The tension at Ewing Energies is almost more than he can take. He's just finished his third cup of coffee and it's only a bit past eight. He's snapped at his assistant and even Elena threatened to hang up on him when he called her earlier, on her way to a meeting. Maybe he should have been a rancher. His father always told him he wished he'd figured out earlier in life that he was happier on the ranch than behind a desk.
But he's too far gone now, has too much invested. He has to see this through, no matter what the cost.
"John Ross, can we…" he begins as he walks into his cousin's office, but the head that looks up is not the one he was expecting.
Sue Ellen is seated at her son's desk, writing on a yellow sticky note with a thin, gold, ballpoint pen. "Oh, hi Sue Ellen," he greets her, bracing himself for the same cold response he had elicited from his aunt the day before.
"Good morning, Christopher." Her voice isn't as icy as it was yesterday, and he relaxes slightly when she smiles at him. Finishing her note and peeling it away from the pad, she affixes it to the screen of the laptop sitting open on the desk.
"Do you happen to know where my son is?" she asks, pushing the chair back from the desk.
"No," he says, glancing around in case John Ross has suddenly appeared. "I was actually just looking for him myself."
"Well if you find him, kindly ask him to call me." She rises and walks toward the door.
"Sure, of course," he says, moving aside to let her by. Touching him briefly on the arm as she passes, she steps outside the room. He hopes that whatever was going on yesterday is over with. He and Sue Ellen have never been that close, at least not since he was a small child, but he loves her, admires her for all she's accomplished, and he'd hoped to change that someday. He doesn't want to be at odds with her, and her attitude toward him yesterday had stung. A smart man would probably leave well enough alone. But the hurt little boy inside him just can't do that.
"Hey, Sue Ellen?" he says, stopping her. "About yesterday…"
She sighs and turns around, putting a hand on his arm. "Christopher, that was between myself and Elena and an investment I made in her some time ago. I'm disappointed in her, but it's nothing to do with you. I'm sorry I was short with you. It was uncalled for."
He wishes he could believe her, but he doesn't. A faint patina of disapproval is still there in her eyes, though she's trying to hide it behind a smile. True, her business deal with Elena predates Ewing Energies and it really doesn't have anything to do with him. But that's not what was behind her anger yesterday, and all of them know it.
In Sue Ellen's mind, Elena has betrayed John Ross, which means, by extension, so has Christopher.
And it's not like he can even disagree with her, because that's exactly what he did. He hadn't put the family first. Maybe he even deserves her disdain. There have been days he's wondered just what the fuck he was thinking.
But then he sees his Elena, the love of his life, and knows he had no choice. Jesus Christ, everyone knows it was always him and Elena, from the time they were little kids. Shouldn't that count for something? He doesn't expect Sue Ellen to choose him over her own son, but shouldn't she care, at least a little bit, about his happiness? After all, he's her family too, more so than anyone else, save John Ross.
But then that's the Ewing family's dirty little secret, isn't it? And no one ever talks about it, least of all him and Sue Ellen.
Maybe it's time to change that.
He opens his mouth to speak just as John Ross strides up to them, cocky grin firmly in place.
"Hey mama," he says, kissing her on the cheek. "Cuz," he adds, somewhat less enthusiastically.
He nods in acknowledgement. "Morning, John Ross."
"Christopher, my son and I have things to discuss, can you excuse us, please?" Sue Ellen releases his arm and follows John Ross into his office.
"Yeah. Sure. See you later," he says, but they're not paying any more attention to him, their heads together behind the desk.
He closes the door on his way out.