Dallas, Texas

"…call and set up a meeting with the cartel, I'm sure some of them are cutting back production, not increasing it like we are, but you know how crabby they get when they think Ewing Oil is excluding them from something profitable. If they are cutting back production it's not really worth discussing joining us in drilling, but by making the first move and inviting them to a meeting knowing full well that they're not going to accept, we still get the outcome we wanted and they can't complain about a lack of consultation when we go ahead with our plans". Waiting for Diane to finish scribbling his directions down, JR strained his ears to hear whether he could pick up anything out of the ordinary happening outside his office, though he wasn't particularly surprised when he couldn't, the Ewing Oil office walls weren't as thin as the Southfork walls, and honestly, there was probably little happening outside anyway. His father had mentioned something about taking his mysterious 'cousin' Jack on a tour of the building, but with the office so quiet, he felt it was safe to assume the nosy stranger hadn't shown up yet.

"With or without Mr Ewing?" hearing Diane speaking again, his thoughts were temporarily interrupted as he turned his attention to his secretary's question and contemplated his options. "Without, but I still want you to invite him, take a peek at Julie's desk and select a time daddy's already busy, then invite him", giving his answer, he returned to his previous thoughts. His father had been getting on his nerves in his personal life recently, but at the office they'd been trying to remain professional, though in all honesty that had mostly just meant ignoring each other. He wasn't all that pleased with why he and his father weren't really talking, but he had found having less interference in his work had resulted in him being more productive recently. He wasn't stupid though, he knew how far he could likely push his father without retaliation and he knew that not making any effort at all to include him, the current president of Ewing Oil, in important networking would certainly break the silence that had fallen over the office. He knew his father and he wanted to please him, but pleasing him didn't always mean agreeing with him exactly and actually following through on those agreements, sometimes it meant just making the effort to look like he was being compliant and inclusive. He would never tell his father that that's what he was doing to him though, that trick was meant to be used on other people, not Jock Ewing, that's how the world worked, Jock Ewing was in control, always, nobody took advantage of him, or so he liked to think.

"Anything else?" bringing his thoughts back to the present again, he considered the things he hadn't yet had his secretary add to his to-do list, and just as he was about to dismiss her, he remembered the one thing he'd been trying not to think too much about. "Mm, I'll be taking lunch early again tomorrow, private appointment; as usual though I'll be back in the office in the early afternoon, so just take messages while I'm away from the office". Not wanting to mention what his private appointment was, because making the decision to see Doctor Williams with his mother was very personal and not something he cared to discuss at present, he then moved on, "that's all I have to add for now". Nodding at her, he was pleased when she took his hint and stood to leave, he hadn't been solely professional in the past, but he was sure his previous lingering secretaries had done so by choice, not because he hadn't been clear with them; with Diane though, everything was different, she made everything so easy and he was grateful.

Down the hall, Julie Grey was just finishing typing a letter for Jock when she looked up to see the elevator doors opening; ordinarily, the sliding metal doors didn't reveal anyone particularly interesting, especially since the downturn in the economy, however, today, the opposite was true. Jock had come into the office in much less of a foul mood than she had expected him to be in and when they had had their morning meeting to run through his schedule for the day she had got a small inkling of why that was. It seemed the son of Jason Ewing, one of the founding members of Ewing Oil had made an appearance and he was burrowing his way into Jock's life one story at a time, and surprisingly, Jock liked it. Seeing the man across the room, she was surprised by only one thing, his age. He was handsome, but he was young, definitely younger than JR and likely younger than Bobby, and while she didn't always think so far ahead, she had already ruled him out as having any romantic potential, she wasn't a fan of bedding younger men. Seeing him had started her thinking about her future though, romance and marriage didn't always have to go together and she knew that in general her aversion to younger men had been because of their lack of means, however, if the mysterious Jack did manage to gain some Ewing wealth of his own, she could possibly make an exception. Marrying a younger man would put a dent in her confidence as she grew older, she was sure of it, but she was also sure that for the right price, she could easily distract herself from the depressing reality of being the older woman; money spoke, very loudly. "Hi", seeing the man walking toward her and hearing him greeting her, she smiled, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and responded back, "good morning", before waiting for him to introduce himself, even though she already knew exactly who he was.

"Jock, Jack Ewing is here to see you", calling through to Jock's office to inform him of his nephew's arrival, Julie's good mood grew as she spotted Diane's facial expression as she registered what she was saying. Diane looked confused and she liked that; she liked being ahead of the game, she liked knowing things that other people didn't, it made her feel special and important, like she was being entrusted with a secret. If Diane was confused that meant it was likely she wasn't aware Jack had been expected, and that meant that despite being JR's secretary, she and JR had a strictly professional relationship, they discussed work in his office and nothing else. She didn't even really want JR anymore, she hadn't been with him for years and the only time she ever really thought of him was when she was considering how he could benefit her, or when she was trying to control the way she reacted around Sue Ellen, she liked knowing she had been and maybe was still special though. She knew things Diane didn't and while in this particular situation it wasn't because JR had chosen to share the information about Jack with her, it still thrilled her to be in the inner circle, even if Diane didn't seem to care about things like that. She was competitive and lonely and even if the rivalry was imaginary, because Diane wasn't competing, it felt good to be one up on someone.

Seeing Jock's office door opening, she watched with interest as her boss walked out, shook his nephew's hand, and then grinned and enthusiastically began to introduce him to everything. She knew only a little bit about Jack Ewing but she had a feeling he was going to be interesting to have around.

To be continued…