For the next few weeks after their initial reunion, Jim and Pam spent time together each day. Jim had one week left in his vacation and dreaded having to return back to work. He wanted to be able to have lunch with Pam when Scarlet was in school. He enjoyed every moment with the two of them.

Jim and Pam hadn’t talked about their relationship yet. It wasn’t clear what they were. He technically didn’t know how to ask and what to say. Did he have to ask Pam if she wanted to date him or was it already known? He knew he would have to talk to her about it.

----

One day at lunch, Jim decided it was time to bring up his concerns. He was nervous and felt his brow start to bead with sweat. They sat down at a table and waited for their drink orders.

“So, how was Scarlet today?” Jim asked.

“She’s good. She asked if you were going to come over tonight. You haven’t been over for dinner in a few nights.”

“I know. I guess I could swing by tonight. Wait, or you all could come over to my place for dinner.”

“Oh well…I think we’ll have to do that,” Pam said as she raised her eyebrows.

“What’s your favorite meal? Spaghetti? Lasagna? Anything with pasta?”

“I doesn’t matter what we have. Scarlet will be fine with whatever you fix.”

“Who said I was fixing anything? I was going to order it!”

Pam laughed. “But you do so well in the kitchen.”

“No I don’t. I just pretend like I do,” Jim said as he sipped on his water.

“Well, you’re a very good actor.”

“I took some lessons.”

“Ah. Very impressive, Mr. Halpert.”

“My stage name isn’t Halpert though. And if I told you what it is, I would have to kill you. I don’t really want to have to do that, so don‘t ask.”

Pam giggled as she played with her straw floating in her drink.

As the conversation was dwindling, Jim decided that he wanted to talk to her about his feelings. He had stayed over a few nights (on her couch of course) with her snuggled up next to him. Jim liked the nights that he was able to hold her. He didn’t ever pressure her to sleep in the bed together, but she always slept next to him.

Jim cleared his throat and spoke, “Pam, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Well, I don’t really know….how to ask this…and it come out right…but…”

“What is it?”

“I was just wondering if you….” Jim wiped his hands on his pants and put his elbows on the table. “…were ready to date someone again?”

Pam smiled and then looked down at her hands in her lap. She looked at where he ring used to sit. She took in a deep breath and looked back up at Jim.

“I think I’m ready to date again.”

“Do you want to date…um, me?”

Pam smiled again and took her hand and placed it on Jim’s arm. “I think that’s a really good idea.”

“Really?”

“I’ve been waiting for you to say that for a while now.”

“Good to hear.”

“Yes, it is very good to hear.”

Jim took her hand and held it under the table. His nerves subsided and everyone else in the room vanished and suddenly it was just him and Pam.

-----

Jim rushed around his house to pick up and get prepared for Pam and Scarlet’s arrival. He had decided to make his mother’s special lasagna with garlic bread. He knew that Scarlet liked lasagna and Pam did too. He called up his mother and asked for the recipe.

“You need to put the cottage cheese in after the ricotta.”

“Got it,” Jim said with the phone pressed to his shoulder and his ear.

“Then you bake….wait, why are you making my special lasagna?”

“I’m having company over for dinner tonight, Ma.”

“Who? Coworkers? A boss?”

“No. It’s this girl….”

“A woman is coming over to your house?”

“Yeah, she is actually…well…now, she’s my girlfriend. She’s bringing her daughter too.”

“This woman has a kid? Jim, what are you getting yourself in to?”

Jim felt offended that his mother was prying into his newly christened relationship. “Mom, I know what I’m doing.”

“You’re dating a divorced woman? That’s not good Jim….”

“Hey, listen….it’s not like that. I knew Pam a long time ago. She didn’t have Scarlet when I first fell in love with her….”

“So, she just had a baby?”

“No Mom. This was years ago. She moved away, got married, had a kid, her husband died a year ago, and I ran into her at the grocery store. That’s all. I’m not breaking up a marriage or anything like that.”

“Oh.”

“She’s great and I really adore her daughter. We actually made our relationship official today.”

“She has a kid though, Jim. Isn’t that a little too much to take on since you and Karen just ended your relationship?”

“Mom, I don’t care whether Pam has a child or not. She is the same woman she was eight years ago and now she has an amazing daughter that I love. I can’t imagine this any other way. I love them Mom.”

Busy arguing with his mother, Jim didn’t see Pam and Scarlet walk into his house hand in hand. They stood in his living room looking directly at him as he leaned on the counter. He turned at the sound of Scarlet’s voice. His face fell when he saw Pam’s reaction to his words.

