Dallas, Texas

"Well? What does it say?" standing in the foyer, waiting expectantly for his youngest son to open the large envelope that had arrived in the mail earlier, Jock had a fair idea of what it said, colleges didn't send large envelopes to unsuccessful candidates, they had no need for a course catalogue or supplementary information about the school. It wasn't wise to jump to conclusions though, so he needed Bobby to open the envelope and confirm what he assumed to be true.

"It says, 'Congratulations, welcome to the Texas A&M class of 1975'", reading the first line of the letter, Bobby's expression confused him, his youngest son had asked for a new career and agreed to the conditions he put on ranching, so to be so flat when everything fell into place seemed odd. "Well, how about that? That's great news, great news indeed, and just in time. You're leaving Ewing Oil in a couple of weeks and of course you remember our agreement", patting his son on the back to congratulate him, he grinned, everything was falling into place with his family and he wasn't going to allow the strangeness of Bobby's attitude to dampen his entire outlook on life.

"I do daddy", replying weakly, Bobby had less enthusiasm for the plan now than when they'd first made the agreement and that enthusiasm was down to one thing, Pamela. Things were just heating up with Pamela and all of a sudden he was faced with another life to live in College Station. It wasn't necessarily the distance that bothered him, College Station was only an hour by plane, it was just that it was already hard enough to spend time together with both of them working and his business trips, he could only imagine how difficult it would be to see each other with him ranching, studying and enjoying college life again. He'd applied for grad school before he'd met Pamela, when his intention was to split his week according to his class schedule and social schedule, making trips back to Dallas to physically work on the ranch a couple of days a week as he and his father had discussed. Getting an apartment and commuting back home occasionally hadn't seemed like it would be a problem, not when he was young, energetic and single, the problem was now he wasn't single anymore and as energetic as he was being a young man, there was only so much running back and forth he could do before he eventually burnt out. Living two lives, one with Pamela and one without her, was sure to cause problems and problems were the last thing he needed right now.

"Daddy, I uh, need some fresh air. I'll be back later", leaving the letter and untouched booklet on the telephone table, he hastily left the room, grabbing his car keys on the way out and heading off down the driveway at speed, unsure where he was going but knowing it had to be somewhere he could be alone with his thoughts.

Reaching the stables without really paying attention, he found his actions automatic, from parking his car to saddling his horse and the subsequent gallop toward his favourite part of the ranch, slowing only when he reached his old treehouse. It was unlikely anyone would disturb him here and thank goodness, he needed time alone, time to think, time to make a decision, because the future was now and he was torn.

Dismounting from his horse, Ace, he led him over to the pond to drink before tying him to a tree branch and climbing up a small wooden ladder to enter his childhood treehouse. Sitting silently, he considered his options over and over again, concluding the same thing each time. It seemed there were really only two choices; either he broke it off with Pamela, or they got married.

He'd thought long and hard about a long distance relationship and eventually decided it wouldn't be fair to leave her behind in Dallas while he split his time between the two cities, especially if he intended to involve himself in any sort of social activities in college again. JR and Sue Ellen had been long distance while she was in college and although they had made it and he was nothing like his oldest brother, he could only imagine the few problems he'd heard of between his brother and now sister-in-law repeating themselves in his own relationship. He didn't need Pamela getting jealous of his interaction with female classmates and he didn't want to feel jealous when he heard about her nights out with the girls while he was away either. Bringing a wife with him to grad school or going single were the only two ways to go about it, he just had to figure out which one his heart would handle the best.

How much did he care for Pamela? That was the question he needed to answer, that would make his decision easy. If he liked Pamela but didn't love her, then he could learn to live without her in his life; he could learn to deal with the jealousy he'd feel when he inevitably heard snippets of information from Sue Ellen or saw for himself that she'd moved on with a new man. If he liked Pamela but didn't love her, then he would eventually forget about her himself, moving on to his own new special lady, perhaps one who really was the one for him. If he liked Pamela but didn't love her, then he should let her go and allow her to move on with her life, not drag out their relationship to stretch long distance until a point where one of them broke and decided they couldn't do it any longer, he couldn't delay the inevitable, that would be selfish.

Alternatively, if he loved Pamela, then letting her go now would be the worst thing he could do. He was a fool if he thought she'd stay single for long after he broke it off with her, not only was she beautiful but she had a personality that matched, she was kind and fun, and she was interested in the men she dated, not simply what they could provide her with. If he loved Pamela, then what he really needed to do was tell her and see how she felt about him, because there was little reason to plan a wedding if she didn't love him too. If she did love him though, then he had no reason to let her go and every reason to ask her to stay, to share his life with him, forever.

There were a lot of if's and it was hard to see which was the right choice for them, but he was going to have to choose one in the near future, because soon enough everything was going to change.

To be continued…