Dallas, Texas

"More gifts? This guy is too much", rolling his eyes at the newest addition to the ostentatious flower arrangements and small gift boxes dotted around their home, Cliff Barnes' attitude did not surprise his sister one bit. It was perhaps a little mean of her to think, but Cliff was cheap; in his eyes, one bouquet of flowers, if that, was enough to show a woman he was interested in her, and over-the-top shows of affection were simply attention seeking actions. They didn't exactly have the privilege of having money to burn like the Ewing's did, but they weren't searching behind furniture for spare change to make it through the week either, so Cliff's attitude toward spending money was very much just that, an attitude rather than a necessity. They had always made do with what they had, she had a good eye for thrifted clothes and he'd worked from the time he was a young teenager, using the money he made not only for his own enjoyment but to support their family too. Considering that, Pam knew her brother wasn't a bad person, or an overly judgemental person in regular life, only where money was concerned did he have certain thoughts. It was a noble thing to believe that the best use of wealth was to spread it around and use it for things that benefitted all rather than concentrate it and spend it on things that benefitted only a few, but she knew that getting him started talking about things like that would only get him wound up. Unfortunately, wound up was the opposite of how she wanted him to be when she told him about Bobby.

"Well luckily for you, you're not dating him, so whether he's too much or not is irrelevant to you", smiling, she patted his arm lightly as she spoke, reminding him she loved him, exaggerated reactions and all. "Well I live here too, so it is in a way. In fact, I have an idea; if he's going to continue to be too much, tell him to cut the flower deliveries and maybe set up a recurring delivery with the Chinese restaurant down the street, you know, something useful or thoughtful, not this over-the-top flower nonsense". Laughing aloud as she listened to her brother as he took her gentle actions to mean she wanted to hear more of his thoughts rather than less of them, Pam was quick to respond, raising an eyebrow as she spoke.

"Chinese restaurant? Whose favourite food is that? Or have you forgotten that I'm seeing Bobby, not you", aware that she had just slipped Bobby's name into their conversation again, she didn't push the topic of who he was just yet, because although she and Bobby had discussed telling their families, she had yet to actually do so. "Oh come on Pammy, you know you like Chinese food", either not hearing her mention of Bobby's name, or ignoring it because he didn't care that much about who Bobby was, Cliff was quick to respond to her in an equally joking manner. "Whatever you say Cliff", smiling as she replied, she shook her head and returned to chopping vegetables for their dinner, unaware Cliff wasn't done with his curious critique of Bobby's gifts yet.

"Something to sweeten your day, until we can be together again for dessert. Poetic… this guy is really something else", reading a small portion of the card attached to a box of chocolates, it wasn't what he said that bothered her as much as the way he said it; Bobby had been trying to be nice, but Cliff's tone seemed to make a joke of it. "That he is, a nice man. Now are you going to help me or not?" attempting to distract him, because she was beginning to reconsider whether or not now was the right time to tell her brother about Bobby's family, she was pleased when this time he seemed to actually listen to her, wandering over to the pantry in search of one ingredient or another.

"Who is this 'nice man' anyway? All I've ever heard is his name is Bobby and you met through a friend; tell me more about him, it might help me understand why he's sending you these boring gifts", returning from the pantry with nothing of value, Cliff appeared next to her again, just as curious as ever, unfortunately. "What does that mean?" avoiding answering his question by asking one of her own, Pam laughed nervously rather than amusedly this time. She was shying away from addressing the hard truth, she knew that, and it went against one of the main traits she liked to think she possessed, courage, but it was so difficult, because she knew how he was going to react and she knew it wasn't going to be positive.

"It means what it sounds like; tell me a bit more about him so I can get a better idea of why my little sister likes him so much, and why at the same time he is so unoriginal. My guess is he's a finance guy, maybe an engineer of some sort; the kind who has plenty of extra money to spend on frivolous junk like all of this, but makes that money sitting in an office all day, away from women. Whatever he does, it makes him boring or unimaginative, so he has to resort to generic gifts like flowers and candy in order to impress his dates, and this time it's worked". Answering her, he seemed to be quite proud of his guesses, and she understood why; she'd been on her fair share of bad dates with men of certain professions and he knew that, she'd also been on her fair share of good dates though, so his point wasn't really a solid one. To add to that, his assumption that Bobby was boring and unimaginative wasn't really correct to begin with; sure, he was steadily sending her what seemed like the entire contents of a florist, but that wasn't a complete reflection of who he was, he was more than the gifts he sent her while he was out-of-town on business.

"Oh? You'd know this from experience would you? Considering you work in an office all day, sitting around with other men talking about things that some might consider dry or boring…" Smirking at him as she spoke, she poked fun of him and the fact that his workplace was hardly a prime location for female interaction, especially since the secretaries at his office were all at least twenty years older than him. "No Pamela, that's not what I'm saying at all. I am curious though, so, what is he?" pushing her again for an answer, she knew she had to give him something; she still wasn't sure about giving him the full story though. "He's in customer relations at the moment, or something like that anyway, in a few weeks though he'll be starting a new job ranching, so you're wrong on both counts, he's not in finance or engineering", answering him, she was aware of how vague she was being but hoped that her brother wouldn't pester her for more details. Unfortunately, as was to be expected in a situation like this, Cliff didn't do what she wanted him to, instead accepting her answer and asking for even more details, "customer relations? For what company? I told you he looked familiar didn't I? I'm trying to place where I know him from". Laying her knife down on the cutting board, Pam felt shaky, he'd asked her a direct question and she was not ready to answer, despite what she'd told Bobby the last time she'd seen him. Cliff didn't know that though and he was staring at her, waiting for a response, which for once she didn't have, because she was truly lost for words.

To be continued…

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