“Mom, I need to go. They just showed up,” Jim said as she dropped the phone from his shoulder.

Pam stood there staring at Jim. He wasn’t sure what part she heard of his conversation. Scarlet held on to Pam’s hand looking up at her mother. She looked confused at her mother’s reaction too.

“Hey, Pam…”

“What just happened there?”

“What are you talking about?” Jim said as he made his way around the counter to the living room. “I was talking to my mother.”

“It didn’t really sound like she approved of us.”

“She does. Trust me, she knows how I feel about you and Scarlet and she won’t say any more,” Jim said as he walked up to Pam and put his hands on her arms.

Pam’s eyes glistened with tears. She looked down at Scarlet who was looking up at her with a puzzled look on her face. Pam looked back up to Jim.

“You told her that you….loved us…”

Jim cocked his head to the side and held Pam’s gaze. He then looked down at Scarlet who was still trying to figure out what was going on. He bent down and picked her up off the floor.

“Of course I told her that.”

“Do you really mean that?”

Scarlet put her arms around his neck and Jim leaned over to Pam and placed a kiss on her lips. “Why would I say it if I didn’t mean it?”

When Jim pulled away, Pam still had her eyes closed from the kiss. It was their first kiss since they had officially started dating. When she let her eyes flutter open, Jim was carrying Scarlet to the counter where he set her down next to his recipe.

“Are you ready Scarlet? We are going to make lasagna!”

Pam stood in shock in the living room as she watched Scarlet clap her hands and Jim reach over for some noodles. He looked up to see Pam staring at him. He smiled and threw his head back indicating for her to move into the kitchen.

“You don’t have to stand there all night, you know.”

“Okay,” Pam said as she slid her coat off and set it on the back of a chair.

Jim let Scarlet touch some of the noodles. She made faces whenever she touched the slimy noodles and then handed them back to Jim. Pam watched as Jim made the meal. She stood next to him and ran her hand on his back as he put the cheese and other toppings on the lasagna. When he first felt her put her hand to his back, he glanced over at her with a smile. She returned with a smile of her own.

“Jim, can we put the special ingredient in this?” Scarlet said as she pointed to the ceramic dish.

Jim laughed. “I don’t know if the special ingredient will taste good in this.”

“Then it won’t be special.”

“Yes it will. Because you helped me make it.”

Pam stepped around Jim and grabbed Scarlet.

“Why don’t we go wait for Jim to finish up.”

Scarlet wiggled in Pam’s arms. “No!”

“Hey Scarlet, I got some colors and paper for you over there,” Jim said as he pointed to his coffee table. Scarlet looked over to the table and ran quickly into the living room.

“I guess she wants to do that,” Pam said as she shrugged her shoulders.

“I guess so.”

“You are good at this,” Pam said looking at Jim.

“Nah, it’s my mother’s recipe. She told me what to do over the phone.”

“Not just the cooking, the being a….”

“Dad?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“I shouldn’t have said that, sorry. I mean…I’m good with kids.”

“You are.”

“I’ll never replace anyone’s father,” Jim said pointing to himself.

“You’re doing great job though,” Pam whispered as she went into the living room. Jim smiled to himself as he placed the lasagna in the oven. He set the timer and heard Pam spelling out words for Scarlet who was apparently writing letters.

“J-I-M…”

“That spells Jim?”

“Yes it does. You did a very good job with your letters baby,” Pam said as he looked at Scarlet’s masterpiece.

Jim put the packaged salad in a bowl and tossed it. He watched as Pam sat next to Scarlet and doodled on her own paper. He loved the sight before him, even if it was distracting him from his cooking duties. Pam whispered into Scarlet’s ear and then Scarlet ran into the kitchen with her paper in hand. She tugged on Jim’s pants and he bent down to her level.

“What do you have there Miss Scarlet?”

“I made this for you, Jim,” Scarlet said as she held the picture up for him to take.

Jim wiped his hands and took the picture from Scarlet. When he looked at the picture he felt a smile creep up on his face.

“Scarlet this is beautiful. Thank you.”

“Do you know what it says?”

“Yes. It says ‘I love Jim.’”

“Yeah. You read good.”

“Why thank you.”

Pam stood and walked into the kitchen with her paper. She handed it to Jim. “Here’s another one you can read.”

Jim took Pam’s art and looked at it. He was hit by a huge emotional rush. Pam’s doodle was the icing on the cake for him. He read it silently, looked up at Pam, pulled her into a kiss, and then looked at the picture again.

