For Pam, the rest of the day dragged on, especially without Jim in the office. Once she completed her daily dosage of paper work and other objectives, minus the continuous task of answering the phones, she found herself searching for a mindless activity to keep her occupied.

 “Stupid puzzle…” she muttered, X-ing out of the computer page. She had given up on her third straight unsuccessful Sudoku puzzle, clearly she needed something mindless to occupy her work day, at least Jim returned. With that, her mind wandered to Jim. She wondered how he was doing with his woman counseling for Michael. She smiled at the thought of Dwight trying to explain the complexities of the female brain to Michael.

Her mind further wandered to what Jim had planned for 5:30 this evening. Dinner she thought, flowers? Or maybe I’m thinking too romantic. I don’t even know what he’s feeling at this point. Her mind repeatedly replayed the “irresistible” comment that he had made to her earlier. Was he talking about me? She knew Jim had been in love with her over a year ago, but since then Stamford, Karen, and about twelve months of distance had come between those feelings.

“For crying out loud, why is it still so hot in here?” It was to herself, but she said it aloud anyway.

At that moment, Michael walked in, with Dwight in tow “I’m sorry, that happens whenever I enter a room.”

Pam smiled politely at Michael, who was laughing at is own joke. “Where’s Jim?” She asked, noting his absence from Michael’s entourage.

“Oh, he wasn’t feeling so well towards the end of our…um… conference. He asked to take the last two hours off sick so he could go home early and rest up. But don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing contagious.” He leaned in closer to Pam “Probably food poisoning, if you ask me.” He whispered, like it was a secret. 

Pam’s heart sank. Clearly, this ‘me and Jim’ thing is not meant to be. She thought to herself. She couldn’t believe that she and Jim now had two thwarted almost-date attempts. “Curses” she muttered under her breath as she roughly grabbed a few jellybeans from the dispenser.

About an hour later, at four-thirty, Michael emerged from his office with an armful of folders and loose pieces of paper.

“Hey Pam, I have a huge favor to ask of you. But I sort of knocked all this off my desk, and I didn’t realize that it needs to be organized for a meeting I have on Monday. You see, I was trying this magic trick I saw the other day, where you quickly pull a sheet off of a table with all the stuff on it and if you do it fast enough, everything stays in place on the table. Well, I wanted to try it but I only have a desk in my office, so I put a sheet on my desk, replaced everything and voila!! … It didn’t work. But anyway, do you mind putting all the paper in the appropriate marked folder? It all should be labeled. I’d really appreciate it!” Michael gave his best effort at puppy-dog eyes to her.

“Sure.” She said to him, once he walked back into his office, presumable to clean up the rest of the mess, she muttered “I hate my life” to herself and began the match game with files and folders.

At five o’clock, she called Jim’s house phone and his cell phone, there was not an answer at either phone. She was still working on putting the appropriate files back into order while all her other co-workers, including Michael walked out of the office to begin their weekend. Michael passed her with a “you’re the best” comment before walking over to the elevator. 

It was just about 5:20 when she finally had all the folders in order, with the corresponding files neatly tucked away within each appropriate folder. “Finally” she sighed. Pam got up and went into Michael’s office, and placed the stack on his desk for Monday’s meeting.

She got her purse out and placed it on her desk before deciding to go to the bathroom quickly before she drove home to her fabulously air conditioned apartment. She was truly amazed that she managed to make it through the day without melting.

And odd feeling came over her as she splashed her face with cold water. She quickly dried her face off, and went back out into the office to find that something was different. More specifically something had been placed on the reception desk: a note with a pink tulip next to it.

Pam looked at her watch and smiled. “Five-thirty… on the dot.”

She picked up the piece of paper and immediately recognized Jim’s chicken scratch handwriting.

She brought the flower up to her nose and took in its intoxicating and sweet scent. Grabbing her purse, she quickly made her way out of the office and to the nearest access point to the roof. She remembered all too well the last time she was up there. She was still engaged to Roy and her and Jim watched Kevin and Dwight set off fireworks while they ate grilled cheese sandwiches.

Making her way up the iron ladder, she took a deep breath before opening the door latch, which was currently the only obstacle her in path to Jim.

