Jim’s eyes grew wide, “Pam!”
“Jim!” She just stared at him.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Sit down.” He laughed uncomfortably and moved over so that she would have room to sit. He looked her up and down. He shook his head and asked how she was doing.
“Fine. Snowing outside.” Pam inwardly groaned. She sounded so stupid and her face was bright red. She hoped that he thought her cheeks were flushed from the cold weather.
“Yeah, I noticed.” Jim turned away from her as he felt a pat on his shoulder. Oscar and Gil sat behind them.
“Jim, how are you doing?” Oscar shook his hand and asked, “How is Stamford?”
“Good, good. I actually enjoy my job. Crazy, I know! By the way, this is Julie. Julie, this is Oscar and Gil.”
Just then, the processional music started and Jim turned back in his seat. Pam caught him glancing at her from the corner of her eye. She wondered who Julie was. She was very pretty, but young. She looked too young for Jim. And Jim looked handsome in his navy blue suit. Had he lost weight? He looked so good. Pam tried to push those thoughts out of her head as the wedding party proceeded to the front of the sanctuary.
The wedding ceremony was beautiful. Phyllis and Bob looked so happy. Pam thought with regret of her own wedding and how unhappy she had been during it. She hoped Phyllis and Bob had an entirely different marriage.
After the ceremony, everyone stood outside of the church, arranging rides for the reception. Pam stood with her fellow co-workers. The snow was falling softly on the ground. Everyone turned with delight when Jim and his date joined them in the parking lot.
“Jim Bob! Good to see you,” Michael grabbed Jim in an uncomfortable hug. Though he had not said anything to her since she first sat down in the sanctuary, Jim shot Pam a look of horror. Pam hid a laugh in her gloved hand.
After pleasantries were made, Jim turned his attention to Pam. “Going to the reception?” She nodded. “Great, we’ll see you there.” He and Julie walked over to his car, where he held open the door for Julie. Pam stabbed at a pile of snow with her high heel.
The reception was held in the ballroom of a local hotel. Just like in the sanctuary, the ballroom was decorated in Christmas colors. The room looked like a winter wonderland. The artist in Pam delighted in seeing beauty.
Pam found her name card on a table. It turned out that the Dunder-Mifflinites were sitting at two round tables near the front of the ballroom. She noticed that Jim’s card lay next to hers. She was tempted to switch it so he had to sit with Dwight and Angela at the next table. But that would be mean, she laughed an evil laugh to herself.
Soon, the table was full. Jim and Julie were on Pam’s right. On her left sat Oscar, Gil, Toby, Meredith, Ryan, and Kelly. Stanley with his wife Terri, Kevin with his fiancée Stacy, Dwight, Angela, Creed, and Michael sat at the next table. Everyone was chit-chatting but Jim didn’t speak to Pam directly. He seemed to only acknowledge her when he addressed the whole table.
“Pam, your dress is gorgeous,” Julie leaned over Jim.
Pam blushed, “Thanks.” Jim was looking at her with eyes that she had not seen in a long time. He gave her a wide grin and said, “Yeah Pam, you look great.” The moment passed as he turned to ask Toby a question.
Dinner was served. As they ate, Oscar leaned toward Pam and asked about her art courses.
Her face lit up and she noticed that Jim had abruptly stopped talking to listen to her.
She answered, “I love my classes. It has been a while since I really focused on my art, so it’s great to brush up on my techniques. Then, in January, I’ll start my graphic design internship. I spoke to Jan Levinson about it before Christmas.”
Oscar smiled at Pam, “That’s so great.”
She felt a hand on her arm. It was Jim. “Nice, Beesly. I’m so proud of you.” He genuinely looked proud.
She excused herself to go to the restroom. Kelly followed her and chatted annoyingly away. “Wasn’t that a beautiful wedding, Pam? It was so pretty and I loved Phyllis’ dress. I hope I get married soon because I want to start having babies. Isn’t Jim’s date pretty? She’s so pretty. I love her dress. Doesn’t Ryan look so hot tonight? I think he looks so hot.” Kelly stopped and grabbed Pam’s arm. “Does being at a wedding make you sad? If I were you, I would feel so depressed.”
Pam shook her head to say no and Kelly let go of her arm.
She sat in the sitting room next to the ladies’ restroom and opened her purse. Her hand was shaking as she ran it through her wavy brown hair. The thought that Jim would come to the wedding had never occurred to her before. She especially did not imagine that he would bring a pretty girl. She blinked back tears. When she composed herself, she stood up and smoothed out the skirt of her blue dress.
When Pam got back to her seat, Jim was sitting by himself, a sad expression on his face. She did not see Julie anywhere.
