Chapter 3-Fringes (It's just the beginning).

Jim stepped out of his car and looked up at the two story house that Pam owned. It was large and beautiful. He noticed that the lawn was manicured and well kept. There was a garden and flowers growing up a lattice on the second story balcony. Jim breathed in deep and made his way up the sidewalk to the front door. He knocked and Pam opened it quickly.

“Hi!” Pam said as she opened the door and pulled him into a hug.

“Hey.”

“You found me!”

“You have an amazing home.”

“It’s big. Too big.”

“I’m sure you can find things to fill it up with.”

Pam walked into the kitchen and Jim followed with his hands stuffed into his pockets. He looked around the hallway and then the kitchen. Pam had photos of Scarlet on the walls. His gaze met one of her, Scarlet and Neil. He lingered at the picture, trying to get to know the man that had captured Pam’s heart many years ago. He heard Pam step into the kitchen and unlocked his stare from the picture.

“So, what do you want for lunch? I didn’t really plan anything.”

“I’m fine with anything. I should have offered to bring something.”

Pam opened the refrigerator door and leaned low to look. She pulled out the pack of ham she had bought on Sunday. She held it in the air and then pulled out some slices of cheese. She gave a grin and kicked the fridge door with her foot.

“Ham and cheese!”

“You know where my heart lies.”

“Of course,” she said as she pulled out four pieces of bread.

“So, it’s really good to see you.”

“I never thought I would see you again.”

“Really? I had hope, but after a few years, I gave up I guess.”

Pam looked up at Jim. Her face had gone completely blank and pale. She then focused back on the sandwich she was making.

“You still working at Dunder Mifflin?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“Oh my. Is Michael still a freak?”

“He left a few years ago. Well, let me take that back, I think they forced him to leave.”

“Is Dwight in charge now or did they hire some nobody who doesn’t know what they’re doing?”

“Well, he is a great guy actually. He is smart, funny, handsome, endearing, and the best at what he does.”

“Sounds like you have a crush on him. Who is it?”

“His name is James Halpert.”

“You’re the manager?” Pam let out a little giggle as she handed Jim his sandwich on a paper plate.

“Yeah. It’s nothing much but I get more money. It’s fairly simple stuff.”

“Then I have one question for you. Why are you here when you should be at work?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of a four week vacation?”

Pam smiled and took a bite of her sandwich. “You’re abusing your authority Mr. Halpert.”

“Nah. Things have changed since you’ve been gone.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy how a few years can completely change things,” Jim said as he let his grin slip from his face. He hid his discontent by putting his head down and staring at his plate.

“I never thought that I would be a Mom. It’s the best thing in the world though.”

“You look like you enjoy it.”

“Do you see yourself having kids someday?”

“I guess. It’s just getting the wife that will have my babies,” he said as he chuckled.

“Oh, I doubt you have that problem. You’re a gentleman.”

At those words, Jim looked over to picture of Neil, Pam and Scarlet on the wall. Pam saw that his attention was on the picture and she looked at it too.

“You all look so happy there.”

Pam let out a harsh breath and put her sandwich down. She wiped off her hands and said, “We look happy. In all honesty, we weren’t. Well, I wasn’t.”

Jim turned to face Pam. He put his sandwich down and briskly dusted off his hands. “Oh.”

“I’m sorry that all our conversations tend to focus on Neil. It’s just that I don’t ever really talk about him with adults. Scarlet only has an attention span that lasts for about two minutes.”

“No, you can talk all you want.”

Pam reached her hand over and patted Jim’s. “You’re sweet.”

“What was that?” Jim shook his head and laughed. “You really are a mom. That’s so funny.”

Pam dropped her jaw and let it curl into a smile. “What? The most intelligent conversation I have is with my five year old. Sorry if I come across a little motherish.”

Jim laughed, “It’s okay Mom.”

Pam punched his shoulder and he winced and rubbed it. “Child abuse!” Jim screamed jokingly.

