Dallas, Texas
Stepping into the foyer of JR and Sue Ellen's home, Pam at his side, Bobby looked around for any sign of his brother or sister-in-law before Francisca spoke up and explained the situation. "Mrs Ewing sends here apologies; she's settling the baby and will be along soon. If you'd like to wait in the living room I'll be serving refreshments in a few moments".
Nodding, he accepted the housekeeper's word and attempted to hand over the gift bag he and Pam had been encouraged by his mother to present in person, not that he much felt like interacting with his brother after travelling all day. "If Sue Ellen's busy it's no bother, we'll come back another time to talk and I'll just leave this with you", holding the bag out to show her the wrapped gifts, he expected her to take it from him, but she did the opposite.
Shaking her head, she made a hand motion for him to withdraw his offer and instead head into the living room, "oh, no sir, Mrs Ewing advised me the guests are to be seated in the living room and she'll be down shortly".
Mentioning only Sue Ellen, he began to wonder where exactly JR was, and what guests they were expecting, because it wasn't them, however, he wasn't in the mood to get too deep into asking questions, so instead he looked at Pam and shrugged, "if she insists".
Stifling a laugh at the look Pam gave him, one that told him she was equally as confused but mildly intrigued, he squeezed her hand and led her into the living room.
Familiar with the surroundings from years of personal history, he stopped dead in his tracks as the old and the new merged, completely throwing him for a second, only realising he wasn't hallucinating when Pam spoke his name and looked back and forth between him and the focus of his attention. Swirling a drink in one hand and studying a wedding picture on the mantelpiece, Jenna looked every bit at home as she once had been in the beautiful old house adjacent to Southfork, contextually though, she wasn't at home, the house hadn't been hers for years and he didn't understand why she was there.
"Jenna?" locking eyes with her as she turned around, his stomach dropped as she held his gaze, then very obviously looked him up and down, smiling slyly as she returned her eyes to his face.
"Bobby! Twice in a few weeks, how serendipitous", smoothly setting her drink down, Jenna began her approach, much to Pam's disapproval if the hard hand squeeze and stern look she gave him was any indication.
Smiling at Pam reassuringly, he knew he was going to have some explaining to do when they were alone, though before he could explain anything he had a few questions of his own to ask.
"Yes, fortuitous", responding, he was startled by Jenna's forwardness when she appeared in front of him, placed a hand on his arm and leaned in to kiss his cheek, a familiar action in an uncomfortable setting. She could see Pam and it was probably not that hard to gauge Pam's mood, but she paid no attention to her nonetheless.
"Bobby?" clearing her throat, Pam made her presence and feelings quite clear, she wasn't impressed by what she was seeing and he knew he had to do something. Stepping back, leaving the gift bag on the table beside him, he distanced himself from Jenna, let go of Pam's hand and hooked his arm around her waist, letting both women know where his love and loyalty lay.
"Jenna, this is my wife, Pamela; Pam, this is Jenna, an old friend", introducing the two ladies, he had a feeling he was tempting fate by not disclosing the full extent of his former relationship with Jenna, and he was right.
"Old friend? Is that all I am?" pouting at his minimisation of their relationship, Jenna simultaneously touched his arm again, subtly telling him she wasn't really upset.
Looking at Pam, he smiled apologetically as he explained himself, "actually Jenna and I were once engaged". It was an awkward situation to be in, his life with Pam was completely different to the life he'd had with Jenna, and they hadn't overlapped at all, until now, there had been no betrayal or lies, but he still felt uncomfortable.
"Engaged?" sounding more surprised than she looked, he suspected she'd already worked out he and Jenna had been romantically involved, she just hadn't realised to what extent.
"Yes", confirming, he didn't know what else to say, not with Jenna standing right in front of them.
"But not married?" inquisitive, Pam dug deeper, unsatisfied with his brief answer.
"No", shaking his head, he looked to Jenna to explain the situation. It was Jenna's doing that they weren't married and he never got any real answer out of her as to why that was; he had suspicions, but to air them in front of the woman involved when he had no confirmation seemed cruel.
