New Orleans, Louisiana

"…it's a better salary and benefits, next to no travel and I will be the boss, meaning that I'll be able to set my own hours; in earlier, home earlier, more time for us together as a family", smiling as if trying to convince her, Roger Hensley paused for a moment before explaining the catch. "The only potential negative is that the job is in Arlington, though that really depends on how you look at the situation", looking at his wife he held his breath and waited for her to react. He knew her well, she loved and missed Texas, so he hoped that she would be pleased by his announcement, however, he wasn't sure it would be that simple. After graduating college and just months before the birth of their son James, he had accepted a job in New Orleans, far away from the life he and Paula knew and were comfortable with. For him, the adjustment hadn't been too difficult, he'd been occupied with work for the most part and then coming home to his wife and son, he hadn't had much time to really miss or even think about missing home; Paula's life had been a little different though. She'd never directly complained about their life in New Orleans, she loved him and she wanted to be a family, but he knew she'd had a hard time adjusting to the loneliness and newness of life in totally foreign state, especially life with a new baby and no prior friends or acquaintances. Added to her difficult adjustment was the fact that just months prior to moving, she'd been a popular, outgoing sorority girl and if she hadn't accidentally gotten pregnant, she probably wouldn't have even thought about marriage or children, at least not for a few years. She'd never been the kind of girl who longed for quiet domesticity, so being thrown into that life was difficult for her to adapt to. She had adapted though and her friendly, outgoing personality was an asset to her, allowing her to make friends with the wives of Roger's co-workers, the mothers of James' friends and various women in their neighbourhood. It wasn't anywhere near the same as college, but after graduation, nothing really was, for anyone, so that wasn't a surprise; it was enough to keep her sane and relatively happy though and over the past few months, she had really appeared to be getting used to and actually enjoying life in New Orleans. The change in her attitude and behaviour hadn't gone unnoticed by Roger and although she was an adaptable woman and he knew that ultimately she would always think of Texas as home, he wasn't so sure she would really be enthusiastic about moving again, even if it was back to Texas, the one place she really wanted to be. Realistically, although Arlington was a stone's throw away from Richardson, their childhood hometown, they had been gone for four years and things were bound to be different, hardly any of their high school friends lived there anymore and even the ones that did had their own lives and friends. He was simply concerned that if they did move back and things didn't turn out as amazingly as his wife expected, then she would be back to square one again; perhaps staying in New Orleans where they had built a life for themselves was the right decision.

"Arlington?" repeating the word aloud as she tried to make sense of her husband's comment, Paula looked at him, "why on earth would moving to Arlington be a negative thing?" Breaking out in a smile as she considered it, she hoped that he only had a silly answer, because she couldn't think of one reason why moving back to Texas would be a bad thing; she tolerated and made the most out of New Orleans, but in no way, shape or form was she really attached to their life there. "I just…" shaking his head as he saw the joy on her face, he didn't even bother explaining; she was happy and even if his concerns were valid, it was worth a try, she was obviously thrilled by the idea, "nothing, don't worry about it". Pausing, he looked at her again and relaxed as he realised that this was probably a good thing, "we're going home", grinning at her, he leaned forward and kissed her and as soon as their lips met, he knew they were making the right decision, she was truly happy and he loved being the one that made her that happy.

Dallas, Texas

Pulling into the driveway, Sue Ellen was relieved when she spotted JR and Jock getting out of their own cars; she wouldn't be late for dinner after all. "Sue Ellen's home late", making an observation, Jock judged the situation and indirectly fished for an answer; he didn't object to Ewing wives having their own lives, but Sue Ellen was a new mother, she ought to be at home with her baby at this time of night. "A little later than usual, yes, but don't worry, we'll be ready in time for dinner", brushing off his father's comment with a short answer, JR walked toward her car and opened the door for her. Upon hearing on Friday afternoon that her mother was coming to Dallas next weekend, Sue Ellen had scrambled to make an extra appointment with Doctor Williams, and although not ideal, she had snapped the late Tuesday afternoon appointment up as soon as it was offered to her. She needed someone to unload her feelings to and although JR was a wonderful listener, he was also very biased when it came to her mother, he didn't like her very much and his suggestions for how to deal with her were often a lot harsher than anything she would realistically do. Doctor Williams was different, instead of directly offering her advice, he usually turned everything back on her, asking her to identify and isolate her thoughts and feelings about a subject instead of becoming overwhelmed by the largescale issue. He helped her to mentally separate her fears from the facts and in doing so, he allowed her to tackle issues with a clearer and more direct mindset. Her fears about seeing her mother again were related mostly to her self-consciousness and lack of self-confidence, about her body, about her parenting ability and just in general about how she lived her life and in the past, hearing her mother say anything negative about any of those things would have sent her into a downward spiral, but not now. She was working through those issues and she knew she was succeeding at overcoming them, she could see and feel the results; so even though her mother was openly judgemental and opinionated, that didn't automatically mean that she was right, Doctor Williams had helped her to understand that.

"Good evening darlin'", assisting her as she got out of her car, JR smiled as he noticed her relaxed demeanour. He knew where she'd been all afternoon and knowing his wife, he knew that an appointment with Doctor Williams could go many different ways, luckily though, it appeared that she wasn't upset or angry and she was ready to slide right back into her role as loving wife and mother. "Good evening", smiling as he held her hand and greeted her, Sue Ellen waited until he closed her car door behind her before leaning in to give him a soft kiss, she felt good and she wanted JR to know that she appreciated and loved him. Observing his son and daughter-in-law, Jock was torn; they appeared to be very happy together and for that he was immensely grateful, but he was also still a conservative man and he liked to know that Ewing wives were performing their roles as expected and from the way the situation had played out, he wasn't sure that was the case. To him, a good wife was ready and waiting for her husband when he arrived home from work, she didn't arrive home in a rush at the same time or later than her husband. A man was busy enough with his own important thoughts and activities and if possible, it was always best to try to avoid extra, unnecessary worry of waiting on his wife, especially when she had the whole day to run errands. As his own wife so often told him though, JR and Sue Ellen were a complicated couple and if they were happy, then that was all that mattered; Miss Ellie had also warned him not to interfere too much, because Sue Ellen was sensitive and JR was unpredictable and a small, well-meaning action could trigger an unintended domino effect. He may not like it, but he understood where his wife was coming from, so until he saw evidence that Sue Ellen's schedule was interfering with her wifely duties or was distracting JR from his job at Ewing Oil, he would stay quiet.

To be continued…