Dallas, Texas

"Good afternoon Mrs Ewing", always cheerful, even when the Ewing men she worked for weren't, Diane greeted Sue Ellen as she exited the elevator and entered the Ewing Oil reception area. "Good afternoon Diane. How have you been?" responding to JR's secretary's warm manner, Sue Ellen smiled at her as she looked around the room. She was aware that Julie was probably around somewhere, so she was prepared to be civil to her if she did see her, but it would be nice if she could go straight through to JR's office without having to play nice with her first. "I'm very well thank you. How are you and how is John Ross? I must say, you all look very happy in the Christmas photo JR had me frame for his office", smiling as she spoke, Diane's honesty and genuine happiness for JR and his family was apparent and for Sue Ellen, that, combined with Diane's happily married status and sincere pleasant personality only improved her mood. Unfortunately, as Diane spoke and Sue Ellen began to respond, the door to Jock's office opened and Julie appeared in the hallway; it was nice to know Julie had been doing her job, attending to Jock's administrative needs, not JR's sexual desires; however, her presence alone was enough to bother Sue Ellen.

"Thank you; we are all very happy, and thankfully, we're all very well too. I've been getting back into doing charity work and that's been very enjoyable and fulfilling for me. John Ross is crawling everywhere and starting to try to walk, he's also very curious and he's beginning to really develop his verbal skills. I absolutely adore being a mother and it's wonderful to see JR as a father", catching herself before she began to ramble and she ran the risk of Diane losing interest, she then paused and redirected the conversation, "speaking of JR, is there any way I could see him?" She was aware that JR was a busy man, however, she hoped he wasn't too busy and would be able to fit her into his day; her appointment with Doctor Williams earlier in the morning had ended on a surprisingly positive note and she wanted to get the ball rolling on the challenge he had set for her. "Of course. I'll call him now, but I'm sure he won't mind if you just go through", smiling warmly again, Diane picked up the phone and nodded as Sue Ellen thanked her and turned to walk in the direction of the hallway, passing and only briefly acknowledging Julie as she did. Noticing the polite, but not friendly interaction between Sue Ellen and Julie, Diane said nothing as Sue Ellen disappeared down the hall and Julie made her way back to her desk. She had a feeling she knew why the two women acted the way they did with each other, but she had no interest in confirming her theory; unless other people shared their problems with her, their private matters were none of her business and she respected that.

Hearing a knock on his door and his intercom buzzing, JR sighed to himself; if it was his father again, he didn't really want to see him. Ewing Oil was doing ok, but his father was still worried about the shaky economy and wouldn't let him forget it. The first few times they had discussed the pros and cons of each of their opinions, it had been relatively interesting, however, now, after more than a few conversations about the same topic, he was sick of talking about it and quite frankly, he had better things to spend his day doing. Gruffly calling out to whoever was at the door to come in, he then pressed the button on his intercom and waited for Diane to speak. Looking toward the door as it opened, he was pleasantly surprised when Sue Ellen entered his office and Diane stopped speaking; his secretary could clearly see from her desk that her message was now redundant, so she simply apologised and then ended the call, leaving him alone with his wife.

"Hello darlin', what a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?", shooting his wife his signature grin, JR stood, walked over to greet her and then gave her a short, but passionate kiss when he reached her. In a much better mood, he knew his earlier thought that it was his father who was knocking on his door was a misjudgement, his father never waited for an invitation to enter his office, he always just knocked as he was opening the door and then announced his arrival upon entering. With that in mind and because he didn't know the reason for Sue Ellen's visit, he made a conscious effort to lock his office door; there was no guarantee anything more intimate than talking would occur during his wife's visit, but there was no harm in taking precautions in case it did. "The pleasure's all mine darlin'", hearing the tone of her voice, feeling the way she responded to his kiss and then seeing the way she was looking at him as she responded to his greeting, he was suddenly not so unsure about whether their meeting would be strictly talking or not. Sue Ellen was happy and flirty and that only meant good things for them.

A couple of minutes later, after accepting a drink from JR and settling down on the couch in the corner of his office, Sue Ellen broke the comfortable silence they had fallen into, "I suppose you're wondering why I'm here?" Looking at her husband's quizzical expression, she then opened her purse and retrieved a small envelope, opening it to remove a neatly folded piece of monogrammed notepad paper. "As you know, I went to see Doctor Williams this morning…" thinking back to their appointment, she didn't quite know how to explain how their conversation had transitioned from her ranting about her frustration with her mother and herself into something much calmer and happier, however, she knew she should at least try. "I can't even begin to explain everything he said, you know him, he has such a way with words that it's almost impossible to repeat his message without losing some meaning. We have our Tuesday appointment tomorrow though, so I'm sure he'll be able to explain anything I can't", pausing for a second, she noted JR's expression remained unchanged and she knew she had to actually explain why she was there, not just talk around it. "Anyway, we were talking and he asked me to look at the bigger picture. He said that in focusing so much on my own insecurity and my anger toward my mother, I'm missing out on enjoying all of the good things I have, so he wanted me to refocus my thoughts on the things I set as goals for the new year. That's where this comes in", unfolding the note and handing it over to JR, she continued to speak, "it's is the list of goals and resolutions we made together. I want to revisit them, all of them, but there's one I really wanted to start working on as soon as possible", hoping he would understand why she hadn't just waited until he returned home later that evening, she then pointed at the second bullet point on the list.

Grinning as he caught Sue Ellen's meaning, JR stood quietly, buzzed Diane to ask her to bring his yearlong agenda in and then walked over to unlock the door. He had promised his wife more regular weekends away and a proper family vacation for them and John Ross this year, and he did not intend to go back on his word. He was a busy, important man though, so unfortunately, as much as he wanted to be able to say yes to Sue Ellen every time she suggested a date, he couldn't agree to all of everything; however, he was confident that with Diane's organizational help, everything would work out.

To be continued…