February 20, 2007

“Ryan, I need you to cover the meeting with Thomas and the people from Seiko, can you do that?” Jim asked as he quickly typed on his computer.

“I can but why can’t…”

“Mr. Halpert, Mrs. Filipelli is here to see you,” the receptionist’s voice rang through Jim’s phone intercom.

“What?” Jim looked around frantically. Why was she here? At his office? “Fuck…um…can you wait just…”

“Sorry Mr. Halpert, she’s on her way right now…”

“Fuck!” he exclaimed as he punched his fist down on his desk. “Well Ryan, I really can’t make it now.”

“I’ll cover for you, man,” Ryan said with a nod, and he skirted away from the door just as Karen rounded it.

Jim pretended to be busy, to not notice that she had just stepped into his office, but she was like the cold winter air. She bit at him, and as soon as she had stepped into the room there was no doubting that she was there.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said coolly as she walked across his office and took a seat across from him without any invitation to do so.

“You can’t just walk in here whenever you want,” he said.

“I don’t know about that…”

“Yeah? Well I do,” he stated firmly. “You can’t.”

“My company is thinking about absorbing yours,” she said as she lifted her briefcase up onto his desk, knocking over a picture frame and a cup of pens.

“Damn it, Karen,” he said as he scooped the pens back into their cup and moved as much as he could out of her wake of destruction. “What the hell are you doing here? And in the middle of the day?”

“I need you to sign some things,” she said as she pulled out a stack of papers.

“And you couldn’t just leave these things with the receptionist?” he asked.

“We both know how incompetent that receptionist is,” she replied. “I don’t need these papers getting lost.”

“What am I signing?” Jim asked as he pulled a pen from his drawer.

“They’re just papers that my lawyer needs the two of us to sign,” she replied with a shrug.

“Do I know what I’m signing? Have we already discussed the terms that are listed in these papers?” he asked. “You’re not trying to take my home away from me, right?”

“Yes Jim, we already discussed them, and no, I am not trying to take away that retched home of yours,” she said as she looked off to her right.

“You loved that home when I first bought it,” he said as he flipped through the pages to where he needed to sign.

Karen’s eyes scanned the walls of his office, not a whole lot had changed since the last time she had been there with the exception of a piece of artwork hanging in a frame on the wall.

“When did you get that?” she asked nodding towards it.

“What?” he asked looking around.

“That piece,” she replied with another nod towards it.

“Oh, that?” he asked, a wry smile on his face when he realized that she was looking at the piece of art that Pam had made him for his birthday back in September.

“Yeah, it’s gorgeous,” she replied with a smile.

“Thanks,” he said as he looked back down at the papers in front of him. “Pam made it for me.”

“Pam?” she asked, her eyebrows rose a little. “Who’s Pam?”

“My…girlfriend,” he replied, the tone of his voice carrying a hint of incredulousness.

“I didn’t realize that you had a girlfriend,” she said softly.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “We’ve been together for quite a while now.”

“Oh?” she leaned forward a little.

“Yeah,” he said with a quick nod.

“So what does she do?” Karen asked, tapping her foot a little.

“She’s an artist,” Jim replied without even thinking twice. “Hence…the art.”

“An artist?” Karen scoffed. “Jim Halpert dating an artist.”

“She’s wonderful,” he said quietly, flipping through more papers.

“Successful?”

“I suppose that you could say that,” he said with a shrug. “She’s in the big NYU art show next month.”

“Wait, wait,” Karen said holding up her hand. “She’s a student?”

“Yes.”

“You’re dating a student?”

“Yes.”

“How old is she?”

“Twenty seven.”

Karen scoffed again.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“What did you do that for?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“You just completely…you know what you did,” he said.

“You’re dating an art student!” she exclaimed.

“So? I happen to like her a lot.”

“Oh really?”

“Well, she’s nothing at all like you,” he said. “So I’m rather fond of that.”

“I can’t believe I was ever married to you,” she said as she looked down at her lap.

“Well, the feeling is pretty much mutual at this point,” he said as she scrawled his signature a couple of times.

The two of them sat in a bitter silence for a few moments, neither of them wanting to acknowledge the other’s presence.

“At least she’s a good artist,” Karen said quietly as she looked back over at the artwork hanging on the wall.

“She’s an amazing artist,” Jim said quietly as he scrawled his name once more and shoved the papers back over towards Karen.

“My lawyer is thinking that it’s going to be another month for everything else,” she said quietly as she picked up the papers and stuffed them back into her briefcase.

“For everything else what?”

“Finalized,” she stated flatly.

“Does this mean come April I never have to acknowledge you again?” he asked bitterly.

“Hopefully, yes,” she replied. She stood up and turned around quickly.

“When will I hear from you again?” he asked before she got to the door.

“I’ll give you a call sometime next month,” she replied. “I think we’ll probably only have one more meeting.”

“And you swear it will be over?” he asked. “No more of…this.”

“I swear,” she said firmly and she left his office as quickly as she had entered.