Midland, Texas

Pouring himself a drink and sitting down in one of the armchairs in his hotel room, Bobby Ewing opened the folder of information his father had given him to prepare him for his business meeting tomorrow morning. From the bullet points and summaries listed, it appeared that there would be no dishonesty or sneaky behaviour required for this particular connection, and for that, he was very grateful. He truly did enjoy the friendly, sociable and good-natured part of his job as the Ewing Oil goodwill ambassador and he was happy to perform the necessary duties for as long as his father wished him to do that job, but if he could maximise those interactions and minimise the negative, upsetting ones, then he would enjoy it even more. Fortunately for him, although his father had been angry and annoyed at him after his outburst a few weeks ago, he also appeared to have listened to what he'd said and acted on it, because since then, his duties had been mainly positive and his father had even begun to introduce him to his future career plan.

After politely questioning why his father had asked him to help Ray and the ranch hands when they seemed to be clearly capable of doing the work without him, he'd finally become privy to what his father had meant when he said he had said he had a plan for him, and he hadn't been disappointed with the answer. His father knew him very well, possibly better than he wished to admit, because in knowing him, he knew what his strengths were, but also knew what his weaknesses were. He may have been Jock Ewing's favourite son and he may have been given many opportunities and chances, but those opportunities and chances didn't automatically make him a natural oilman. The truth was, Bobby Ewing was a people-person, he knew how to endear people to him and how to make sure things went the way he wished, but when faced with work that required little to no human interaction and mostly technical geographical, mathematical and financial information, he wasn't nearly as talented. He was aware of his strengths and weaknesses, even if he sometimes tried to pretend that he didn't have the weaknesses that JR and his father clearly identified within him. Hearing his father explain his plan for his future though, he had come to realise that he wasn't angry or upset with him for not grasping the technical side of the oil business the way JR did; he was accepting of the facts and was adaptable. His father had trialled him in various areas of Ewing Oil before settling on the job he had now, one that was based on his strengths, and to go with that, he was also planning his future based on his strengths; it was a good thing and he was very grateful to have such opportunities available to him.

The idea of working for both Ewing Oil and Southfork ranch was very appealing, because from the way his father described it, it really was the best of both worlds. He would travel and promote Ewing Oil as much as necessary, but instead of spending his days in Dallas at the office doing what was essentially just busywork, he would instead use his time in Dallas to learn the skills necessary for his future as owner and operator of the Southfork ranch business. He didn't know everything about ranching, just as he didn't know everything about oil, but if he could learn about both and keep a foot in the door at both businesses, then he really saw no problem with that and was very happy about it. He liked ranching, he liked being outside and doing physical work and he liked the camaraderie between the ranch hands; he also liked the social connections he made when he travelled on Ewing Oil business though and if he could do both, then he had no complaints. As long as his father was thinking of him and wasn't purposely excluding him from inheriting something of importance like JR was, then he was happy. All he really wanted was for his father to love him and treat him well, because he'd witnessed occasions where Gary or JR weren't treated well or fairly and he'd experienced a small amount of his father's anger and upset and he had no desire to ever feel that way again.

From the way his father had described his plan for his future, he was now convinced that it really was the best decision, because realistically, he and JR never would have been able to work together completely harmoniously if they were competing for Ewing Oil and Jock's attention; they were just too different, in both skills and personality. They could get along relatively easily in their personal lives when Ewing Oil and business deals weren't the topic of conversation, but when they were, things just weren't very good between them. Knowing that, he was sure that this was the best plan; he would continue working for Ewing Oil over the next few years as the Ewing Oil goodwill ambassador and the rest of his time would be spent on the ranch, learning everything he needed to know in order to one day own and operate it himself. In the meantime though, Jock would be supervising both of his sons in their jobs and even after retirement, he had no plans to completely separate himself from the businesses; he would hand over power and control to his sons, but he would remain involved, just in a slightly diminished capacity.

As a part of the agreement Jock had with each of his sons, there was a guarantee that Ewing owned companies would always remain that way, and even if he was retired, he saw no reason to stop working altogether. No, he would help his sons where necessary and hopefully, he would live long enough to see John Ross and his other future grandsons following in the set Ewing path. The Ewing businesses had been multi-generational for decades and if Jock had his way, like he was setting it up to be, they would remain that way forevermore.

Taking a drink, Bobby let out a small sigh of relief; things were beginning to fall into place and finally, he truly felt that everything was going to be just fine.

To be continued…