“Yes, officer,” Jim said, looking up towards the heavy set officer standing outside the car.
Pam sat quietly as Jim dealt with the officer’s requests for insurance verification and his license. Jim absent mindedly handed her his insurance card along with his license as he paid attention to the officer scolding him about his speeding.
“I will,” Jim said, as the officer handed him the ticket.
Jim watched the officer walk back to his car and sighed when he was back in his car. “Wow,” he sighed.
Pam smirked as she waved his license in the air. “You’re in trouble, James Matthew Halpert.”
“It was all for love’s….sake,” he said, taking his license away from Pam and darting his eyes away from hers at the realization of what he’d just said.
Love’s sake.
“Well, the sunset happened while you were being fined,” Pam said, picking up the ticket off the console, “…one hundred and eighty-seven bucks!”
“Hey, that’s not bad.”
“You’ve had worse?” she asked, amused.
Jim gave her the ‘you’ve caught me’ look. “Um…well, a little bit more than that one.”
“Jim! How many strikes do you have? Am I sitting here with an un-law abiding citizen?”
“Un-law abiding? I don’t think that’s a word, Beesly.”
“I‘m pretty sure it is. In this case, at least,” she said, still staring down at the ticket. “I’ve never been pulled over,” she said, quietly.
“What? I seriously need to get you out more,” he said, adjusting his seatbelt over his chest. Pam couldn’t help but watch his fingers fiddle with the tangled seatbelt.
“Well, we were going somewhere before sundown, but it looks like we missed it.”
“Oh, we’re still going…it’s just not as pretty without the sunset.”
“I bet it’ll be fine. Now, are you going to start the car up and drive or am I going to have to take over the driving? Apparently you’re not a safe driver.”
“Did it work?” Jim asked, smiling as he turned the key.
Confused, Pam asked, “Did what work?”
“The whole ‘getting pulled over on the first date’ thing? Did it make tonight exciting or what?”
Pam giggled. “Oh, so this is just a ploy? To what? Make me come back for more?”
“Of course!” Jim exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
“Well, I have to admit that even if we didn’t get pulled over, I would come back for more,” she said, sheepishly.
Jim smiled. “Good to know,” he said, signaling and easing the car back onto the highway.
---
After another ten minutes of driving, they arrived at their destination. Pam quickly figured out where they were headed once they came upon the familiar landscape of the forested and sandy parking lot.
Lake Scranton Beach.
“The beach?” she asked, as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car.
“Did you seriously expect anything less?” he sarcastically asked.
She smiled. “This would have been perfect at sundown. But, this time of night is good too,” she said, remembering that fateful night a week ago.
She had just done the coal walk. It was invigorating and refreshing among being excruciating and nerve-wracking at the same time. She did it. But, now it was time to do more than walk over some hot coals. That was the easy part. Now was the time she had to say it. It was now or never.
When she looked him dead in the eyes, she felt like cowering and apologizing for her rude, public declaration, but instead, she sucked it up and held her head high. She wasn’t taking it back…ever.
She stood in the water, feeling the water soothe her scalded feet. Just as she was thinking about what her next move was in the this game of life, she heard his footsteps behind her in the sand. She recognized the way he sauntered over to her and when he spoke, she didn’t jump. For some reason, she expected him to come to her. And, he did.
“I agree,” he said, motioning her towards the sand. “C’mon.”
They walked over to the water’s edge and stood silent for a few moments looking out over the dark water. The moon was peeking out behind some clouds and shining beautifully. So, they just stood there in awe of it.
Now that the evening seemed to be running smoother, they could enjoy the silence. It wasn’t filled with doubtful thoughts and ‘what-if’s’ anymore, it was filled with rightness and perfect bliss. They could enjoy the silence together.
Pam slipped off her shoes and picked them up. Jim kept his gaze out over the crashing waves as she did and when she stood straight again, she knew she had to ask the inevitable.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Jim responded without looking over at her. He just replied with, “Hmm?”
“I know this might sound rude…but I just need to…make sure,” Pam said, tucking a wind blown piece of hair behind her ear. “What happened today? Why are you here and not….there?” With…her?”
