January 2006

She made it through the holidays; she made it through the New Year. She felt so incredibly lonely. It was odd; she had promised herself back in October that she would get the names of the businessman who always came to The Golden Beet on their Monday and Friday lunch breaks. She promised herself up and down. It was her goal. Learn their names, maybe become their friends even if they were successful businessmen and she was a college student with a tiny studio apartment. She hadn’t seen them again.

Angela, the petite, blonde waitress had told Pam that they started coming into the restaurant on Tuesday and Thursdays during lunch – the two days of the week that Pam did not work the lunch shift. She felt a little crushed inside. She wanted to know them. She wanted more friends that weren’t Angela or the weird, kind-of friendship that she had with Dwight.

Christmas had been depressing and for the first time in her life she started to realize why there were so many suicides during the holiday season – especially in New York. Every day that she woke up during December, her senses were assaulted by the scents of Christmas baked goods wafting up from the bakery. Every time she stepped outside of her apartment to go to work, to go to school, to go shopping for anything she was bombarded by Christmas music or Salvation Army bell ringers. Something that reminded her of how alone she was during this time of the year.

She went home for a long weekend of Christmas so she could spend it with her mother and the rest of her extended family. She was surprised when she had arrived at her mother’s home and there was a small box under her mother’s Christmas tree addressed to Pam from Roy. She had been flattered and disgusted when she realized that he had bought her a ridiculously expensive gold and diamond necklace that she knew she’d never wear. She wanted to send it back to him; she didn’t want to accept it. Instead of taking it herself, she brought it to a jewelry shop when she returned to New York City and received a couple thousand dollars for it. When she received the money, she wondered how much he had actually spent on it.

Being in New York City during New Years had been completely insane. Dwight had invited Pam and all of the rest of the employees at the restaurant to Times Square to watch the ball drop. She was a little wary about the notion at first; she didn’t really like to be around huge crowds of people. She made the best out of the situation though and decided that since it was her first New Years in New York City that she might as well make the best of it.

She felt lost in the sea of people surrounding her as people buzzed with excitement for the New Year to come. She felt alone. She had a feeling as she looked over at Dwight and Angela that they had something going on between the two of them. It was only confirmed when the ball hit its base and everyone within sight started kissing anyone they were near – including her two co-workers. She pushed away a man standing near her making kissy faces at her when he clearly had an arm around his girlfriend. She wondered what Roy was doing back at home in Pennsylvania. In the past, the two of them had thrown elaborate New Years Eve parties and she had always had someone to kiss at midnight. Now her options were the drunken man with a girlfriend or…no one. She opted for no one.

**

She was sitting in the front window of The Golden Beet. Her classes for the new semester would start up in a couple of days and she relished the little bit of free time that she had to sit and doodle whatever she wanted before she was bombarded with assignments from her professors.

She wasn’t able to do a whole lot – art-wise – at work. During her breaks she would sneak off to an emptier part of the restaurant and spend her free time doing what she loved the most. She preferred watercolors above any other medium, but a restaurant was not the best place to be working with her slightly toxic paints, so while at The Golden Beet, during her break time she would draw with graphite or charcoal.

The bell to signal a patron jingled but Pam didn’t look up. Kelly or Angela would help them out. This was her lunch break, after this she was on the clock until late that night. She was going to take full advantage of the free time.

“So, you’re an artist?” a voice asked. Pam jumped and looked up into his face.

“Hi,” she said, suddenly feeling breathless.

“Hey,” he said with a generous smile on his face. “So you’re an artist?”

“Oh,” she said, snapping back to his question. “Yeah. Well, kind of.”

“It looks like you’re making art right there,” he said pointing down to her sketchbook.

“Oh, this is nothing,” she said as she felt a flush rise through her cheeks. “I’m just doodling the snow and frost in the panes of glass here.” She tapped on the window softly with her knuckle.

“Can I sit here?” he asked, pointing to the empty seat across from her.

“Um…” she stammered. “Well…this area usually isn’t…and…”

“Oh,” he said looking around.

“I mean, you can,” she said. “If you really want to…but I don’t think that Kelly or Angela will be too happy with me if I sit you here.”

“How come?” he asked.

“Well…it’s just that, this is one of my tables, and I’m kind of on my lunch break right now,” she said with a half-smile.

“Well…” he looked around at the mostly empty restaurant. “Maybe we can move to another table and I can eat lunch with you.” Pam fought the smile spreading across her face and nodded as she closed her sketchbook and stood up.

“Where do you want to sit?” she asked.

“How about…” he looked around, “we can’t sit here?”

“Not without Angela having a fit over order and organization and fairness,” she said with a smile.

“Okay,” he said, returning her smile. “Where can we sit that we won’t get a stern lecture from a little blonde woman?”

“Over there,” she said pointing to a booth along the brick wall near the door.

“Looks good to me,” he said as she stepped ahead of him to notify Angela that she wasn’t eating lunch alone today.

