Dallas, Texas
After looking around the house and finding nothing and no one, JR then drove down to the stables. He personally wasn't too fond of the ranching side of Southfork ranch, but he knew both of his parents were and even if he only found one of them down there, he would end up with more information than he currently had.
Getting out of his car after parking outside the stables, he muttered a few curse words to himself; the wetness of the recent snow did not mix well with the dry, dusty, unsealed paths on the ranch and he was not at all pleased about how dirty his usually clean car looked right now. One of his parents had better be there and they had better have some kind of explanation for why he had come home to an angry Lucy and an empty house, otherwise he would be highly annoyed he had dirtied his car and wasted time he could have been spending with Sue Ellen and John Ross. His weekends were precious, he didn't have time to be sorting out adolescent drama, and he would really rather not spend them sorting out drama in his parents lives, especially since as a married man himself, he didn't particularly enjoy when other people stuck their noses into his marriage, so he had a feeling his questions wouldn't exactly be welcomed. Unfortunately, he felt some need to investigate, because he didn't like being in the dark about things, especially not things he was involved in in some vague way, which from Lucy's outburst earlier, he knew he was. How he was involved, he had no idea, but he was going to get some answers, one way or another.
"Ray!?" calling out for the one Southfork ranch employee he actually knew more personally than just as one of the unnamed ranch hands, JR then waited and wasn't too surprised when Ray appeared from one of the stalls. He didn't know what hours ranch hands were expected to keep, but it seemed that whenever he needed to speak to someone, Ray was always there, and he was pleased to see that hadn't changed. "JR", watching as Ray nodded and acknowledged him, calmly, without any hint of worry about his father's current state, JR then wondered whether he was in the right place at all. "I… uh… have you seen my daddy, or my mama, or even perhaps just Bobby?" momentarily forgetting what he wanted to ask, JR's words came out a little unsure at first, but soon returned to his usual strong, direct tone. Upon seeing Ray nodding his head, he was surprised but relieved when he received a relatively detailed answer, "mhm, Jock was down here this morning. He saddled up and took off a couple of hours ago. I expect he'll be back any minute now. He didn't say, but I got the feeling he just wanted to go for a ride, he wasn't working or anything".
Nodding and thanking Ray for his answer, JR walked into the small office in the stables to use the phone. Calling up to the house, Teresa informed him that Sue Ellen and Lucy were still in Lucy's bedroom, John Ross was still asleep and his mother and brother had not returned home yet. Hearing the updates, he knew his plan to wait for his father to return from his ride was the right one; there wasn't much he could do up at the house anyway.
Two hours after he had left the stables, Jock Ewing returned from a much-needed ride around the ranch. The discussion he and Ellie had been having the previous evening had affected him a lot more than he cared to admit, and waking up alone on Sunday morning had only worsened his mood. If he was being honest, he could see his wife's point, JR had made it clear that he had no interest in ranching, so to try to involve him in ranching was a waste of time, however, that wasn't actually what he intended to do, though his wife didn't seem to understand that. Being an oilman didn't necessarily mean he had to be out drilling in the fields; ranching was similar in that to own or have an economic interest in a ranch business didn't necessarily mean a man actually had to be doing any physical ranch work. It all seemed to make sense to him, JR loved money and he had acres and acres of unused land that could be profitable if he so wished it to be; all he wanted to do was present JR with the opportunity to share in the ranch profits a little more than he already did just from being a Ewing. Ellie didn't seem to understand that he didn't plan to force JR into anything; he knew his heart and mind were in oil, not ranching, but he also knew JR knew a good deal when it came along, and this was one; they could both benefit from it and he saw absolutely no problem with just presenting it to him. He would not apologise and he would not call off his plan just because his wife opposed it; she didn't control him or his actions and even if in the past he had allowed her to have a say and there had been times where he'd allowed her to sway his decisions, those times were the exception to the rule. Business was a man's domain; she would do well to remember that.
After unbridling his horse and hanging up his equipment in the tack room, he looked at his watch and knew that even if he and his wife were not in a particularly good space at the moment, he still had other familial responsibilities and tasks to attend to. It was Sunday, family day, and he was expected up at the house for family lunch in just over an hour; additionally, he wanted to speak to JR about his proposition, so it was time to return home now.
Spotting his father walking out of the stables, JR opened his car door and briskly walked toward him, and as he called out to him, he was extremely surprised to see his facial expression as he registered who was calling his name. For a man who had supposedly been angry with him the previous evening, he sure looked happy to see him. "Daddy", nodding somewhat seriously, he didn't really know what to say next, because 'we need to talk' sounded much too formal and scolding, and he didn't want to appear to be disrespectful to his father. Luckily, his father didn't appear to notice his hesitation and was much too involved in his own thoughts to question what he was there for, and instead of dwelling on JR's presence and how strange it was, he simply moved forward with his own agenda. "JR, just the man I wanted to see", grinning, Jock slapped his son on the back and directed him toward his car, signalling to JR that he was about to get the answers he was looking for, without even having to ask for them.
To be continued…