This is easier than she thought it would be. Running over the coals, interrupting Michael, everything. She hasn’t been able to look Jim in the eye like this in months, and suddenly she can’t think of a single reason to look away. And he’s startled, and she loves that she’s startled him.

            She knows that he’s going to have to tell her no, even though she never really asks him anything. She doesn’t have to speak the words—“I love you. Do you love me anymore?”—but she knows that she’s sort of said them anyway. In front of the whole office. That maybe wasn’t the best idea.

            But she’s done it. She did it. And even if Jim tells her that he can’t, she’ll be happy. She isn’t the one walking away this time. She finally figured out how to do it. She finally knows how.