JR smiled to himself as he waited at the restaurant table. After a long hard battle, Ewing Oil was finally his. The results of the contest had been announced earlier during the day, with JR leading by a considerable amount of money. The look on Bobby's face had been so priceless that JR had almost wished that he had brought a camera with him when it had happened! Now, JR was company president, and everyone in the family would have to accept it whether they liked it or not.
After the results had been announced, JR had immediately called Katherine to tell her the good news. After all, it was mostly thanks to her that he had been able to secure his victory. Katherine had sounded just as ecstatic as JR himself was. To celebrate their victory, JR had invited Katherine to have dinner with him at one of the fanciest restaurants in Dallas.
"Sorry I'm late, JR. I had a little trouble finding this place." Katherine said as she took a seat across the table from JR.
"Don't worry. It's fine. I'm just glad that you came. You look beautiful." JR said.
Katherine was wearing a dress that was a lot fancier than the outfits that she normally wore. It was a long black strapless dress with gold designs stitched into the front. It looked like something a woman would wear on an actual date.
Katherine smiled and blushed at JR's compliment. "Thank you, JR. You look pretty good yourself." She replied.
"Well, this is a very special occasion that we're celebrating!" JR said with a smile.
"It certainly is! For a while I thought that the contest would never be over! But now you have finally won and we can stop worrying about it! Congratulations, JR!" Katherine said.
"Thank you, Katherine. But I couldn't have done this without you. The fact is that ever since you came back, everything has become a miracle. I have Ewing Oil. The Barnes woman is out of my life. I have almost everything I've ever wanted…" JR said. He then reached out and took Katherine's hand. To his surprise, she didn't pull away. For a moment, JR and Katherine simply smiled at each other; caressing each other's hands.
"Well! This is certainly a scene fit for a romance novel!" A new voice interrupted cheerfully.
JR and Katherine turned around with a start. Holly Harwood was standing next to their table with a big grin on her face.
"Get lost. We're busy." JR said coldly. He noticed that Katherine looked just as angry as he was.
"My! How rude! I only came here to congratulate you on winning Ewing oil, JR. You could be a little more polite." Holly said with mock innocence.
"Okay, so you congratulated me. Thank you. Now please leave." JR said shortly. He was not up for these games.
Holly didn't leave. Instead, she continued to talk as if she hadn't even heard what JR had said."I have to admit, I honestly didn't believe that you stood a chance against Bobby. But I guess it's all about what you know. Or maybe I should say who you know." Holly said. Her gaze landed not so subtly on Katherine.
"Holly, I'm warning you. Leave now." JR said with a quiet fury in his voice.
Holly laughed. "Okay, okay! I get it! I'm leaving now. I don't want to be the third wheel here!" She said in amusement.
Holly started to leave, but at the last moment she turned around again. "I guess I'll see you around, JR! Oh, and Katherine, I think you should know that Bobby won't be very happy if he finds out that you are two- timing him like this!" Holly said lightly. Then, after a quick wink at JR, she finally left.
For a moment, neither JR nor Katherine could even speak. They both just sat there in shock and anger.
At last, JR finally broke the silence. "So…Is it true that you've been seeing my brother?" He asked with a deadly calm in his voice.
Katherine looked incredibly uncomfortable. "Look, it's not what you think it is at all, JR. Bobby asked me to have lunch with him because he needed a friend to talk to. He's really depressed about the divorce and I think he was hoping that I would be able to tell him what Pam is doing. That's all. It was not a date!" Katherine said emotionally.
"If it wasn't a date, then why did you feel the need to hide it from me!?" JR asked angrily.
"Because it's not your business! I told you that I would take any chance I could to be with Bobby! If you didn't want something like this to happen, then you shouldn't have suggested that we break up his marriage in the first place!" Katherine said furiously.
"That's not fair! How can you expect me to not get upset after you come in here dressed like that and start groping my hand while looking at me like… I don't know!" JR said miserably.
"This is exactly what I was afraid of… I didn't want you to get hurt…" Katherine said almost to herself.
"If you don't want to hurt me, then stop seeing Bobby." JR said coolly.
Katherine's expression looked murderous. "Don't you dare try to guilt me into getting your way! These kinds of tactics might have worked for you with other women in the past, but they will NOT work on me! You don't own me, JR!" Katherine said furiously. Then, before JR could even form a response, she stalked out of the restaurant without another word.
JR felt absolutely miserable. Why did this have to happen!? Everything had been going so great until that stupid Holly Harwood had shown up! JR realized that this must have been Holly's plan all along. She had found JR's weak spot and used it against him. But even more frustrating than that was how Katherine's reaction to him constantly shifted. Sometimes it seemed like she wanted to be with him, only to quickly pull away again. While it was true that Katherine seemed a bit more open with him lately, JR still wasn't really getting anywhere with her. JR was both frustrated and sad. He didn't know what to do about Katherine anymore.
Later that night, JR furiously made his way to Bobby's office at the Ewing Oil building. When he reached the door, he simply threw it open without even bothering to knock first.
Bobby was on the phone and only looked at JR briefly before continuing his conversation. "But Travis, I'm not really sure about-" Bobby started to say before JR abruptly yanked the phone out of his hands and hung it up.
