September 2, 2006

She had practically skipped to work the past few days. She hadn’t heard from him in a week or two, but it was okay because she was going to see him today – no, tonight. She had bought a brand new outfit and she had made sure before coming to the restaurant to work that she looked perfect.

Four hours into her shift mid-afternoon, she started to feel weary. The look of perfection she had achieved before stepping outside of her apartment that morning was starting to wear off from bad customers. She swore that the only thing that was going to keep her going through the rest of the day was simply knowing that she would be seeing him when she finally left work.

It was a little after seven and she had just finished wiping down a table. She quickly walked back behind the bar to place the dirty rag into the cleansing dishwater close to the kitchen. She heard a gasp come from Kelly and she looked up. Kelly was staring at the door and before she could say anything, she froze where she stood.

He was at the restaurant, but he wasn’t alone. Pam felt the color drain from her cheeks and she suddenly felt every little effort she had put into her appearance leave her body. Every last little hope she felt for this day to end well vanished as she saw the somewhat familiar woman and her arm hooked through Jim’s.

Angela greeted them coldly and Pam stood hidden behind a stack of boxes, begging and praying that Angela wouldn’t seat the two in her section.

“Damn it!” she cursed quietly just as Kelly approached her. “Kelly, oh Kelly, I need a huge favor.”

“What is it, Pam?” Kelly asked.

“I need you to wait on one of my tables,” Pam replied in a hushed voice.

“Which one?” Pam pointed inconspicuously towards the table that Angela had just seated Jim and the woman at.

“Oh my god, Pam,” Kelly said in a hushed whisper herself. “No, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“That woman hates me! No…wait…I hate her!”

“You know her?”

“Oh my god, you don’t?”

“No!”

Angela briskly walked past the two of them.

“It’s your table, Pam,” she said quickly.

“No it’s not, it’s Kelly’s.”

“No!”

“Go!”

Kelly knew that fighting with Pam over this would be a losing battle so she quickly mustered up her energy and walked over to the table, a fake smile plastered onto her face.

Jim was facing away from the bar, so Pam wasn’t able to see his face, but she was able to clearly focus in on the woman he was with. She looked familiar, but Pam couldn’t quite face where she could have seen her before. Was she famous? No…probably not. She was certainly pretty enough to be a celebrity, she was devastatingly gorgeous. Sweeping, long brown hair, small, thin body frame, darker skin, gorgeous face and she was dressed so…professionally.

“I hate her!” Kelly exclaimed quietly as she came back behind the bar and walked by Pam. “I swear, if she doesn’t like it here, she should just go somewhere else.” She walked over to the kitchen window and placed their order before returning to Pam’s side.

“This must suck for you,” Kelly said.

“Uh, yeah,” Pam said glumly as she picked up a crystal glass from the shelf and began to polish it so she had something to keep her hands busy.

“So what do you think they’re doing here together?” Kelly asked.

“It looks like a date to me,” Pam replied, trying to fight back tears that she couldn’t quite explain. She and Jim had never established a relationship between themselves. At best they were close friends. So what if he had come back from China with a new girlfriend? Good for him.

“Oh my god, Pam, you don’t know who she is?” Kelly asked.

“I told you just a second ago that I didn’t,” Pam replied.

“Pam.”

“Kelly.”

“Pam, that is Karen Filipelli,” Kelly said, Pam only looked at Kelly with a blank face. “Oh my god. She is like, only the vice president of the biggest advertising company in New York City.”

“Oh,” Pam said glumly, but her mind quickly started to reel. She was the woman that was at the dinner gala in June, she was the woman who had stared at Pam and Jim as they exited the room…

“And…”

“There’s more?”

“Yes,” Kelly replied quietly, pulling Pam close, “she is Jim’s ex-wife.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not.”

“What the fuck is he doing here with his ex-wife?” Pam asked, maybe a little louder than she should have because the moment she said it, Karen’s eyes shot up towards the two of them.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like her,” Kelly replied. “I don’t care how successful she is or how many celebrities she knows…”

“I can’t be here,” Pam said quickly. “I need to go out back for a few moments.”

“Pam!” Kelly exclaimed loudly as Pam began to walk away and quickly run for the back hallway. “Pam!”

Kelly looked over at Jim and Karen sitting at the table Angela had seated them at. When Jim looked over his shoulder, he made eye contact with Kelly.

“What?” he mouthed to her. Kelly shrugged and pointed towards the hallway.

“I’ve been looking forward to him getting back for a month, Dwight! A month!” Pam cried loudly as Dwight sat on the back step behind the restaurant, holding the door open. “I bought a new shirt, I made myself look really nice.”

“You do look really nice,” Dwight said casually.

