Getting out of her car at Southfork Sue Ellen's heart skipped a beat when she saw him. He was sitting outside perusing the newspaper. He looked up, instinct having told him another person was present. "Sue Ellen?" he asked, standing up from the table hurriedly. In some ways always the gentleman, she thought, as she met his gaze. "Hello, JR. I came to see John Ross" she told him. "This is a surprise, well I suppose in some ways it isn't. John Ross told me, about the divorce I mean."
She nodded her head. JR beckoned her to sit. "Coffee?" "Yes thank you." A knot of excitement tinged with fear tightened in her stomach. Why was it that he always made her feel like this? It was like the Miss Texas pageant, when they first met, all over again, she mused, as she watched him pour her coffee.
"John Ross is out with friends. I'm here all alone so much of the time these days, you know. Not like the good old days when the whole family would spend every Sunday out here chewing the fat and playing with the children." He's alone, she thought. It was always dangerous being alone with JR. Things tended to happen when they were on their own together. She dismissed the thought. After seven years apart he wouldn't try anything on, she told herself.
"I know, I miss those days, the whole family together. The infamous six o'clock cocktails followed by dinner with Jock dominating the conversation" Sue Ellen sighed. JR nodded his head sadly. "So, what happened? With you and the English man?" he asked. "I'm not sure that's any of your business" she rebuked him. "Darlin, we were together for years. You're the mother of my son. I'm concerned about you, that's all."
"Yeah right, JR. It's a bit late for you to be concerned isn't it?" she laughed. He realised she was just joking with him. "If you must know, nothing happened." He raised his eyebrow in mock disbelief. Their separations had been explosive, filled with hate and recrimination. He remembered every second of the pain, the bitterness and then the sadness when he had to acknowledge that he had lost her and, each time, it had been his fault.
"I mean it. We just drifted apart. The decision was mutual and the divorce was amicable. I don't wish Don any harm. I just wasn't happy anymore and neither was he." There was an air of resignation to her voice. She had once been so vibrant, so bursting with life, JR pondered. He looked into those still beautiful, big, hazel eyes and realised. The divorce had taken more of a toll on her than she was prepared to admit.
"What now?" "I'm back. For good. London was great but Dallas is home. I'm going to find a place to live and get on with life. I still have a number of successful business interests. They mainly take care of themselves because I recruited my staff wisely. I'm thinking about more charitable work. What do you reckon?"
JR was secretly heartened by her response that she was back to stay. That was exactly what he had wanted to hear. "It's a plan, honey. Where will you stay in the meantime?" "I have a hotel suite which is just fine in the interim." "Southfork was your home for many years, Sue Ellen. There's plenty of room here." "Is there now?" God, was I just flirting with him? She wondered as she lifted her cup.
JR watched her take a sip of her coffee. All those years, he thought, and not a day had gone by without him thinking about her. He had missed her smile, her warmth, her touch. No, he corrected himself, he had just missed her, all of her. They met each other's gaze once more. She felt almost shy with him. "I mean it. You could move back here, temporarily, until you find somewhere else." Sue Ellen shook her head. "You're very generous, JR. However, we both know what would happen don't we?" She instantly regretted what she had just said. She had given him an opening.
"Would that be so bad? I've missed you darlin and I think you've missed me." "Did you miss me when you were with Cally?" JR rolled his eyes. "Huge mistake, Sue Ellen. We didn't stand a chance. She was never a match for you."
"You know what the biggest mistake was?" she asked. "I made so many where you are concerned, honey. I was the world's biggest fool." "It was Kimberley Cryder, sacrificing what you had with me for her. Did it never occur to you that I was in a position to help you get Weststar? We could have worked together and taken that company over, together." JR smiled sadly. "I know. What you did was genius, Sue Ellen. Talk about revenge. I was so angry with you at the time but I deserved it because of the way I had treated you."
"We can't turn back the clock. What's done is done" she told him. "Come home, Sue Ellen, please. Let's give it another try. You can't know how many times I got so close to just calling you or jumping on a plane to see you but, by all reports, you and the English fella were happy together and I couldn't risk being rejected."
Sue Ellen smiled sadly. "I felt the same but here is the issue. I can't risk the pain of you behaving towards me again as you did in the past. I have to protect myself and the only way of doing that is to keep you at arm's length." "I've had all these years to figure it out, sugar. You're the only woman for me. I can change. I will change if I had you back" he pleaded.
She shook her head. "I believe that you mean what you say right at this minute but it's only a matter of time before you spot somebody you like the look of and I then discover the pair of you in bed together. I can't go through that all over again, JR. I just can't."
"Did you love him? The English man?" JR changed tack deliberately. This was going to be a much slower process than he had first imagined. "I thought I did, at the time. Don was the exact opposite of you. Perhaps that was what sent me down the aisle with him." Silence descended between them but it wasn't uncomfortable, Sue Ellen reflected.
JR refilled her cup. He didn't want her to leave just yet. "John Ross should be home soon. I know he'd love to see you." "I feel the same. I've missed him." "Tell you what? Stay for dinner. It will just be the three of us. Bobby's away on a trip with Christopher." She paused. She knew what he was playing at, biding for time. However, the idea of being able to catch up with her son over a home-cooked meal was tempting. It would be better than going back to the hotel that she had just checked into all alone for a room-service dinner.
"Thank you. Alright then. But no more talk of getting back together and certainly not in the presence of our son." "It's a deal." JR flashed her one of his mischievous smiles. "And no funny business either" she told him sternly. JR leaned over and kissed her gently on the cheek. "Nothing more than this" he responded. "Sugar, if you want to take things slow that's fine by me." "What have I just said to you? No getting back together, ever!" "I know, honey, but you know I always get what I want, eventually."
"You are incorrigible!" she laughed. She'd hold out on him for as long as it took- to tug him into line once and for all. Then she would let him have her because, having been in his company again today, she couldn't deny it. She still loved JR Ewing.