"Hey! HEY! What do you think you're doing!? That was a very important phone call!" Bobby yelled.
"Shut up. I'm president now, and you better damn well do as I say if you want to keep your job here!" JR said coldly.
"Just what is all of this about, JR!?" Bobby asked in confusion.
"Just what are you doing with Katherine!? You told me that you weren't interested in her, and now you're taking her out behind my back before the ink is even dry on your divorce papers!" JR accused.
"How many times do I have to go through this with you!? Katherine is my friend, and yes, friends can meet each other for lunch! I only hope that you don't act like this around her! This kind of attitude won't help you at all!" Bobby said in exasperation.
"That's not the point here!" JR argued.
"Look, I'm on your side here! You have no reason to be jealous because I can tell that she really does love you." Bobby said.
JR's expression softened for a moment. "You really think so?" He asked hopefully.
"Yes, I really do. I don't know if you know about this already, but Katherine came to the hospital on the night that you first had your accident. After she heard about it on the news, she called me and begged me to drive her to the hospital to see you. She was in tears. And when we got there, she didn't leave until they let her see you. She loves you, JR." Bobby explained.
JR was stunned. He had no idea that Katherine had already felt that strongly about him back then. JR didn't know how to react to this.
"I believe what you are saying, but she still keeps pushing me away. Katherine doesn't really talk about it, but I know that something really bad happened to her in the past. Something that made it hard for her to trust people. Someone really hurt her…" JR said quietly. If he ever met the man who had done this to her, JR would make him pay dearly for it.
"Now you understand that getting angry won't help." Bobby said.
"But what should I do?" JR asked helplessly.
"Come on, JR. You know Katherine better than anyone. There must be something that you can do for her. Something that would mean a lot to her." Bobby said encouragingly.
JR looked thoughtful for a moment. Bobby was right. He had been going about this the wrong way. If JR wanted Katherine to believe that he really did love her, then he would have to get smarter.
Later that night after he had gotten home, JR tried calling Katherine. After their disastrous meeting earlier, he was afraid that she wouldn't even bother answering the phone. But after the third ring, Katherine finally picked up.
"Hello?" Katherine asked hesitantly.
"Hi, Katherine. It's me." JR said nervously.
"What do you want, JR?" Katherine asked carefully.
"I want to apologize for how I acted today. It was really stupid and immature, and you had every right to be angry with me. From now on, I won't say anything about Bobby or anyone else that you might spend time with. Like you said, it's not my business. I'm really sorry, Katherine. Do you think you could forgive me for being such a jerk?" JR asked.
Katherine was silent for a moment. "It's true that I thought you were a real jerk today, but I haven't exactly been fair to you either, JR. I'm hurting you and I hate myself for it. But you should know that you probably really don't have anything to worry about with Bobby. I really don't think that he would want to be more than friends with me, and even if he did, I don't even know if I would be able to go through with it because of what it would do to you. I don't know what I'm doing anymore…" She said.
JR's heart ached for Katherine. She really was a lot more vulnerable than most people knew. Hopefully, his idea would cheer her up.
"It's alright. I understand. I won't push you anymore, Katherine. Everything is up to you." JR said softly.
"Thank you for understanding, JR. It means a lot to me…" Katherine said softly.
"You're welcome. Now that we've worked that out, I should tell you that there is another reason why I called you." JR said.
"What is it?" Katherine asked curiously.
"Well, I've been thinking that it's been awhile since you've been to Southfork. And when you were there last time, the circumstances weren't exactly pleasant. So, I was wondering if you would like to come out for a visit this Sunday. Everyone will be there, and they'd be really happy to see you again. And I would love to show you everything that you didn't get to see before. So, what do you think? Would you like to come over?" JR asked hopefully.
"Southfork, huh? That sounds nice. And it would be interesting to really see everything from where you grew up. I would love to come, JR. Thank you." Katherine said softly.
"Really!? Okay, great! How does four o' clock sound? You could have dinner with us." JR suggested.
"That sounds great!" Katherine said excitedly.
"Well, alright then! I guess I'll see you then! I guess I'll say goodnight now…" JR said hesitantly. He wanted to tell Katherine that he loved her, but he wasn't sure if that would make it sound like he was pushing things again.
"JR, it's okay if you still want to say it. As long as you're not pushing me, I won't get upset at you just for voicing your own feelings." Katherine said. It was as if she had read JR's mind.
"Okay, then. I love you, Katherine." JR said softly.
"Okay. I'll see you on Sunday. And thank you, JR. For everything…" Katherine said.
JR was happy that he had managed to make Katherine happy again. It seemed like Bobby had been right all along. After he thought about what sorts of things would mean a lot to Katherine, JR had come up with the most obvious answer of all. Katherine had lost the people that she truly considered her family; her parents. JR could tell just by looking around Katherine's big, empty house that she hadn't experienced a real family environment in a long time. He hoped that this visit to Southfork would help her to feel something like that again. Hopefully, she would also relax enough to start wanting to give him a chance. JR had a feeling that it would be a memorable day for both of them...