“Hey.” She touched his arm as she stood next to the table. Jim broke out his reverie and stood up to pull the chair out for her.
“Hey,” he said softly. He looked adorably boyish. He had removed his jacket, which was sitting on the back of his chair. He had unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and his tie was getting loose. He ran a hand through his hair.
“Where is everyone?” she asked with a small smile.
“The bar,” he replied as he returned her smile.
“That was such a beautiful wedding. Phyllis and Bob looked so happy.”
Jim looked over at the happy couple, who were giggling to themselves. “It was.”
Pam bit her lip and said, “I am really surprised to see you here.”
Jim ran a hand through his hair again and laughed uncomfortably, “Um, yeah, I’m surprised to be here myself. But Phyllis emailed me, like, twice a week for the past month, asking me to come. She kept telling me how important it was for me to be at her wedding.”
“Really?” Pam hid a smile.
“Yeah, I mean, I was in Scranton anyway to visit my family for the holidays so there wasn’t really a good excuse for me not to come.”
Pam looked over at the bar and saw Julie flirting with one of Bob’s sons. She wondered if Jim saw Julie. If he did, he didn’t seem to care. Pam turned in her seat so that her entire body was facing Jim. “Julie is really pretty.”
Jim was very aware of how close Pam’s knee was to his leg but he did not move. “Yeah, I guess. She’s still an annoying little kid to me.” Pam looked at him oddly. Jim smiled, “She’s my little cousin. She’s home from college for Christmas break. When I told her I was coming to a wedding, she tagged along. Probably hoping to she’d meet a cute groomsman to hook up with.”
Pam breathed a sigh of relief, “It looks like she has.”
Jim noticed Pam’s face had become cheerier and followed her gaze over to the bar, “Apparently!” He was about to say something else when the rest of their companions returned to the table. Pam turned in her seat back to the table.
After dinner, Phyllis and Bob shared their first dance as husband and wife. The music was provided by a DJ. Kevin hadn’t offered for his band “Scrantonicity” to play. His band mates decided against playing any more weddings after the last one they played ended in divorce.
As Pam watched them, she noticed Jim’s arm was casually draped behind her chair. After the first dance had finished, the DJ opened up the dance floor to the entire room by playing the Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing.” Everyone at her table, including Jim, took a spot on the floor. Pam remained in her seat until Kelly grabbed her hand and dragged onto the floor.
Pam loved to dance but was always embarrassed to do it in public. She had been so angry with Roy at her wedding that she had refused to dance with him, even during their first dance. But she took a large gulp of her wine and began dancing with her coworkers. Jim met her eyes and danced his way over to her. He took her hand and led her to the center of the floor. Jim wasn’t the best dancer, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to have fun. With the atmosphere of the room surrounding her and Jim’s infectious laugh in her ear, Pam let herself go and danced.
She stayed on the dance floor with her friends for the next few fast songs. The Dunder-Mifflin employees gathered in a dance circle, with one person dancing in the middle. Pam thought she was going to die laughing as Michael slithered across the floor to Madonna’s “Holiday.”
When it was Pam’s turn in the circle, she got nervous and dragged Jim in the circle with her. He casually put his hand on her hip as she threw an arm around his neck. They danced until it was Meredith’s turn in the circle.
The mood in the ballroom changed when a slow song began to play. Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” was filling the room as she turned to walk off the floor. Jim caught her hand again.
“Come on, dance with me,” Jim whispered as he took her into his arms. Pam felt awkward at first but he held her close and she gave in. She rested her head against his chest and he leaned his head gently against hers. The hand on her back was warm and comfortable. She could feel his heart pounding, or was it hers?
“You look so beautiful tonight,” he murmured into her hair. She felt her face turn warm. She curled her fingers tightly around the hand that held hers. Is this a dream?
When the song ended, it took them a few seconds to separate. She was having a hard time breathing and he was looking at her face with those eyes. She took a step back, almost bumping into Kevin.
“I need a drink,” she blurted out as she walked as quickly as one can while wearing high heels. Her heart was pounding and her head was spinning.
She turned from the bar with a martini in hand and ran into Phyllis.
“Pam!” Phyllis hugged her. “I’m so glad that you’re here.”
“Oh, Phyllis, this was such a beautiful wedding,” Pam gushed.
“Thank you. You look like you’re having a good time,” Phyllis smiled mischievously.
Pam looked at her with squinted eyes and then looked down again. “I am.”
Phyllis squeezed her hand, “Make the most of tonight.” With a smile still on her face, Phyllis walked off to greet her other guests.
