Dallas, Texas
"Hello? Anyone home?" setting her purse down on the table in the Southfork foyer Sue Ellen looked around for any sign of company before heading into the living room to wait. Receiving no answer, she wasn't worried, the Ewing women were anticipated at the DOA luncheon and she was right on time for their planned departure, so she didn't expect it would be a long wait.
"Sue Ellen", no sooner than she had sat down and started leafing through a coffee table book about horses, Pam appeared from the direction of the downstairs office.
"Pamela, how are you? I've been meaning to call to thank you for the gifts from Hawaii", standing, she greeted her new sister-in-law with a brief hug, pulling back when she sensed Pam's uneasiness.
"You got them then?" smiling politely, something about Pam's demeanour seemed off and hearing her impersonal response it was at that point she knew it was more than just Pam being uncertain about how to proceed with their relationship now that they were family rather than budding friends.
"Yes, I'm sorry I wasn't there myself to see you and Bobby home, John Ross was a little out of sorts before I got him down for the night. How was Hawaii?" apologising for her absence when Bobby and Pam had made the effort to hand deliver their gifts, although she and JR had never had any intention of attending their homecoming dinner, she hoped Pam wasn't holding any resentment towards her because of that.
"It was spectacular, thank you", seemingly unconcerned by her parenting predicament, Pam answered the personal question, smiling genuinely rather than politely when she spoke of her honeymoon, telling her that whatever it was that was making her distant, it hadn't happened in Hawaii.
"You look very well, the tropical climate agrees with you", complimenting her, she didn't have to fabricate anything to say something nice, it was hard not to admire her outward appearance, especially now she had evidently been shopping and to the salon.
"Oh I could very happily live in Hawaii", unsurprisingly, Pam's opinion was similar to that of most wives after returning home from honeymoon. Nobody wanted to come back to day-to-day responsibilities, even if their lives as Ewings were hardly taxing.
"I understand. Just you, your husband and endless time to do whatever you want, all in this spectacular place with no interference from real life. It's like a dream, one you never want to wake up from", speaking more of her own experiences than Pam's, she was suddenly antsy for the short trip JR was whisking her away on the coming weekend. They hadn't left the country since she was pregnant and although JR was very careful to make sure she knew their weekend away was a personal business trip, not just a vacation, she doubted signing a few papers would take very long, so the rest of their short visit was personal time and personal time only. It wasn't like she and JR never had time alone together, they certainly did, but she was always interested in a vacation, especially one where being called back to Dallas early wasn't such an acceptable thing to do.
"It really is. I wish I'd taken Bobby up on the offer to not wake up from that dream now", presenting the first interesting piece of information in their conversation, Pam's comment intrigued her enough to set her fantasy aside. JR had made a quip about hoping his brother and new sister-in-law would take a liking to Hawaii and stay, but neither of them had actually expected it to happen.
"He offered to stay?" gathering that that's what Bobby had done, she couldn't understand why if he had, Pam had said no. If JR had offered to extend their honeymoon, she would have accepted in a heartbeat.
"He suggested we make the world our home and Dallas the place we visit", laying out Bobby's proposal, Pam's tone made her regret clear and it wasn't hard to understand why, Bobby's suggestion wasn't just words, he could give her that life if she wanted it.
"You said no? Pamela, I don't like telling people what to do, but I'm telling you you need to admit you were wrong and you've changed your mind. Now is your time, neither you nor Bobby have any real commitments", dumbfounded that Pam would turn down such an offer, especially when she'd never had the opportunity for such a life before now, she encouraged her to reconsider. The embarrassment of telling Bobby she'd made a mistake was nothing compared to the regret she'd have once she really settled back into life in Dallas, though she probably already knew that as she already seemed to be regretting saying no.
"We can't. Life's too complicated right now; it would be like we're running away, not off living our own lives", explaining her thought process, Pam's words didn't mean much without context, context Sue Ellen didn't have.
"What's wrong? Is it your family?" hearing the phrase 'running away' she assumed whatever was bothering Pam had something to do with her family or Bobby's, it couldn't be something more trivial like her current lack of employment or meaningful activity, otherwise exploring the world would be exactly the sort of thing that would fix her problem.
"No, in fact I haven't heard much from my family recently, which isn't a bad thing", ruling out her own family as the source of her unease, Pam didn't go as far as to actually explain what the issue was.
"So what is it? Is Jock being hard on you? Because you know if he is…" taking another guess, her comments were cut short as Pam put her hand up and spoke up, finally revealing what the real issue was.
"It's not Jock, it's Jenna", stern-faced and cold in her delivery, Pam's opinion of Jenna was minimally explained but hard to misinterpret, she didn't like her, the question now was why did it matter so much to her?
"Jenna?" questioning Pam, the only thing she could think of that would truly make her life complicated was if she was insecure about Bobby and Jenna rekindling their relationship, which wasn't going to happen, but perhaps she just needed some reassurance. She couldn't say she'd be that happy to have any of JR's old dalliances hanging around, but Jenna was different, Jenna wasn't even back for Bobby, she was back because she and JR liked having her around. In the very beginning, before Bobby and Pam had ever been a couple and before she'd known Jenna she had had the idea of bringing Bobby's old love back into his life, because he had seemed lonely, but things were different now and that old plan was an old plan.