“So,” she said as she slid into the black seat, “where have you been?”

“Where have I been?” he asked. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve been working here the entire time,” she replied.

“Oh, that’s right,” he said with a teasing smile on his face. “I started coming here different days of the week and you disappeared.” She laughed slightly and pushed her sketchbook over to the side of the table.

“You shouldn’t have messed with a good thing,” she said with a simple shoulder shrug and he laughed.

“So, I’m really sorry,” he said, his face straightening out a bit. “This is going to sound really, really horrible, but…” he bit his lower lip. “I forgot your name.” She laughed.

“I’m Pam,” she said with a grin. “And I am sorry, but I never, ever caught your name before.”

“You didn’t?” he asked in disbelief, she shook her head ‘no’. “Wow. And here I thought I was bad. You don’t even know my name!”

“Well!” she persisted. “What’s your name, mysterious stranger?”

“I’m Jim,” he said as he stretched his arm across the table for a handshake.

“Hi, Jim,” she said as she took his hand in hers and shook earnestly.

“So, you’re some kind of artist, are you?” he asked.

“Some kind,” she replied.

“And you’re working in a restaurant? Why aren’t you working in a museum or an art gallery or something?” he asked. She laughed.

“I’m just an art student,” she replied. “I go to NYU.”

“Oh really?” he asked. “Are you a graduate student?” She looked at him inquisitively. “I mean, don’t take this the wrong way but you seem to be about my age…” She shook her head.

“I’m an undergrad,” she said softly. “I dropped out of college when I was a sophomore to be with my fiancé…” she looked up at him and his face seemed to fall slightly. “Sorry, ex-fiancé.” She corrected herself. “And I really wanted to go back to school and really learn some art, so here I am.”

“What an uplifting story.”

“Kind of. Only kind of.”

“Pam, I know what you’re having,” Angela said as she walked up to the table and interrupted the two of them. “But Jim, I need to know what you want…we haven’t seen you in here lately.”

“You know his name?” Pam asked.

“I know all the regulars names,” Angela replied smugly.

“Angela, I’m going to have my usual sandwich and a cup of coffee – black,” he said smoothly.

“Great,” she said, “I’ll be back out in a bit.” She walked back to the kitchen, turning her head ever-so slightly before she slipped through the double doors.

“So just how long have you been coming here?” Pam asked, turning her attention back towards Jim.

“A year, two, maybe, I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s kind of an off and on thing, depending on who works when we come in for our lunch breaks. Also depending on who gets hired and who gets fired.

“Oh?”

“Not many people get fired,” Jim said nonchalantly, “unless they really do a bad job. Dwight is pretty calm with all of his employees. Usually people quit when they’ve had too much of him.” Pam nodded.

“So really, where have you been?” she asked, leaning her elbows on the table.

“Well, we started coming in on Tuesdays and Thursdays around the end of October, because Michael would skip too many Fridays,” he said casually, “and then towards the end of December, I went on my Christmas vacation.”

“Christmas vacation?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, “I spend most of my Christmases in the Bahamas.” Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly. His fancy business suits and generous tips apparently weren’t lying.

“The Bahamas?” she asked in what was more of a gasp than anything else.

“Sure,” he said, “I’m not particularly fond of New York City around Christmas. People get a lot meaner. I get really tired of hearing Jingle Bells and other Christmas music over and over and over, by the 18th I’ve just about had enough and have to flee…”

“Wow,” she said quietly. “I’ve never even gone outside of this small area of the Northeast United States.”

“Oh,” his voice changed, “I’m sorry…” he laughed nervously. “I must have just sounded like the most pompous ass.” She smiled a little. “Wow, I’m sorry Pam. I’m totally not…”

“Not what?”

“Pompous,” he said. “At least I don’t think I am.”

“I don’t think you are,” she said earnestly. “I mean, I don’t know you that well, but…” she smiled. “You’re not pompous. If you were, you probably wouldn’t be having lunch with a waitress who also happens to be an art student.”

“And I’ll pay for you too, if you want me to,” he said with a wink.

“Wow!” maybe it was a little overenthusiastic, but no one had so much as offered to buy her a meal since she had moved to the city. “Well, Jim. I think you now have a friend for life.” He laughed. “You’ve fed the kitten. Now I’m going to follow you home.” He laughed again as Angela set down a cup of coffee in front of him and shot a disapproving glare at Pam.

“So when are you working this semester?” he asked. “Or rather, when do you have classes, so I know when you’re not working?”

“I have classes all day on Mondays and all morning on Wednesdays,” she said with a smile. “The only day I’m not working from now until April is Mondays.”

“Great,” he said. “I’ll try and convince Michael and Ryan that we need to hold our lunch meetings on Tuesdays from now on.”

“Wonderful,” she said. She felt like a little girl inside. She was jumping up and down with excitement. And all she had needed to know was his name but somehow she felt like she had received a lot more.