To his wife, face to face? Man was that stupid.....

why you wouldn't read over this story and correct the many mistakes. It is a really boring story. Nuff said. I was feeling very generous and gave it a 3. That's a pass...just!

I quit reading when they started dickering over whether or not to let her pass on the essay test and take a different one. I despise people who believe they are “entitled”, and I think that girl certainly qualifies.

IQ is a test result not an inherent part of brain. If you take two IQ tests you will have two IQs. The circumstances about college mathematics here are absolutely ridiculous, apparently written by a person that does not understand college teaching. I know what I am talking about since I am a college math professor.

The absurdity in the rest of the story fits well in slirpuff's male chauvinist style but it does not make a good story other than for sanctimonious male pricks.

I have read probably 1/3 or slightly more of your stories. I have thought a couple of them were excellent, half of them were good but the rest were like this. Sorry, but this is the last one of yours I will read.

You must always mention you sources. Whe you quote somebody else’s statement. His answer during the first party. Probably it would not have changed much.

Those two deserve each other. IQ of 195 and he marries a gal because of a body and good sex? Has to be more than those temporary things. A loser. And her? Shallow and greedy, self-centered. Loser, too.

This story is not up to Slirpuff's usual level. It lacked depth and emotion, which he replaced instead with braggart sex. High school stuff. Slirpuff, you are a better storyteller than that!

I wonder what she was thinking. Did she assume that she could just ignore her spouse for such a long time, have him sleep in a separate bedroom and think that it will all just be fine and dandy on her timeline with no regard to any resentment he may be harboring? OK, he should have watched what he was saying especially after she had said something about it. However that does not mean he should be treated like an afterthought for the better part of a year! As said her POV would have been interesting. Wasn’t really impressed with either of them, but, at least he was happy afterwards.

She never learned a single thing in life. She cheated because she could see patterns. The fact that a wrong word from her husband blew her out of the running for the job meant she either was going to get it and be set up for someone else’s screwup, or they never wanted her there and were toying with her. What could he have possibly said other than to piss off her boss that would derail her career so badly? She checked out of the marriage all the way back there. He asked her three lousy questions. How they were put was irrelevant, all she had to do was answer them honestly, so did he check out? Only after she did anything and everything to alienate him. She couldn’t even answer three questions? He felt he put and put and put, but she didn’t care. She obviously wanted out. C’mon she tells him the evening of the award ceremony? After all the abuse ( mental ) that she put on him, she never even tried to make amends. Had she put 1/16th of the effort that she put into her work into her relationship with her husband then I am sure that they wouldn’t have gotten to this point. As always one of the most glaring issues here is communication or the lack there of. He isn’t off the hook either, but it is not all or even mostly his fault. I’ve seen her type in the business world. 9 times out of ten they wind up bitter old spinster that can’t be happy. Their only happiness comes from seeing others suffer unless everyone is dancing to the beat of their drum and not their own!

Debby was a wildcat and very competitive. She was able to win his weenie and his intrigue. She provided a tell of her preference when she chose the job over having a family. When he made the mistake at the social, she pretty much made the choice between her husband or her job. From that point on she gradually drifted away. Trying to invite him the promotion social was half-hearted effort. They both knew it was.

Ellen genuinely care for him. Even though she wanted a relationship, she tried to push him to reconcile with his wife. He could tell that Ellen was the real deal. Was it an emotional affair? Maybe. But, it seemed to be a mutual friendly relationship.

The morning of the test Debby and hubby knew it was over. Her deliberately failing the test sealed it. Him going to bed with Ellen only after Debby had made her decision. The divorce was decided upon. Only the paperwork needed to be drawn up and signed. Since she probably made a lot more than him and there were no kids, she wasn't going to make waves.

In the end he has a wife that loves him. Two children which both parents enjoy spending time with. Debby has her dream position in marketing. It seems all three got what they wanted. I'm not sure anyone noticed, but Ellen also took that test and seem to have passed it easily with her actions. Does she love him? Seems so. Is her job more important? Nope. She chose to go out with him and family on Saturday than to the Social. Yes, she ask about going to the social, but a good spouse will do that to help point out options. Does she want a divorce? Doesn't look like it. Their life is good.

but she had Juevos all the way to the bitter end, TK U MLJ LV NV

married a slut. What did he expect?