What she saw when she opened the door to the roof was something she previously could have only dreamed of. She saw lit candles all around, despite the fact that it wasn’t very dark outside yet. Soft music was playing from somewhere, it took her a few seconds to spot his ipod on a speaker dock on the corner of the rooftop. She saw two chairs, a table, with an elaborate array of food and drink displayed across it. Lastly, she saw Jim. He had changed out of his work clothes and into a plain blue t-shirt and cargo shorts.

For the first time in her life, she was speechless. Nobody had ever done anything like this for her, ever. She didn’t know whether it was the beautiful atmosphere or if it was how great Jim looked in his out of work, more casual clothes. But words would not form in her mouth, her tongue refused to move.

“Hey.” Was all Jim said in that moment.

She stared at him while he looked at her with hope glimmering in his eyes and a shy smile plastered on his face.

“I honestly don’t know what to say Jim, this is all… amazing, wow. You did all this for me?”

He took a step closer to her. “Yeah, I faked an illness in front of Michael and Dwight earlier so I could plan all this. And with a little help from the camera crew and maintenance, I was able to put this together, yeah.”

“Camera crew?” She asked, raising a quizzical brow.

“Somebody had to call me to let me know when you took your usual last trip of the day to the ladies room. Seriously, we’ve worked together for many years and you have a very regulated routine. I’ve picked up on a few things.” They both laughed. Finally she understood how in a very short timeframe he was able to sneak in and out of the office to leave the flower and the note without being seen. 

“Jim –“ Pam started to speak, but was cut off by Jim.

“Wait. If you don’t mind I’d like to start.” Pam nodded, allowing him go first. “I know me and you never got the timing right. First with Roy, then Karen, but it suddenly occurred to me one day that I was making a huge mistake. I was with Karen for all the wrong reasons, and for one particular reason: she wasn’t you. I was so hurt after you rejected me on Casino Night that I never thought I’d recover. I didn’t date Karen because I was in love with her or because I could fall in love with her, I dated her to prove to myself and to the world that I could, that someone wanted me.”

“Jim—“ Pam tried to interject, placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

“Please Pam, it’s ok. I mean it was me who was stupid. And I feel bad for unknowingly using Karen like I did. But I love you, I still love you. I don’t know what this hold is you have over me Beesley, but it just won’t go away.” Their eyes met and they shared a smile. “So I was hoping that starting tonight, maybe we could get the timing right this time.”

“You would pick the hottest evening of the entire year to bring me onto the roof and proclaim you’re undying love for me.” She giggled at her attempt at humor in this life-altering moment.

Jim held up his index finger to her “wait!” he proclaimed. He jogged over to his messenger bag to retrieve a portable handheld fan. He handed her the fan stating “When you’re with me Beesley, its nothing but first-class treatment.” They both smiled and laughed at the little plastic fan which was currently providing Pam with minimal relief from the hot, muggy air.

“I’ve been waiting for you, you know. You opened my eyes to my horrible engagement with Roy and I know I should have contacted you in Stamford after I called it off, but fear kept me back. And ever since then, I mean, there isn’t anyone for me but you. Karen seemed to make you happy, and I didn’t want to be that girl who broke up a happy relationship, so I kept my distance. But soon it became clear that I love you too. You’re my best friend, you know me… down to my bathroom habits for crying out loud, so yeah, I think that we can get the timing right this time.”

“I’m so glad to hear.” Jim stated, “Because I don’t know if I can go another day without doing this.” Without hesitation, he cupped Pam’s face in his large hands and crushed his lips against hers. He barely noticed that she had dropped the fan and her hands were soon in his hair and she didn’t notice that his left thumb began idly caressing her cheek, all they knew was that despite the heat, they managed to create some sparks of their own by the sensation of the kiss.

When they broke apart for some air, Pam interlocked her fingers with Jim’s and said “So what did you cook me?” Motioning to the table of food. “I hope grilled cheese is one of the options… you know there’s just something about grilled cheese and rooftops that makes me happy.”

Jim brought her hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it. “Well I am happy not to disappoint you. Besides, it is my specialty. I call it, Grilled Cheese ala Halpert.”

“You are such a dork. But I love it.” Pam smiled at him as he pulled out the lawn chair for her to sit on. This day would not only go down in the record books as being one of the hottest summer nights since 1962, but also the night that Jim and Pam finally got it right.