Jim sucked in a deep breath. “I guess I didn’t really explain that, did I?”
“No, you forgot to mention that when you asked me out today,” she said, laughing to avoid the tension.
Jim looked over to the water’s edge again. “To be honest, I always knew that New York and I didn’t mesh. I guess I felt the same way about Stamford, too.” Jim turned to face Pam who was tracing in the sand with her toes. “But given last weeks events and Karen’s question about moving to New York with her made me realize that I can’t….ever leave again. I’m still ‘mentally’ unpacking from the last time I left and came back.”
All Pam could do was nod. He was really saying it. He didn’t want to leave Scranton again. Even though the conversation mood had become heavy and serious, Pam felt happiness bubbling inside. No, not just happiness, peace.
Jim continued with a question for Pam. “In ten years, where do you see yourself?”
“What?” Pam asked, looking up.
“Where do you see yourself in ten years? David Wallace asked me that in the interview today. What do you see?” Jim asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Pam thought as she stared at Jim’s face. It reminded her of the night on the deck of the booze cruise more than a year ago. He was saying everything with his eyes but his face registered nothing at all.
“Ten years? I..I…don’t know. A lot can happen in ten years. Heck, I was with Roy for ten years and never expected to still be engaged and working as a receptionist. But, in ten years I want to be…”
Jim interrupted her before she could finish. “With me?”
Pam swallowed. “Is that what you saw when David asked you? Being with me?”
He nodded as he shifted on his feet. The wind barely phased his hair as it ruffled his blue dress shirt. “So, when I knew the answer to that question, I declined the job, went to Karen, let her down as easily as I could, and drove back here.”
He called her to find out where to meet her. When he got to the restaurant she was at, he already had it planned out in his head. He pulled her aside, asked her if she wanted to go but she said she wasn’t ready to leave.
“Well, I think I’m heading back to Scranton.”
“Why?” Karen asked. “We booked the room for one more night and plus, don’t you want to meet my friends?”
“I declined the job, Karen,” he said, matter of factly.
“Why would you do that? This is supposed to be your ticket out of Scranton. Away from all your problems.”
“Leaving would cause more problems than I already have. Besides, if I go back right now, I can fix some of those problems.”
Karen nodded. She heard him loud and clear.
“Do you want a ride back to Scranton?” he asked her.
“No. You’ve got stuff to do and I think I need some time away for a few days,” she said, looking down at her hands.
“I’m really…sorry.”
“I know.”
“I hope you understand,” he said, placing and hand over his heart. “Do you?”
“I do now,” she said with a nod.
“It has nothing to do with you. I made some bad mistakes leaving everything the way I did when I went to Stamford. It’s all on my shoulders and to get relief, I have to take a chance. Again.”
“Be safe,” she said, turning to go back to her friends at their table.
“I will,” he said, waving lazily as he turned to head out the door.
“So, you broke up with Karen because of me? And a little note I left in your folder?” Pam asked.
Jim gazed out over the water again. “You could say that.”
“First off, it was never my intention to break up your relationship with her. Although, there were times where I thought about it…” Pam said, cracking a smile as Jim did too.
“So, there you have it. I’m here with you, she’s in New York where she wants to be, and I’m pretty sure Dwight’s at his beet farm playing Risk with his creepy cousin.”
Pam smiled. She had the answers she needed. She could stop worrying now.
“So, once we got here, what did you have planned?” she asked.
“Um…I don’t really know,” he said, looking around the empty beach. “There doesn’t seem to be anything to do. This was a bad idea, I know.”
“No!” she said, reaching over and placing her hand on Jim’s arm and pulling it away quickly when he noticed. “This is great. I think I enjoy it more tonight than I did last week.”
“Yeah. It’s so weird. Last week we were both in different places…and now, we’re just…here,” he said with a shrug.
“I like it this way better,” she said, looking over at him with his hands stuffed in his pockets still.
And then, he replied with too little words that sent her heart aflutter.
“Me too.”
