“Oh my gosh, Jim! It was, like, so romantic. Ryan took me to, like, the nicest restaurant in town. And then, you’re not going to believe this, but he said we should be exclusive. That was his word ‘exclusive.’ That’s a good sign. Right?” Kelly bounced up and down on her black stiletto heels. They killed her feet but were so cute. Like the cutest shoes ever!

She and Jim had been talking for ten minutes. Actually, Jim wasn’t saying anything but he was listening as he stared with a worried expression on his face. Kelly was used to Jim not saying anything while she talked. He was such a good listener. In her enthusiasm, she shook his arm. A few drops of coffee spilled out of his mug and onto his hand. The heat of the coffee forced him to look at Kelly.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

“Jim!” she pleaded. “I was just telling you about the, like, most romantic night of, like, my entire life. Ryan is finally, like, totally into me. He didn’t say he loved me though. And I didn’t say it back. Do you think that’s OK?”

Jim looked down at his coffee mug. A small stain was forming on his shirt where it had spilled. “Uh, yeah.”

Kelly tried to look at Jim’s face as she spoke softly, “So what are you and your girlfriend fighting about?”

He was still looking at the stain on his shirt. “Her ex-boyfriend keeps calling her and… What a minute! How did you know I have a girlfriend?”

She made a face at him. “Hello, female intuition. Do you want to talk about it? I’ve been told that I’m a really good listener. I’ll just listen to you and not give my opinion, unless you want it. Seriously, just tell me all about your problem and I’m all ears. There is nothing better than having someone to complain to when you need to share. Oprah says that the greatest gift you can give someone is listening.”

He turned to walk out of the break room. “You’re right. I feel so much better. Thanks for listening, Kel.”

She beamed, “Anytime!”

She smoothed out the slight wrinkles of her baby blue close-fitted sweater. She was wearing baby blue to remind Ryan of babies, which of course would remind him of marriage. It was tight, to remind him of sex, which would of course remind him of marriage. She was so glad to be back together with Ryan. They had been back and forth for months, but he finally decided that they should definitely be a couple. The months that they hadn’t been together were so hard for her. Her weight fluctuated a few pounds every other week. One week she was binging on the dairy aisle, the next she couldn’t bare the thought of eating. She had even considered chopping all of her hair off. Thankfully, a friend reminded her of the bad “Jeff dumped me” pixie cut of 2001. It took her months to grow her hair out. She really didn’t want to relive that memory again.

While she and Ryan had been on the rocks, she tried to commiserate with the newly single Pam. However, the last thing Pam wanted to do was talk about her breakup. If Kelly had just broken up with her boyfriend of several years, she would want to talk about it to everyone. Everyone. However, Pam wasn’t Kelly.

She walked over to Pam’s desk, making sure to pause ever so subtly by Ryan’s desk so he could see her legs in the skirt she was wearing.

“Hey Pam,” she smiled. Pam returned her smile as she looked up from her computer. “I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch together. Actually, I thought we could go out and have an all girls’ lunch.”

Pam paused, “Um, yeah, that sounds like fun.” Kelly clapped happily and went off to invite the other women in the office.

Kelly, Pam, and Phyllis sat in a booth at a local deli. Meredith couldn’t make it because of yet another parent-teacher conference. Kelly had forgotten to invite Angela. Actually, she went to accounting when Angela wasn’t there and then forgot to go back when she got back. Kelly had been rambling on about her fabulous date with Ryan for over thirty minutes.

Pam pushed uneaten salad around on her plate, half listening to the conversation. When Kelly paused to take a sip of unsweetened iced tea, Phyllis patted Pam on the arm. “What’s wrong, dear?”

Pam looked up, frowning slightly. “Oh nothing.”

Kelly put her drink down and thoughtfully gazed at her, “Yeah right.”

Pam shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Kelly and Phyllis continued to look at her with sympathetic eyes. “OK, OK. Its nothing really.” She took a deep breath before speaking slowly. “I’ve been…seeing this guy and he’s…wonderful. But we had a big argument last night because Roy left me a voicemail saying that he wanted to talk.”

“So he’s jealous that Roy will try to win you back.” All of those afternoons Kelly spent watching Dr. Phil were finally paying off.

Pam shrugged. “I guess. He has nothing to worry about though. But I can’t just drop Roy completely out of my life. He was a very important part of me for a long time. He’ll always be in my life in some way.”

Phyllis smiled sweetly, “I’m sorry your boyfriend is being this way. I had always wished that you and Jim had gotten together. He would have understood.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he would,” Pam replied sharply.

After lunch, Kelly recounted her lunch to Ryan. He was staring at his computer, nodding or saying “That’s cool” occasionally. She totally knew he was listening to her. She smiled to herself because she knew him so well.

A hush fell over the office when Roy walked up to reception. “Please Pam, I really need to talk to you. You haven’t returned any of my calls. Please.” She silently nodded and Roy followed her out of the office. Jim rubbed his temples before standing up. With his hands rolled in a fist, he walked into the break room.

Kelly decided to take advantage of Pam’s absence. Kneeling behind the reception desk, she rummaged through the drawers and looked for wedding magazines. She just knew, knew in her heart, that she and Ryan would be together forever. He wanted to be “exclusive,” that was a teeny tiny step away from being engaged. Kelly found what she was looking for when Pam walked over to Jim, who had just returned to his desk.

“Jim, would you help me carry some boxes up here from the warehouse?”

Dwight jumped up from his chair. “I’ll help you.”

Pam looked at him with a glare. “No, I need Jim’s help.”

“But why? I have the physical stamina necessary for carrying heavy loads. Jim is a weakling compared to my capa-” Pam cut him off with a icy look. Dwight meekly sat back down in his seat.

Jim followed her out, hands stuck in his pockets. Kelly remained kneeling at reception when she heard voices coming from behind the large potted plant in the hallway. Clutching a handful of Winter 2006 wedding magazines to her chest, Kelly leaned against the doorway of the office and eavesdropped.

Jim, his arms crossed, stood a good distance away from Pam behind the potted plant. She tried to touch his arm but he shook her off.

“Please Jim. You have to trust me. There’s nothing going on with Roy. I swear. He just wanted to let me know that his uncle offered him a job in Allentown. He’s moving there this weekend.” Jim’s body visibly relaxed as he dropped his arms. Pam took a step closer. “Jim, you have to understand. I don’t love Roy anymore but I’ll always care about him.”

Jim placed his hands gently on her shoulders. “I know. I’m sorry that I went into ‘crazy jealous boyfriend mode.’ Its just that, for so long, I dreamed of you and me being this - ‘us.’ I trust you, I just don’t trust him. This whole thing, you and me, is still unbelievable to me and I’m so afraid that one day, I’ll lose you.”

Kelly put a hand over her mouth to smother the squeal that was dying to escape.

Pam whispered, “You’ll never lose me.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close. Jim rested his forehead against hers.

From the doorway, Kelly quietly bounced up and down. Oh, she just had to tell someone about this! She knelt and whispered in Phyllis’ ear. Phyllis’ eyes lit up and giggled. They were still whispering when Jim and Pam walked back to their respective desks.

As Jim sat down, Dwight spoke without looking up from his computer. “Where are those boxes you were supposed to pick up?”

“Uh…” Jim scrambled to make up an excuse.

Dwight pushed his seat in as he stood up. “You’re so unprofessional! I’ll go get those boxes. I should have gotten them in the first place.”

Kelly giggled as she skipped over to Ryan’s desk to tell him the latest news.