Dallas, Texas

"Remember your job is to pass out the three B's; booze, broads and booty. Everything you need is in here", Jock waved toward Bobby's briefcase, "and in here", he tapped his head, "distribute favours to anybody who can help Ewing Oil. With everything that's going on right now, we need all the help we can get, and I have every intention of keeping Ewing Oil independent, stockholders are the last people we need to be pleasing right now". As much as he had debated the idea, he knew that it was the right thing to do, Bobby was the perfect man for the job, and it was what was best for Ewing Oil. Bobby's new job as the Ewing Oil roadman, dealing with all of their out-of-town contacts, would free up JR's time to focus on the office and their business in Dallas. JR was more valuable to Ewing Oil in the office handling all of their local business than he was doing the required pimping and promoting. It was necessary for Ewing Oil to stay popular and spread a little goodwill around, but it was a waste of JR's business talent to have him travelling and people pleasing when he was required for other important work in Dallas. Bobby on the other hand, he had more success out of the office than he did in the office, and it only seemed logical for him to take over the necessary in-state duties and occasional out-of-state work, though his job would mostly consist of travelling around Texas. Most of the important out-of-state work would still be JR's domain, because Ewing Oil was mainly a Texas based company, so when they did out-of-state work, it was considered highly important and required someone who knew exactly what they were doing. It would be irresponsible for him to send an inexperienced Bobby to Washington to meet with senators, so JR would deal with those types of things; he had more experience and was more knowledgeable about the oil business when it came to the men in Washington. In addition, he had a lot of personal connections there, and politicians liked to know who they were dealing with before sharing any information. For the general schmoozing though, Bobby was perfect. The changes would be good for Ewing Oil and would please JR's wife too, Jock wasn't blind, he knew that Sue Ellen took it hard when JR had to go away on business, even when she tried her best to pretend that she wasn't missing him terribly. He also knew that having JR go away on business often wasn't good for the expansion of the Ewing family; so with any luck, JR's increased presence in Dallas would hopefully also increase the likelihood of having John Ross Ewing III with them by Christmas. He'd been waiting over a year and was getting frustrated with the slow progress, but he hadn't given up hope yet; Miss Ellie assured him that Sue Ellen had confirmed that she and JR were still very much trying to conceive and that Dr Danvers had said there was no reason to worry just yet, everything was completely normal. Therefore, instead of questioning it constantly the way he had in the beginning, he patiently stayed quiet and waited for the announcement. "Yes daddy, I'm ready", Bobby was confident that he was prepared and was actually excited about his new job, he was looking forward to getting out of the office and talking to people, he had always enjoyed that aspect of the oil business more than the maps and contracts. "Good, you know what to do. Now, you'd better get going, you don't want to be late", Jock shook his hand and Bobby left the office, his first set of meetings were in Midland and he would then make his way through three other cities before coming back to Dallas to review and get his next set of duties. His job was to make sure that potential business partners had a good perception of Ewing Oil, and he was completely ready for that challenge. As much as he didn't want to admit it, JR had taught him a thing or two about getting what was best for Ewing Oil and sometimes that meant he had to be a little devious, something he hadn't really understood at first, but he understood now, sometimes it was just necessary.

Sue Ellen walked around The Store as she browsed the ladies clothes, she was looking for something specific and she had yet to find it, nothing was really catching her eye and the things that did just didn't seem to fit right today. JR had committed to taking her out to dinner to celebrate Bobby's new job and his rightful position, though they wouldn't be telling the rest of the family the reason for their celebration, JR still had to act as if he wasn't completely overjoyed that he was working alone again. JR had been so attentive to her lately, he really seemed to be on a high from Bobby's new positon in the company and his own regaining of sole control of second-in-command power, and when JR was happy, she was happy, because everything was much more relaxed when he didn't have to stress about where he stood in Ewing Oil. Although he had been the vice president all along, he had still had to share his decision making with Bobby, and that took away from his overall authority; but now that Bobby was out of the office, he was back where he belonged, and he couldn't have been happier. As she looked through the clothes on the racks she began to get frustrated, there was nothing that wowed her, and if it didn't dazzle her in the store, then JR certainly wouldn't be impressed when she met him for dinner later. She liked to look nice for him and she found that if she dressed just a tiny bit sexier for their dates than she did for family dinners, they both ended up very happy at the end of the night. There was definitely a fine line between sexy and slutty though, and she made sure that she only picked things that were tasteful and classy, because she didn't want to disappoint him, he was very particular about how his wife looked. Not finding anything that she liked, she left frustrated and disappointed; she didn't have time to drive to Fort Worth, and she'd already browsed every store in downtown Dallas, she would have to settle for something she already owned. Arriving back at Southfork, she looked through her closet, her eyes welling with tears as she became more upset about her lack of spectacular clothing; her mind was telling her that it was irrational, but her emotions took over as the tears began to spill onto her cheeks. Ten minutes later, she splashed cold water on her face and reapplied her makeup, staring at her reflection as she questioned her behaviour, she hadn't even really been that sad, but her emotions had all come to the surface at once and she had been unable to stop the tears. She didn't know why it had happened, but she hoped that it was a one off thing, because it would be highly embarrassing if that happened with other people around. She finished getting ready and was back to being happy again when JR arrived home; pushing her earlier behaviour out of her mind, she took her husband's hand and followed him out of the house, she was going to have a good time because she wanted to, whether she had a new dress or not.

To be continued…