Pam took a long sip of her drink and walked back to her table. Michael and Dwight sat on either side of Jim, whose face was blank. Pam heard Michael say, “Come on, Slim Jim, tell us what makes the Stamford branch tick?”
It was just as well. Pam was not sure what to say to Jim at the moment.
Pam found her coat and stepped outside of the hotel. The snow fell heavily and was beginning to pile up. She wondered if she should try to go home now before the snow got any worse. But she did not want to go home to her lonely apartment. Instead, she stood under the awning and looked out at the snow. It was so beautiful. She wished she had her sketchbook.
A group of party revelers stumbled out of the front door of the hotel. Pam had forgotten that tonight was New Year’s Eve. She was spending the first New Year’s after her wedding alone. Not how I had imagined it. Just ten minutes ago, she had been dancing in Jim’s arms and he looked at her with eyes full of love. Did I imagine that? She shivered.
“Hey.” Jim walked outside, his hands in the pockets of his long winter coat. “Aren’t you cold?”
“I thought you were talking to Michael and Dwight.”
“I was. They were grilling me on trade secrets I’ve learned from Stamford.” He rolled his eyes and stood next to her.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” she asked, looking out at the falling snow.
Jim looked at her, “Yes.”
She turned to him but wouldn’t look at his face. “Um, I don’t know if you heard, but I’m, um, not married anymore.”
“Yeah, I was told.” Jim laughed nervously. “More than a few times.”
She finally looked up and met his eyes. “Who told you?”
He laughed again and looked down at his hands which were still in his pockets. “Well, I guess the day you announced it, Michael and Kelly both called me. Everyone else in the office emailed me. Dwight’s email was the best.” Jim took his hands out of his pocket so he could air-quote. “’Fact: Pam and Roy are divorcing. Conclusion: She will soon be single and eligible.’ Even Creed emailed me. Though he referred to me as ’Tim’ and couldn’t remember your name.” Jim smiled awkwardly. “Periodically, I got email updates from this or that person. And, of course, there were Phyllis’ biweekly email reminders to get my butt to her wedding.” Pam smiled.
Jim’s expression grew serious. “Pam, I’m sorry that your marriage didn’t work out. I don’t know if what I said to you had any impact but I had no right to do that to you. Especially so close to your wedding.”
“It definitely affected me but I learned the hard way that Roy was not the one for me. I never should have married him.” Pam crossed her arms to warm herself.
“I meant it though. You know, the whole, um, love part.” He looked nervous but his gaze never left her face.
Pam was trying to formulate the words in her mouth when more party revelers ran out the door. “Hey, it’s almost New Years! Ten more minutes!”
The moment passed.
Turning toward the door, Jim placed his hand gently on Pam‘s back, “Its cold. Let’s get back in there with the others.”
Jim and Pam walked back into the ballroom and took off their coats. Everyone was standing on the dance floor with champagne glasses in hand. Bob and Phyllis were standing beside the DJ’s stand.
Bob had his arm around Phyllis’ shoulder. “We want to thank all of you for being here tonight, especially on New Year’s Eve. It means so much to have family and friends here on such an important night for us. Let’s have a toast.” Everyone raised their glasses. “To love.”
The sound of clinking glasses echoed throughout the room. Pam took hold of Jim’s hand as they drank from their glasses.
Bob continued, “And don’t forget to take a complimentary Vance Refrigeration magnet on your way out.”
The DJ took the microphone from Bob. “OK, everybody. Its almost time for the New Year to begin! Let’s count down the old one. Ten-nine-eight-seven-six-five-four-three-two-ONNNEE!” The room erupted into cheers.
Jim pulled Pam into his arms and looked deeply into her eyes. He kissed her softly and warmly. He pulled his lips from hers and continued to look into her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with such passion that he had to steady himself. Music, cheers, and applause surrounded them, but they did not hear a sound.
An hour later, Phyllis and Bob were leaving their wedding reception. The guests followed the happy couple out into the lobby. The Dunder-Mifflin employees stood with each other. Dwight had his arm around Angela’s waist. Angela’s face shone from the huge smile on her face. Oscar and Gil held hands, as did Kevin and Stacy, and Stanley and Terri. Kelly tried to take Ryan’s hand but he pretended to not notice. Michael just grinned. And next to them, Jim had his arms wrapped around Pam’s waist. He was never going to let go of her again.
As Bob and Phyllis walked to the door, Jim yelled out, “Thank you, Phyllis.”
Phyllis turned around and smiled. “My pleasure.”
As Pam happily leaned against Jim’s chest, she was glad she bought that blue dress.
bonorocks is the author of 9 other stories.
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