"Yes, Jenna Wade. I'm sure you know her, she was the one who accepted those gifts on your behalf", appearing annoyed Pam's exact gripe was unclear. Was she bothered that Jenna had been at her house, that Jenna had been the one to pass on their gifts, or that Jenna herself was an unexpected surprise? Jenna had been at her home for a dinner party, as had Jack later on, mostly because JR liked to stir the pot and wanted to see for himself how Jenna and Jack were together, even though he saw no future for them. Bobby and Pam hadn't been expected guests and while they were always welcome to drop by, they had no say in what went on in her home. She had apologised for not coming down herself to accept the gifts, she'd been attending to John Ross' needs first and hadn't even been aware they'd been there until later, but that wasn't the point, she wouldn't apologise for the surprise Jenna might have posed when she had done nothing wrong. Unless that wasn't it at all and something else about Jenna was bothering her; she didn't know though, because Pam wasn't clear.
"Yes Pamela, I know Jenna, but I'm not sure I'm following the conversation here. Bobby and Jenna used to be a couple, a long time ago, but Bobby's married to you now and Jenna's seeing someone. What's the problem? What's so complicated that it's making you think you'd be running away?" As far as she understood the situation Jenna wasn't someone that needed to be run away from, but even if it was, it wouldn't be running considering Bobby hadn't suggested taking a long break to get away from her, he'd suggested it to spend more time alone with his wife.
"Her daughter is what makes it complicated", only very briefly elaborating, Pam's explanation was more than enough to help her understand.
"Bobby", whispering her brother-in-law's name, she scrapped all of her previous thoughts; it wasn't Jenna or her friendship with Jenna that really bothered her, it was the overall threat that Jenna posed to her relationship. Just as the young, opportunistic Cynthia Moore had almost ruined her and JR's relationship with her accusations of paternity, the mysteriousness surrounding Charlie Wade's parentage was looming over Bobby and Pam's marriage.
"You know then?" appearing annoyed again, Sue Ellen couldn't tell whether it was because Pam was annoyed that Bobby had a past, or because she'd been the last to know.
"No, not for sure", having not been around herself when Bobby and Jenna had been together and having never discussed it with Jenna, she wasn't a helpful or reliable source and she didn't want to sell herself as one either.
"Well neither does Bobby", looking away, Pam confirmed her thoughts; the uncertainty was tearing her apart.
"Oh Pamela", empathising with her, she wasn't really sure how to assist her, especially knowing there was little anyone could have said or done to calm her when she and JR had been in a similar situation.
"That's not even all of it", admitting there was more, Pam's cool tone returned, giving the impression that she was less interested in an empathetic friend and more interested in having someone to angrily complain to.
"It's not?" sick of trying to figure out what was really bothering Pam and what she was imaging, she found herself understanding exactly where JR was coming from when he grew frustrated with her vagueness.
"No, not at all. You and I need to talk, alone", looking around, Pam's discomfort was obvious; Southfork was no place to have a real private conversation, there was no arguing with that, especially as the phone began to ring and Raoul seemingly appeared out of nowhere to answer it.
"My house, after the DOA meeting? Maybe even before if Miss Ellie stays on with Mavis afterwards", not sure what Pam wanted, she was interested in finding out and suggested an alternative location for their continued discussion, one where she could control who came and went.
"Sounds fine to me", accepting her offer, Pam turned her attention to Raoul who was patiently waiting for an opportunity to speak.
"Telephone for you Miss Pamela", delivering his message, Raoul turned to leave after Pam thanked him and excused herself.
"Hello Pam speaking", not intending to eavesdrop, it was hard not to listen in with Pam taking the call in the foyer, only a few yards from the living room, a fact which only added more weight to the perception that the walls of Southfork had ears.
"Oh hi… Three o'clock? That should be fine… You too… Yes, see you then, goodbye", catching only one side of the conversation, she found herself speculating on what was being said, assuming from the increasingly friendly tone that it was a personal call, but unable to guess what it was about beyond that.
"I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind but I'll have to postpone that discussion, something's come up this afternoon", returning to the living room, Pam was vague in her explanation, though she couldn't hold that against her, her personal life was her personal life, she didn't have to share if she didn't want to.
"Are you sure? I thought you said you wanted to talk", considering it, she knew their discussion and a three o'clock engagement would be doable if they really tried, but if Pam wanted to postpone then that was ok too.
"I do, but this appointment isn't really negotiable", maintaining her position, Pam's use of the word appointment gave her an idea why; friendly tone or not, her plans weren't of a casual nature.
"We'll talk another time then?" keeping the invitation open, she realised their conversation was about over anyway when she caught sight of Miss Ellie coming downstairs, purse in hand, ready for the DOA luncheon.
"We certainly will", answering her, Pam left their discussion at that as she followed her focus. They had no time to talk now, no time to talk later, but they would talk sometime and when they did, hopefully everything would be revealed.
To be continued…