"It was my fault, I was young and immature and didn't realise what a good thing I had with Bobby until I ran away and saw what else the world had to offer", stepping in, Jenna put the blame on herself, where it rightly lay, though she still didn't offer a complete explanation and still managed to retain some sympathy. He found it hard to believe her when she made comments and acted as if he was her one great love, not when the two interactions they'd had after she left him had been unplanned; she had never sought him out, never called, never written, and never made a real attempt to repair their relationship.
"When was this?" looking to him for answers, what he gathered Pam was concerned about was whether she was some sort of rebound relationship for him, but she wasn't. He hadn't seriously dated anyone since Jenna, that was true, but it had been a long time since she left and he certainly hadn't closed himself off from enjoying the company of women during that time. It was true he and Pam had not had a long relationship before they'd married, but his reasons for marrying her had absolutely nothing to do with Jenna.
"Years ago now, we were high school sweethearts, destined for the altar up until my one big mistake", answering the question with more allusion, Jenna didn't particularly help the situation.
"Oh", accepting Jenna's comments, Pam said nothing in response, though she did give him another one of her looks, confirming to him that they'd certainly be having a talk when they were alone again.
"Jenna, what are you doing here?" bringing attention to their surroundings he was interested to hear what she had to say and optimistically he hoped she'd do it without a show, though knowing Jenna that was exactly what they were in for. She loved attention and playing the flirtatious mystery woman was right up her alley.
"Now Bobby, who would have thought we'd be standing here with you asking a question like that", reaching out, she hooked her hands around his arm, rubbing her thumb back and forth over his sleeve the way she used to when they were together, completely ignoring Pam's presence and the inappropriateness of her actions again.
"It is strange, but JR and Sue Ellen live here now, so to my mind it's less strange that I'm here than you", still unsure what she was doing there, he said as much, gently creating some space between them again as he spoke. He couldn't deny that he still found Jenna attractive, so physically it was a little bit of a conflict to push back on her actions, however, beautiful or not, her open disrespect of his marriage wasn't appealing and he had no interest in playing along.
"I don't think so, not really. Sue Ellen and I are becoming fast friends", shrugging, Jenna answered the question as if it made sense, as if she and Sue Ellen lived such overlapping lives, which he imagined was not the case at all.
"You are?" looking for clarification he didn't bother trying to hide his surprise.
"Yes, and why not? There's something very interesting about finding out what happened in my absence. For one, JR was not the Ewing brother I would have picked to have settled down, so of course once I heard that that was the case I had to come and investigate myself". Vague with the details of what had been happening in her life during her absence, she did give away an interesting piece of information in passing; she hadn't come back for him, even with all the flirting and dramatic talk about what a mistake she'd made in letting him go, he wasn't the reason she'd returned to Dallas.
"Did JR's wedding make news in Italy?" considering JR had been married for three years but Jenna was only back now, he was still a little unsure about the details surrounding her return, but he was fast realising that with Jenna the way she was, simply waiting for her to fill in the blanks would get them nowhere fast.
"I wouldn't know, I'm not living in Italy anymore, I'm back in Texas now", surprising him with her answer, he felt no more enlightened than he had a moment ago, and was in fact slightly more confused about her timeline or anything going on in her life.
"You told me earlier you hadn't decided whether you were back or not", unsure what to believe, he reminded her of her comments not long ago when he'd spotted her at The Gardens restaurant bar.
"You asked about Dallas, I'm living in Tyler", looking at him with an innocent expression, as if the misunderstanding was on him, not her; her comments both confused and irritated him. Jenna had always had a mysterious streak, but prior to their breakup she'd been much easier to talk to, she'd often shared her thoughts with him and expected him to keep her secrets, he had been in her circle but now he was on the outside looking in, trying to make sense of her.
"Tyler? What's in Tyler?" in his mind nothing was in Tyler, but what did he know? The last he'd heard of her she was living in Italy, gallivanting around Europe on the arm of whatever man took her fancy. She'd been married and had a baby somewhere in the time she'd been away but what was reported on and what came back to him rarely seemed to focus on a domestic life, though it wasn't surprising considering she'd run away from establishing a domestic life with him.
"My life", continuing with the vague answers, Jenna shrugged, as if two words explained everything.
"Husband? Children? How's your daughter?" being direct, he didn't expect much in the way of details anymore, though he wanted them, he wanted to make sense of the situation.