“What does it say Jim?” Scarlet asked.

“It says, ‘I love Jim too,’” Jim read as he showed Scarlet the picture.

“Mommy copied me!”

Jim laughed. “Yes she did.”

He turned and moved some papers off his refrigerator. “I think I’ll hang these up right here so everyone can see them.”

“That’s a good spot, don’t you think Scarlet?” Pam asked as she played with Scarlet’s hair.

“Yup.”

-----

After their lasagna dinner, Jim and Pam sat on the couch talking and watching Scarlet color. Soon Scarlet climbed on the couch and snuggled up in between them and dozed. As soon as they noticed that she was sleeping, Pam reached over to Jim’s neck and played with the tiny hairs on his neck.

“Thank you so much for dinner,” she whispered lovingly.

“You’re welcome. Thanks for coming,” Jim said moving his hand to her knee.

“I think this has been the best date I’ve ever had.”

“Same here.”

“Even with a kid tagging along.”

Jim and Pam were trying to kiss with Scarlet sleeping peacefully in the middle. When they figured out that they couldn’t get comfortable that way, Jim stood and pulled Pam up. He put his hands around her waist and they kissed. Pam placed her hands on his cheeks and then pushed her hands into his hair. His hands made their way to her hair as well. He deepened the kiss and Pam giggled.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Pam said as he laughed.

“No seriously. Am I that bad?”

“No, no, no. It’s just funny…”

“Funny isn’t a good thing right about now.”

“Not you,” she said as she played with his shirt. “It’s just…right after Scarlet fell asleep we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.”

“Hey that’s not my fault. You’re the one who decided it was smart to start playing with my hair. That‘s my weakness.”

“I was being nice.”

“Sure. I knew what you wanted.”

“Whatever Jim,” she said as she pushed him back a little.

“So now you’re rejecting me?” he said with a smile.

“You don’t get to kiss me anymore tonight,” she said.

“Why not? I think we’ve waited long enough,” Jim said, grabbing her arm and pulling her closer. He finally pulled her close enough to get his lips on hers. She relaxed when he managed to kiss her again. When they realized they were backed up against the wall across the room, Scarlet was sitting up on the couch with a look of terror in her eyes. She looked like she was going to cry. Jim turned and released Pam from the wall and she looked up at him and laughed.

“Oops!” Pam said.

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”

She laughed again. “No. My fault.” Pam walked over to Scarlet and sat down. “I think we need to go now.”

“What were you doing Momma?”

“Nothing baby. Let’s get your coat on and go.”

“Were you hurt?”

Jim’s eyes widened and he walked into the kitchen. He wanted to avoid the awkward question and answer session going on in the living room.

“Jim, we’re leaving.”

Jim briskly stepped out of the kitchen. “Okay.”

“Scarlet, go tell Jim bye.”

Scarlet walked over to where Jim was standing, he picked her up, embraced her in a hug, and set her back down.

“Bye Jim!”

“Bye Scarlet. Thanks for cooking dinner tonight.”

Pam smiled and grabbed Scarlet’s hand. “Would you walk us out?”

“Of course.”

----

With Scarlet buckled into her seat and Jim holding Pam’s door open, they made conversation.

“When will I see my ladies next?”

“Whenever you want,” Pam said.

“Oh really. Well, I have to work next week so we better make the best of my last week of vacation.”

“We can do that.”

“Great. See you tomorrow?”

“Sure. Call me.”

“Will do.”

Jim looked in the window to see Scarlet looking out the other side of the car. He quickly kissed Pam and then ducked down to see if Scarlet had caught them. Pam and Jim laughed.

“Sorry about earlier.”

“No, that wasn’t just your fault.”

“I felt really bad for it getting out of hand like that. I’ll never forget her little eyes staring me down.”

Pam laughed. “She’s just never seen anything like that before.”

“She’ll have to get used to that then.”

She giggled again and tugged on his shirt. “Thank you for tonight. It was fabulous.”

“Yeah, thanks again for coming. Oh, and making me pictures for my fridge.”

“Our pleasure. See you tomorrow,” Pam said as she got into her car.

Jim made sure she was in the car and then shut her door. “Night.”

Pam and Scarlet waved as they were backing out of his driveway. He waved and then made his way back to his door. Once the door was shut and locked, he cleaned up the dishes in his sink. As he reached over to turn off the light to the kitchen, he noticed the two pieces of art hanging on his refrigerator door.