Tyler, Texas

"Bob? I'd say he's good, but what do I know? You always did know him better than me", pausing for a few seconds, JR sowed the seeds for his plans, not particularly discreetly, but extreme discreetness wasn't necessary with Jenna, she was not the type to get offended by the idea of him having a stake in whatever his plans for her were. "He's been working on the road for Ewing Oil but he seems to have dreams of being a rancher, you know he always liked those horses and the land". Telling her a bit about Bobby, he took a chance in potentially turning her off, because he somehow doubted her visions of a glamorous life involved her being a rancher's wife, girlfriend, mistress, whatever, anything that might expose her to the dirty side of the land, instead of the pretty, side, the side where garden lunches were not uncommon occurrences. Despite her not striking him as the type of woman to be interested in Bobby's ranching, she had grown up around Southfork and she had always known how Bobby was with the land, so maybe she had a soft spot for that side of him, he hoped so anyway.

"Is he…?" surprising herself with her hesitation, Jenna looked directly at JR, as if to ask him without having to say it, a fact that did not go unnoticed by him. "Single? Well, like I said, you always could read him better than I could, but I have noticed him spending a lot of time away from the house lately; no girlfriend has been introduced to the family though, so for all intents and purposes, I'd say yes, he is. Why? Are you interested?" raising an eyebrow as if to dare her to say yes, he laughed as she shrugged off his question, answering in a non-committal tone, "I might be". Pausing for a couple of seconds, he was surprised when she continued to speak, this time showing more vulnerability than he expected from her, "I don't know how interested he'd be though, not after how things ended between us".

He didn't quite know what he expected of Jenna, she wasn't a heartless monster after all, but somehow he hadn't expected her to so quickly express regrets about her behaviour toward Bobby. Regrets could work for his plan or against it, depending on how he played his reaction and he had to be careful to think ahead when another, person, particularly an unpredictable woman, was involved. He didn't want to scare Jenna off returning to Dallas completely because she was a key part of his plan, but he also didn't want to be seen as to be pushing her and Bobby back together, not just yet anyway. Although officially he knew little about his brother and Pamela Barnes, he knew Bobby would call him out on what knowledge he did have if he was too heavy handed in his involvement, if he was seen to be forcing Jenna back into his life, hence his need to facilitate another relationship with her, outside of her link to Bobby. With what he had in mind, everyone won eventually, Sue Ellen more in the short-term, but Bobby and Jenna in the long-term too; the only loser was Pamela Barnes, but what did he care about her feelings?

"Well Jenna, you're in luck", responding in a cheerful tone, he mostly ignored her sad, regretful tone, which she apparently noticed almost immediately, because very quickly the small amount of vulnerability showing on her face was replaced by a sceptical expression. "Now JR, why does the way you say that not make me feel so lucky?" questioning him, she laughed as she spoke, reminding him of himself in a way, brushing signs of weakness aside as soon as they became too obvious or awkward in a conversation that wasn't intended to be about emotions.

"I don't know, I only have good intentions", responding briefly, he waited a few seconds to see whether she was interested, which her eye contact told him she was, before continuing. "I'm sure Bobby understands now, you were both so young, the timing wasn't right…" Attempting to reassure her, he knew he was likely speaking out of turn because he was not exactly the person Bobby turned to to discuss emotional things with and even if he was, Bobby had been known to hold grudges for odd things in the past, so who knew how he really felt about Jenna. Sue Ellen seemed to think he was lonely, or he had been before he met Pamela Barnes, however, Sue Ellen liked to assign emotions to other people for all sorts of things she didn't actually have inside knowledge about, so really both were possibilities, Bobby could be pining for Jenna, or he could be holding her leaving him against her.

"That's nice JR, but I don't believe it's quite that simple. You might understand the situation, it just wasn't the right time, I don't know that Bobby would understand or accept that reasoning though. I'm not proud of how I behaved and I do sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had gone through with it, but I don't regret my decision. I needed time and space, from everything in Dallas, and being a married woman at Southfork was hardly conducive to that, no offense to your wife of course". Answering honestly, Jenna's emotions began to resurface; clearly Bobby was a touchy subject for her, a fact he decided was good news to him, it meant she was more likely to agree to play his game because somewhere in her girlish romantic fantasies she and Bobby were together, in different circumstances to those she'd run away from, but still together. "None taken, by me or Sue Ellen I'm sure", answering vaguely, not wanting to reveal too much too soon, his comments were followed by a long pause, for once he didn't really know what more to say; Bobby's relationship with Jenna was not his area of expertise and he couldn't really offer much more than agreement.

Sitting in silence for a few more moments, JR was surprised when Jenna appeared to snap out of her past thoughts and was direct with him again, though he knew he shouldn't be surprised, he'd just complimented her on her directness. "Enough of all this. What did you come here for JR? Certainly not to tell me that you're married, I would have been invited to the wedding if that was the case. But surely you didn't come all the way here just to tell me Bobby is single either, not just for the sake of it, not without wanting something from me in response to that information. So, what is it? Do you want me to show up at Southfork asking Bobby for another chance? Because I'll tell you now, I won't be doing that, not even if you paid me. Bobby might be single, but who says I am? Besides that though, I'm not sure I'm ready to pick things up where we left them, or whether we even could".

Raising an eyebrow as she spoke, JR tutted before responding, "you're doing a lot of assuming there Jenna, are you sure you're telling the truth?" He found her inference that she wouldn't do things for a man for money quite amusing, because she essentially lived her life funded by men, in return for a personal service he was sure. He had plans for her and if a financial incentive would help, he could arrange something, but he did have genuine intentions in some areas, so it would be nice if things could develop naturally. In addition to that, his plans for her with Bobby were part of a bigger picture and before he started paying out funds to influence situations he needed to get her back to Dallas, legitimately, so to encourage his brother, not annoy him, in doing that he hoped to solve some of Sue Ellen's problems too.

"You're starting to annoy me JR. You asked me here today, it's time for you to explain why", staring him down with an expression that said she was prepared to walk out on him if she didn't get her own way soon, he decided to appease her, for now, after all, telling her part of what she wanted to know did benefit him. "I didn't come here to talk about my little brother, I actually came to talk about you and my wife and how I think you're just the person she needs to meet", answering her with a vague comment again, her attitude change was immediately obvious. Sitting up a little straighter, she nodded to let him know she was listening before answering him with a brief, "go ahead", and waiting for him to continue. Annoyed with his ambiguity or not, she was interested and that was a good thing.

To be continued…