"Charlie's a wonderful little girl", smiling warmly, her love for her daughter was clear and for the first time since they'd started talking he felt she was being completely genuine with him, not playing the situation a particular way to manipulate a response from him.
"That's all I get?" pleased she'd been open with him, he was still unsatisfied with their interaction, he wanted more; she was the outsider in the situation, she was the one that had to explain herself.
"I got the feeling you weren't really interested in me the last time we spoke", pouting again, she played the victim, blaming her lack of detail on his distraction during their previous discussion, despite him showing clear interest now.
"Go on, I'm interested", playing her game, he encouraged her again to tell him what he had repeatedly asked for, annoyed that he had to try so hard but unable to step away because she had him hooked.
"Ok, I'll bite. I am seeing someone, it's not serious, not like we were, but it's something", stroking his cheek affectionately as she touched on their relationship, this time her behaviour seemed not only inappropriate because of Pam but because she'd just explained she wasn't exactly single either. He was well aware of the concept of platonic touch and he saw no issue with it, however, with Jenna nothing was ever platonic, not with their passionate history.
"Is he here now?" looking around the living room, still unsure what Jenna herself was doing at JR and Sue Ellen's home, he saw no one else, though it was a big house, so anything was possible.
"No, he's very busy at the office", mentioning the office, it suddenly clicked in his head why JR didn't seem to be around either; it was late on a Monday afternoon and for most men that meant it was a workday, not a vacation day like it was for him. What was interesting though was Jenna's presence, alone it seemed.
"What about Charlie? Is she here?" seeing no sign of her daughter, he suspected the answer was negative and that was just another detail he wasn't privy to.
"No, not this time", confirming his thoughts she didn't elaborate and he didn't expect he'd be getting much more information out of her anytime soon.
"Oh", nodding, he accepted her comments without further question, beginning to tire of her games.
"Enough about me, why don't we talk about you?" returning her hand to his arm as she enquired about him, he wondered whether perhaps she was just falling back into old habits, not deliberately flirting with him, they had been affectionate with each other for years after all.
"What about me?" unsure where to begin he sought clarification as to what exactly she was looking for from him, not that she really deserved it after being so vague with him.
"Well, why don't we start with your life now? You look well, all things considered. I really did feel bad you know; I used to think of you sitting alone in your treehouse…" sliding her hand down his arm onto his torso, exactly the way she had so many times before, she complimented him in a particularly self-centred manner, bringing him right out of any potentially nostalgic moment.
"Jenna", gently removing her hand again, he still wasn't sure whether she didn't realise how touchy-feely she was being with him or whether that was her intention, but whatever her thoughts he couldn't play along anymore. Whether she knew how she was physically coming across or not she most certainly knew what she was doing by guiding their conversation toward the mysterious and personal; she knew Pam knew little to nothing about her or their relationship and referring to things they'd shared long ago was a deliberate act of exclusion.
Making eye contact with Pam as he let go of Jenna's hand, he wasn't particularly surprised to see she was staring at them unimpressed and after everything she'd just witnessed he couldn't blame her either. What did surprise him was that the moment she realised he was paying attention to her again, she decided it was her turn to speak, making it clear she wasn't interested in waiting around for Jenna to get to her point. "As much as I hate to cut this fascinating catch-up short, I'm going to have to, we've got dinner plans and we really must be going. You see, we just came to drop off these gifts we picked up on our honeymoon but we didn't intend on staying, did we Bobby?"
"Pam's right", supporting Pam's comments, they were truthful to a point; they did have to be going if they were going to make dinner, dinner at Southfork. More than that though Pam was his wife and in a situation where it came down to pleasing either her or Jenna, she would win every time. If she wanted to leave, they would leave, besides, Jenna didn't seem like she was going to spill any great secrets anytime soon anyway.
"Well, I'll see you around then", smiling slyly, Jenna waved at them as he took Pam's hand, ready to leave.
"Do you plan on being around more?" stopping to wait for her answer, he didn't know why he expected anything solid, because when she did respond it was as vague as everything else she'd said.
"We'll see", shrugging, she offered nothing of value to the conversation, and with that their discussion was over.
Smiling politely, he squeezed Pam's hand in support and made a beeline for the door. They needed to talk, but before they did that, they needed to get out of JR and Sue Ellen's home.
To be continued…
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