Dallas, Texas
Standing back behind John Ross and Lucy as they approached Jenna's front door, JR smiled when Sue Ellen leaned forward to whisper a few words in John Ross' ear, reminding him what to say and when to say it.
Seeing the door open, Lucy was quick to react, excitedly announcing, "trick-or-treat".
A little less understanding of the entire situation, from what Halloween was to what trick-or-treat even meant, John Ross took a little longer and a little more prompting from Sue Ellen to mumble something resembling the line, although he did manage to remember to hold out the small bucket for the handful of candy Jenna was sure to drop inside.
"My my, how lovely you look, I see we have here a witch and let me guess, you're a cat?" admiring their costumes, Jenna complimented Lucy and John Ross.
"Meow!" giggling, John Ross' cat impression was endearing.
"A very cute cat", smiling, Jenna dropped more than enough candy for each of them into of their buckets and invited them inside.
Heading over to where Charlie was sitting, he heard Lucy ask her about her costume, and satisfied the witch and the princess would do just fine together, he headed towards the person whose presence really interested him.
Sitting down over by the fireplace in the living room, he broached the subject that linked them in several different ways, "say Bob, I hear congratulations are in order".
"For what?" looking puzzled, he ought not to be, he was the one that had made the move to change things.
"I hear you're a homeowner now", looking around the pleasant contemporary living room, out the floor to ceiling window towards the pool and then back to his brother, he indicated he knew exactly who was behind the change in his arrangement with Jenna.
"It wasn't a secret", shrugging, Bobby acted as if he hadn't done anything interesting, but he wasn't fooling anyone. He cared, he'd spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide a home for Jenna and Charlie when they already had one, he'd spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make almost no difference in their lives but all the difference in his own life.
"The lines of communication weren't exactly open. A letter from a lawyer indicating the lease I signed was being terminated due to the property being sold doesn't have quite the same personal touch as hearing you say you didn't like the idea of me supporting your ex-fiancée", ribbing Bobby, he addressed what he believed was the main driver for his behaviour.
"You're out of luck if you think I'm going to say that now either", cracking a smile, Bobby looked better than he had in months. Whether he was prepared to admit that Jenna still meant something to him or not, whatever he was feeling was obviously good for him and that was a welcome change.
"No, no, I know you too well to expect that", grinning, he let his brother know that he wasn't naïve, he knew what he suspected but he wouldn't push it.
A little while later, beneath the moonlight and streetlights they walked amongst what felt like half the neighbourhood out on the suburban street. Standing back with Sue Ellen, Bobby and Jenna, he watched Lucy, Charlie and John Ross approach each house, returning giddy every time they received more than they expected. There was no way John Ross was going to eat everything he'd been given, he and Sue Ellen would be asking for chaos at home if he did, but the experience was proving enjoyable which was what really mattered.
Feeling good about the evening so far, he wasn't prepared for what the next house brought. Decorated much like the rest of the street, with an assortment of skeletons, spiders and other spooky adornments, none of them thought anything of letting Lucy, Charlie and John Ross approach alone, however, there was obviously something different about the home because the moment the door opened, John Ross screamed and then loudly burst into tears.
Running up the short pathway, Sue Ellen returned with a bawling John Ross in her arms, explaining that of all the things to scare their son it was some sort of jack-in-the-box decoration that had startled him.
Soothing John Ross, Sue Ellen set him down on the footpath and wiped his cheeks with her thumbs, seeming genuinely surprised when she withdrew her hands, "oh look at your face, all smudged".
Collecting the bucket Lucy handed to him as she and Charlie returned, he unwrapped a piece of candy and crouched down to give it to John Ross to cheer him up. Beside him, Sue Ellen opened her purse and rummaged through, sighing with frustration as it seemed she couldn't find anything in the low light.
Looking at him, she handed her purse over, asking, "can you please look? There should be some tissues and eyeliner".
Smirking with amusement that she thought his eyes were any better than hers, he did as she asked anyway, sifting through the contents and finding her sunglasses, keys, a small hairbrush, wallet, a pen and notepad, but no tissues or eyeliner. Feeling around further, he located a lipstick tube and searching in the same area, beneath all the other items she carried around with her, he finally located the tissues she'd asked for, although not before something else caught his attention.
"Thanks", accepting the tissues he handed her, the words barely registered as his mind was elsewhere.
Fixated on the circular plastic case, he knew it could be a makeup compact or a mirror however the strange feeling in his stomach and his previous experience with her daily pills told him it wasn't either one of those things. Sue Ellen was always asking him to be transparent with her but it seemed she wasn't treating him with the same respect.
"Any luck finding the eyeliner? I'll redraw his whiskers", speaking to him, Sue Ellen didn't act as if anything were wrong, which he supposed to her, nothing was wrong.
"Not yet", continuing to look, he knew that for now, while they were out socially he'd need to behave the same way as she was, unaffected.
She was doing what she could to prevent growing their family, and so was he, but he felt like a complete fool to be doing what he was doing now that he knew what she was doing. It wasn't a pleasant feeling and it wasn't something he could stay quiet about forever. They would talk about it, but Halloween night was not the appropriate occasion.
To be continued…