“Thanks but…” she kicked a rock against the brick wall she was facing. “Fuck!”

“You know…”

“And it’s his ex-wife! Dwight! She’s fucking gorgeous!”

“She is pretty good looking,” he said with a casual shrug.

“God, I can’t believe…” she shook her head as she kicked her foot against the dumpster. “Why’d he do it?”

“What did he do?”

“Bring her here!”

“Maybe they’re just discussing business.”

“Or maybe they’re getting back together.”

“I think you’re really jumping to the wrong conclusions here, Pam.”

“Do you think she went to China with him?”

“Possible.”

“Do you think they reconciled their differences in China and they’re back together? They’re going to give their marriage a second chance? Oh fuck, they’re going to give their marriage a second chance…”

“Pam, you’re overreacting.”

“You know, we kissed before he left. He invited me over to his place a couple of days before he left. I stayed the night there because he has central air and it was a lot more comfortable than my apartment. We kissed. And we fell asleep together on his couch.” Dwight nodded along. “I woke up at two in the morning that night and all I could think about was how much I couldn’t wait for him to get back and how wonderful it felt to be around someone again. After…well, you know, after my own wedding...”

“Pam…”

“And then he left for China and we spoke a few times over the phone while he was there…he didn’t sound any different…”

“Pam?”

“What?”

“I think you need to ask him what’s up.”

“You think?”

He nodded, “I can only get you so far here.”

“Fucking Karen Flipillelli.”

“Filipelli.”

“Whatever.”

“Come back inside, you have tables to serve,” Dwight said. Pam glumly made her way back to the door. When she crossed the threshold she was surprised by Dwight’s arm around her shoulder.

“What?”

“She broke his heart, Pam,” Dwight said calmly.

“How do you know?”

“A restaurant manager knows their patrons well,” Dwight replied casually. “Sometimes a little too well.” Pam smiled slightly. “If he went back to her, he would be a complete fool.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said. “And you know, I don’t usually encourage my employees to date customers, especially loyal customers like Jim Halpert, but…I think that he would be a complete fool to not choose you over her.” Pam’s smile widened a little and she took a deep breath.

“Thank you, Dwight.”

“You’re welcome, Pam,” he said. “Now get back to work.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I was coming here with her,” Jim said woefully as he ran into Pam in the back hallway. “I’m sorry that we came here in the first place.” Pam nodded, she didn’t really know how to respond; she just wanted to know what he was doing with her.

“So she’s your ex-wife?” she asked, not exactly what she had wanted to ask.

“Yeah,” he replied glumly.

“What are you doing with her in the first place?” she asked quietly. She looked over his shoulder to try and see the dining room. “Is she still here?”

“No, she left,” Jim replied quietly.

“So what were you doing with her?” Pam asked. She hated how much she sounded like a jealous girlfriend, but she couldn’t help herself. She hadn’t seen him in a month and seeing him appear at the restaurant with a woman that she considered far better looking, and far more successful than herself; well, it made her a little self-conscious.

“She’s just…she’s trying to get more money from me,” he said with a sad shrug, “and I’m trying everything I can possibly do to settle it out of court.”

“Oh,” she breathed it more than she said it.

“Anyway, she had been trying to get in contact with me the entire time I was in Beijing and when her lawyer contacted me last week as I was getting ready to leave, I figured that I better return her messages,” he said. “So I called her and she said that she needed to meet with me as soon as I returned.”

“Why did you come here, though?” Pam asked.

“She hates the restaurant,” he replied. “I figured that if I had to meet her somewhere, the least I could do was find someplace she doesn’t find enjoyable. And I’m good enough friends with the employees at the restaurant here that I figured I’d be in good company if she lashed out at me.”

“Oh,” she nodded again.

“Come on, Pam,” he said as he reached out and touched her arm. She wanted to recoil, but instead she savored the feeling of his warm palm against the sleeve of her shirt. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again for the past month. I’m sorry that this had to happen…” She sighed and looked up in his eyes thoughtfully.

“I’ve missed you,” she said sadly.

“I’ve missed you too,” he said with a weak smile. She nodded and lowered her eyes again. “When do you get off work?”

“In an hour or so,” she said quietly. “Depending on when the last two people I’m waiting on finish their meals.”

“You want to go back to your place when you’re finished here?” he asked.

“What are you going to do in the meantime?” she asked.

“I can have a drink or two at the bar,” he replied with a shrug. “Regale you and all of your co-workers of tales from the Orient.” She smiled and looked him in the eyes again.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I’m glad you say that because I have a couple of things for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I found some pretty great souvenirs for you.” He winked at her. “You have something to look forward to.” His hand ran down her arm and briefly lingered around her fingers before he turned and headed back to the dining room.