“You need to grow up,” Pam said as she stood up from the table and put the plates in the trash.

“Can you help me?”

“I don’t think anything will help you Halpert.”

“Oh, straight to the heartstrings on that one,” Jim said as he grabbed his chest.

“Man, you’re such a baby.”

“Actually, I’m not. I just like pretending I am.”

“Sure,” Pam said as she walked back to the table. They both laughed.

Jim finally broke his laughter and smiled up at Pam. “Just like old times huh?”

“I guess it is.” Pam looked at her the clock on the wall. “Oh shoot. I have to go get Scarlet.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“No.” Jim stood up from the table. “I guess I should go then.”

“I’m sorry. We should totally do this again.”

“Yeah,” he said as he scratched the back of his neck, disappointed.

“Wait, do you want to come with me?”

“Sounds like fun.”

Pam grabbed her keys and led the way to her vehicle.

----

Standing on the sidewalk of the school, Pam and Jim waited for Scarlet to come out the front doors. When she came down the steps she ran right towards Pam, giving her knees a hug.

“Mom! I made a picture with noodles today!”

“Wow. I can’t wait to see it.”

Scarlet looked up at Jim, who towered over her. She stepped back and snuggled herself up closer to Pam.

“Scarlet, do you remember Jim? He’s the one that you talked to in the store the other day.”

“Yeah. He looks taller today.”

Jim laughed, “I grew over night.”

“Did it hurt?”

“No. Growing up doesn’t hurt one bit.”

“Well, whenever my legs hurt, Mom says it’s because I’m growing.”

Jim lifted his brow and shrugged. Pam smiled at him and then walked Scarlet to her car. Pam buckled her into her seat as Jim stood holding the door open. When Pam was finished, she looked at him and gave a look of gratitude. She pulled the keys out of her pocket and jingled them at Jim.

“Would you like to be the man and escort us ladies home?”

Jim smiled and grabbed the keys. He pulled Pam’s door open and ran around the car to drive the two beautiful women home.

As Jim drove the car cautiously down the road, Pam looked over and knew that all of this felt right.

----

After dinner, Scarlet took it upon herself to entertain Jim. She did somersaults and tried to do cartwheels. Whenever she completed her act, Jim and Pam clapped and sang her praises.

As Jim sat on the couch, Scarlet came over to him, put her hands on his knees and looked into his eyes. “Do you have a daddy, Jim?”

“I do.”

“Really? Where does he live?”

“He lives with my mom.”

“Oh.”

She skipped off into her room. Pam looked over at Jim and gave him the ‘I have no clue’ look. They shrugged it off and continued talking in between Scarlet’s interruptions. She brought Lindie into the living room and tried to put a baby doll dress on her. Scarlet wrestled with the cat until Pam scolded Scarlet for being mean to Lindie. The cat let out a hiss and ran into another room.

Pam got up from the couch and grabbed Scarlet’s hand. She looked over at Jim.

“I have to put her to bed. If you need to go, you can, if not, I’ll be done in a minute.”

“Mom! No! I don’t want to go to bed. I want to play with Jim!”

“Baby, he probably…”

Jim stood and wiped his hands on his pants, “No. I can…”

“She needs to get into bed.”

“Jim!” Scarlet said as she pulled down on Pam’s arm and reached for Jim.

Pam yanked the dead weight of Scarlet off the floor, “Scarlet, it’s time for bed. Get your rear in there now.”

Scarlet let out a wail and squeezed out some big tears. Jim rested his hand on his chest and felt horrible at the scene unfolding in front of his eyes.

“Mom, I want to stay up with you and Jim!”

“Maybe another time. You have school tomorrow.”

“Hey, Pam….” Jim tried to get her attention. “I could read her a bedtime story.”

“Yeah Mom. Can we read a bedtime story together? Please?” Scarlet said as she yanked on Pam’s arm again.

Pam looked at Jim and then down at Scarlet. “Sure.”