Enquiring minds want to know.

... I agree that he did very little to keep the marriage together. Debby tried several olive half branches, i.e. she gave a vague half hearted try. But Dennis never attempted to meet her half way. It was pretty much “my way, EXACTLY, or the highway”. Yeah, Debby put him in that position, but then he gave up. Honestly, I think Dennis was a shit. Debby’s only real failing was taking the last test, unless she REALLY meant she wanted out of the marriage. In that case it was a perfect answer.

Anyway, I’ve read this 4 or 5 times now, and I obviously really like it. So 5-stars.

It reads like a long build-up to a clever ending. Pretty straight forward.

But an awful lot of verbiage was spent on his first wife only to throw her a trick test.

His second relationship tried to tell him how to resolve the first, but he refused.

Instead he couched it as a test to his wife. He put nothing into it.

Oh well, you reap what you sow.

marries piece of shit whore. what a nice idea. *

He had it right from the get go. Debby couldn't get life right unless she was led around by a ring in her nose.

The husband did try. what was he supposed to do? His wife was pushy, bossy and completely self centered. He should have read the signs before he married her. She didn't change. He grew a set of balls.

I agree with dumdum57, the husband really made no effort, either in the relationship or the marriage. Definitely not one of the author’s best.

hansbwl is again wrong when he states that the professor can't have an IQ estimate above 162/163. This is incorrect. The problem with IQ's above 160 is that the error of estimation in the IQ estimate increases significantly at values greater than 160. To simplify their work most IQ evaluators don't want to do a more rigorous test of a subject in order to establish a more accurate evaluation of subjects above 160 IQ. This doesn't mean that such an evualtion can not be accomplished!

It be should noted that a past IQ evaluator once stated "Everyone is a genius at one thing and stupid at something else." I will expand on this point by my own quote: "As a person's IQ estimate increases, the number of things that they are a genius at increases exponentially relative to the IQ first standard deviation group of 85-115. The corollary to this is: "As a person's IQ estimate decreases, the number of things that they are a genius at decreases asymptotically to zero relative to the IQ first standard deviation group of 85-115."

Based on these definitions we can extrapolate the following: hansbwl has an IQ lower than the IQ first standard deviation group of 85-115. Secondly, hansbwl is stupid when it comes to comments on stories like this one!

By the way this was a well written story.

He gave her all the rope she needed to hang herself with. He also knew how she was going to answer his very short quiz. Just glad Ellen was with him.

I cannot be sure where their comments came from or the story they read.

Clear to me there was a disconnect on the acceptable actions in a two party marriage.

5* Thanks for sharing on Lit.

x

for the very first time reading one of this categories stories, i am siding with the wife. the husband phoned in this marriage. he didn't even try.

I didn't even finish it. No professor in his right mind would talk about ogling a students tits in the classroom like that. Nor would he say the word "fuck" to a student like that or even go to dinner with her. This whole story is ridiculous.

Someone said he checked out of the marriage.

What marriage?

She had already checked out over eight months earlier.

She acted like he was a roommate she couldn't stand but wasn't quite ready to get rid of, not like a loved one.

Newsflash: People make thoughtless comments.

The only way to avoid being affected by anyone making a thoughtless comment is to never associate with people.

If that is not an option then learn to get over it and move on.

Did you get into a relationship because you wanted to be alone?

I doubt the husband did.

After months of trying he gave up on salvaging a marriage she had long ago abandoned.

Not exactly sure how this is LW! Accusations that even Hubby feels are probably spurious do not a cheater make!

Not many characters to like in this tale!

Good medium light read for slirpuf (what does that mean?) I wonder if that in the real world only the marriages that get to the point of a problem survive?

I just didn't get the 'zing'. And the wording of question 3 was awful.

What looked like was going to be a story just turned to total crap

I suspect that this was NOT a Slirpuff submission. Boo. Shallow characters, choppy story line and woeful dialogue. What gives?

Take a woman who skated through college only studying the things that interested her and faking it for the rest of her courses; add a workaholic temperament an overweening ambition; wrap it up with a husband who wants to have a loving family with kids. What have you got? Whatever it is, it does not compute!

Dennis gave her every chance, and did not 'move on' until it was clear that Debby had given up on their marriage. Here's wishing Dennis and Ellen and their kids all the love they so richly deserve!