Denison, Texas

Sue Ellen giggled to herself as she caught her reflection in the mirror as she walked upstairs, her face was flushed and her hair was a mess, but she felt wonderful. She didn't know how or why, but JR was in a great mood this morning, and when JR was in a good mood, everything was instantly better for their relationship. Things really were unpredictable with JR; just yesterday he had gone from happy and attentive in the morning to moody and distant during the day, and then changed again when they had returned to the house, showing her the sweet, romantic side of him again. It was all very confusing and she really had no idea about the way his mind worked sometimes; he had so many different sides and it was difficult to predict which one would show itself at any given time. This morning had been particularly wonderful, they'd done something that they hadn't done since their honeymoon, something that just wasn't possible at Southfork with everyone else living there; they'd actually had impromptu relations outside of the bedroom, in the dining room of all places; it was new and exciting, and it gave her a hunger for more. She enjoyed any time she had with her husband, but the sameness of their everyday life could get repetitive; it was always nice to do something a little different, and it amazed her that JR actually seemed to agree today. She often got the sense that he didn't like to stray too far from their set norm and he almost felt guilty if he did, as if he had treated her badly by being anything other than a complete gentleman; what he didn't seem to understand was that she didn't care about gentle, at least not all the time. It was a bit of a strange thought for her to process at first, she had assumed that a man with his reputation would be up for anything, but with her it was always sweet and loving, except for the rare times when he was so emotionally wound up that he just let loose. Again, it was an all or nothing thing, there was always a reason behind his actions, and if he was rough, it was because he was angry or upset, not just because he was just open to trying new things with her. It was actually quite frustrating, she wasn't opposed to mixing it up occasionally, though she would never actually suggest it to him, because of his obvious mental hang-ups and set ideas about husbands and wives should act. She followed wherever he led them and she had hoped that he would see that she wasn't upset by his actions, but he didn't, and things never really changed between them in that sense. That's why this morning was so surprisingly wonderful, there was no anger behind his actions, just love and desire, and it made everything just a little bit better; it was fun to do things that they never got the opportunity to do back home. She had just been preparing breakfast, something JR insisted he enjoyed watching her do, but for what reason she had no idea, though she supposed it was comparable to how she liked watching him work, it was so masculine and appealing, and her acting like a real housewife was feminine and had a similar effect. Or so she assumed, she really had no idea, they never discussed things of that nature, things that appealed to the other; the only thing she really knew how to do was to follow his lead and go wherever he wanted, very rarely was she the one in control, it just wasn't how things were in their relationship. She didn't dare just start doing something new without him being the one to initiate it; their trip to Corpus Christi was still burned in her mind and she wasn't sure she could take that kind of rejection again. She honestly still wasn't sure whether he was mad at her back then because she was acting unladylike for an engaged woman, or unladylike in general, but she wasn't going to try again to find out, she couldn't handle those emotions again. That's how their marriage was, she followed his forged path, whatever direction he took them in, and this morning he had taken them to a completely new place, somewhere the she liked and hoped he opened his mind to exploring more of.

Being that it was Valentine's Day and that JR hadn't planned their mini-vacation until just a few days ago, it was a lot more difficult to get tickets on a boat tour than he had expected, and they'd ended up booking onto one with other people, unfortunate, but not the end of the world. JR was in a good mood from their excellent start to the day, he was a lot more pleasant and accepting than he usually was and he hadn't even complained about the fact that their boat was already ten minutes late or that there were three small children running around the marina making noise. Sue Ellen was surprised but didn't say anything to him, she knew his good mood wouldn't last forever and that he'd be back to his impossibly picky self in no time, so instead of asking him, she just enjoyed the way he was right now. Their boat approached and the passengers from the previous tour departed as the group they were part of lined up to board; Sue Ellen held onto JR's hand as they walked to the bow of the boat, they wanted to get the best unobscured view and they moved quickly to ensure that they did. The tour took them around Lake Texoma, the captain pointing out areas of interest to the passengers via loudspeaker; Sue Ellen listened intently and laughed at herself when she got irrationally excited about crossing the state line into Oklahoma, it wasn't that there was anything particularly exciting about Oklahoma, she'd just never been there before and it was interesting information. JR mostly enjoyed seeing Sue Ellen enjoying the trip, he wasn't exactly a stranger to the area and he'd seen everything that the captain was pointing out. He found himself rolling his eyes as the passengers oohed and aahed over the large houses that dotted the lakefront; he happened to own one of those houses, not that that helped him much right now though, all it really did was remind him that he was a millionaire who was unable to secure a private boat tour. After having lunch aboard the ship and taking in the sights, the two-hour cruise came to a close as they returned to the marina and disembarked. They decided to head into town to get coffee and explore for a while before they went to go back to the house, it was still early and there wasn't really a whole lot to do at the lake house itself. It was still just a little too cold to go in the pool and they had gone for a long walk yesterday, and apart from the other obvious activity, there wasn't any great rush to get back. They were together now, and they had both been missing just feeling like they were dating and having fun as a couple; their afternoon would certainly take them to the bedroom, or any other room of the house, but they didn't have to rush it, neither of them was going anywhere urgently.

To be continued…