Dallas, Texas
"Good luck, and remember, you can be fair, but don't be too hard on him. I think he might surprise you if you give him a chance", standing on their front porch, Sue Ellen looked her husband in the eye before kissing him softly, partly as a goodbye and partly because she wanted him to associate her words with a positive experience. It was Monday morning, but more importantly, it was the day Jock and JR were to begin to really narrow down the applicants for the position Bobby was soon to leave vacant at Ewing Oil. Neither Jock nor JR were completely satisfied with the selection of men they were set to interview, Jock because he wasn't thrilled with the resumes he'd been sent, and JR because Jack was in the group, however, as president and vice president rather than father and son, they would do what they had to do. The fact was, Bobby had resigned and was due to leave Ewing Oil in less than a month, if they wanted to keep their network strong, then they needed a new roadman; whether that roadman was Jack or someone else wasn't really all that important, as long as the job was done and it was done well. In all honesty, the job wasn't that difficult, it required a man with the right personality and charm, but the tasks themselves weren't hard, both Jock and JR knew that, they just each had their own specific ideas of who was best suited for the job and they didn't like to let go of things easily.
"I'll be fair…" saying little in reply to his wife's request, JR wasn't completely unresponsive; Sue Ellen always kissed him before he left for work, but today it was different, today she was saying goodbye and trying to bribe him, he knew it, but he didn't mind. Very rarely, if ever, did he just do things because he was told to, Sue Ellen knew that, but if she was still going to show him she adored him even when he didn't do everything as requested, then he wasn't going to rock the boat. If murmuring a few half-hearted words in response to her requests was enough to satisfy her need to give him her opinion, then he could deal with that, especially when she responded so nicely. Their relationship wasn't that superficial, he did care what she had to say and she did have more to offer than encouragement and physical satisfaction; in cases like this though, they both knew they were playing a game, so he didn't feel bad going along with it. If she wanted to offer him lingering kisses in exchange for a small commitment to not automatically dismissing Jack when he arrived for his interview later, then he didn't have a problem with that, it was really the least he could do, it wasn't like she'd asked him to actually employ Jack.
"I'm sure you will", smirking at her husband as he avoided committing to too much, Sue Ellen considered what she was asking of him and conceded that fairness was all she, or Jack, could really ask for, from both JR and Jock; it was all she really wanted too. She didn't completely trust Jack and she understood JR's hesitancy to allow him to just begin working at Ewing Oil like Bobby had, especially without any proven record, however, after the weekend they had just had, her opinion on who Jack was as an individual was beginning to change. It was highly likely that Jack had boarded a plane in Alaska with the intention of coming to Dallas to meet his family and find employment at Ewing Oil as opposed to any of the other oil companies in Dallas, everything he'd said and done pointed at that motive and there didn't seem to be much worth debating there. What Sue Ellen was still trying to figure out about Jack though was what drove him beyond his basic desire for a change of lifestyle and scenery. Money was appealing, as was a nice family, but it wasn't as if he had been poor and alone in Alaska, he had to have left for more reasons than just because those two things.
What interested her more than his reasons for leaving Alaska and choosing Dallas as his destination though was the way he fit into the Ewing family; she couldn't say she was thrilled that Jock was so enamoured with him, not when he struggled to show JR such affection, however, she also couldn't say she didn't understand it. Where she had first struggled to warm to Jack, because he seemed to make himself comfortable at Southfork and with the family much sooner than seemed appropriate, and he seemed to treat JR with the same amount of scepticism that JR treated him with, despite not having reason to, she now thought somewhat differently of him. Seeing him relaxing and not trying so hard to impress had opened her mind a bit, so when JR had drunkenly admitted that perhaps he wasn't such a bad guy and that he had actually begun to grow on him, she didn't find it so hard to believe or understand. Sober JR was a different story though, he was still maintaining that Jack was going to have to work hard and outshine the rest of the applicants if he wanted the job Bobby was leaving vacant; she couldn't say she disagreed with his stance though, Jock needed someone to be realistic about how far nepotism could stretch.
"You know me darlin', I'm always fair", shaking her head and smirking as JR responded snidely, Sue Ellen simply responded with an "mhm", because she knew her husband and how at times his definition of fair could vary, so his promises meant something, but not everything. As long as he was polite and gave Jack a chance though, she would be happy, because she was quite enjoying the calm that had come over the family recently, even with JR's personal issues with both of his parents. She wanted JR to be able to build a good relationship with his cousin and it would be nice if he could build a relationship with Bobby too, however, even if he didn't, she saw no reason to start a war over something like a job at Ewing Oil, especially a job he himself wasn't even in the running for.
"Believe it or not, I am", grinning at his wife, JR knew he was lying, he wasn't Bobby, he didn't pride himself on being fair, Sue Ellen knew that, clearly she wanted things to go well at the office though, so he could at least pretend he was going to play nice all day, even if she didn't believe him. "That's all I ask", hearing the playful but caring tone of her voice as she responded, he knew all was ok with them. He would go to work, face whatever the day brought him, and when he returned home, he could retreat into their world, free from Ewing Oil if they chose it to be; that was a nice thought, he loved working at Ewing Oil, but sometimes he just needed to let it go. Before that though, he did have to deal with the situation before him, Ewing Oil needed a roadman and it was up to him and his father to choose someone who would continue to perform at the level set by Bobby, and him before Bobby.
To be continued…