Scarlet and Jim both smiled. Scarlet took off into her room and pulled out a set of pajamas. After she darted into the bathroom to attempt to put them on she quickly made her way to her bed and under the covers.

“Are you sure you want to do this? It could last a while.”

Jim smiled and held his arms out, “I am all Scarlet’s for tonight.”

“Well, you are brave.”

“I‘ll do my best.”

----

After three stories and four knock-knock jokes later, Jim glanced down at the silently sleeping Scarlet. She had her head on her pillow while her hand rested on Jim’s knee. He sat on the corner of her bed as he leaned against her headboard. Pam sat on the other side of Scarlet. When he looked over to get permission from Pam to stop reading, he noticed that Pam was silently sleeping as well. Jim smiled to himself and put the book on the nightstand.

As Jim walked out Scarlet’s door, he felt a hand grab a hold of his arm. He turned to see Pam standing there with sleep in her eyes.

“Hey,” she said.

Jim turned. “Oh, I thought you were asleep.”

“I guess I was. Thanks for reading to her.”

“No problem. I enjoyed it.”

Pam smiled and then flung her hands to her face. She began to let out sobs. Jim immediately was concerned for Pam and touched her arm to let her know that he was there.

“Are….are you okay?” Jim asked as he leaned over to look into her face.

She let out a few more heartbreaking sobs and rubbed her eyes with the back of hands. “It’s just….that…”

“What Pam?”

“….that….her Dad never did that for her…..and…”

Jim shook his head and rubbed Pam’s arm. “Hey, it’s okay.”

“It means a lot to me that you would do that for her.”

“My pleasure Pam,” Jim grabbed her by the arm and led her to the couch where he urged her to sit.

“You’re being so nice right now and…I…can’t…”

“What? You can’t what?”

“I can’t express how much it means to me.”

“Pam, you don’t need to do that. I know. Do you need to talk?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t really had a talk with anyone in a very….long time.”

“Well, spill it…”

Pam wiped her tears again and reached over and grabbed tight to Jim’s waist. She embraced him in a hug and let out a few more tears. He rubbed her back as she rested in his arms.

“I don’t know what you know about Neil but he wasn’t a good man.”

“Oh…” Jim hadn’t speculated that. All he knew was they she wasn’t happy with him before he died.

“He was a drunk. He never came home early, he didn’t even acknowledge that Scarlet existed. We didn’t really have a relationship after our wedding. I stuck with him because he was all I knew and then when Scarlet was born, there was no way I was leaving him.”

“I understand,” Jim said as she kept rubbing her back.

“After he killed himself and the others, I haven’t been able to sleep well. He left our marriage in shambles and it’s left me broken all to pieces. I can’t stand feeling this way Jim.”

“You deserve better.”

“That’s what I’ve always thought. He didn’t really love me or Scarlet at all and that’s what kills me. He was just fine without us. He didn’t need us. He only needed his booze.”

Jim responded to her sobs by pulling her in closer. He embraced her while they sat on her couch. When she continued talking about how Scarlet didn’t really know her father, Jim found himself getting emotional. He hated to see Pam torn up. Even though the night had gone well, he still felt like he and Pam didn’t know each other anymore. It was different now. But, when she clung to his side and buried her face in his shirt, he knew that she was the same Pam he had loved all those years. His eyes filled with his own tears and blinked them out of his eyes.

“I’m sorry Jim, I didn’t mean to cry all over you like this,” she said still resting her head on his chest.

“No, I’m glad I’m here. You needed someone to vent to. I’m glad it was me.”

“I’m glad it was you too.”

He wiped his own eyes and went back to rubbing Pam’s back gently. They sat in the silence for a few moments. Pam’s breathing calmed and slowed. Jim knew that she was slipping back to sleep. He didn’t move except his hand running over her shoulder blade and spine. He kept gently rubbing her back and breathing in and out with her rhythm. Soon, he fell asleep with Pam in his arms.