Pam yanked on her coat angrily, glaring at the never ending sheets of rain as she stood under the overhang in front of the office building.

Roy had asked (more like told) her to find another ride home, because he had a poker night planned with a buddy in Dunmore and he wanted to leave earlier than her. So now she was stranded in the middle of the biggest rainstorm in recent memory with no way home.

She was about to take out her cell phone and call a taxi when Jim skidded to a stop beside her.

“I thought you’d gone home,” she said, dropping her phone back in her purse with relief.

“I started to, but I got out here and realized I’d left my umbrella upstairs,” he said, holding it up. “What are you doing out here? Where’s Roy?”

She pressed her lips together and looked at the ground. “He… left a little early. He had plans in Dunmore,” she finally responded. When she looked up, she thought she saw a flash of anger in his eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

He turned his head, and she thought she heard him mutter, “What a jerk.” She pretended not to hear.

“So, no umbrella?” he asked, turning back to her.

“It was in Roy’s truck,” she said with a grimace.

“You’re going to get awfully wet,” he said, but she could see the mischief in his eyes.

“Yeah, I guess so,” she played along. She sighed dramatically, twirling the strap of her purse in her hands.

Jim popped the plain black umbrella open, and jerked his head toward the parking lot. “Come on, let’s go. I don’t think this stuff is going to let up anytime soon according to the weather reports.”

Pam bit her lip to keep from making a comment about him becoming some sort of amateur meteorologist, afraid that he would really threaten to leave her all alone in the rain, and stepped next to him.

“Wanna make a run for it, or just walk?” he said, looking like he was poised for takeoff.

“Walking seems safer,” she said with a laugh. “If one of us slips and falls down, I have a feeling the entire point of staying dry will be defeated.”

“You could be right,” he said, with a sigh of mock disappointment.

They dashed to his car, and he opened the passenger’s side door for her, holding the umbrella over her and the door until she was safely tucked inside. He shut her door, and hurried around to the driver’s side, sliding in next to her, quickly shaking out the umbrella. He tossed it in the backseat when he was in, and cranked the car, waiting for it to warm up so he could turn the heater on low. It was late fall, but there was a chill in the air only made worse by the dampness, and Pam was grateful that he thought to turn it on. She usually had to freeze half to death before Roy would ever turn the heater on in his truck. She couldn’t help it she was cold natured.

“Thanks for this, Jim,” she said, rubbing her hands together before wrapping them back around her purse. “I really should have been quicker and caught someone on the way out the door, then you wouldn’t have to go out of your way. So I really appreciate it.”

He shrugged. “Don’t mention it. And this is Scranton, so nothing is really out of my way,” he said, making a silly face at her. “I wasn’t going to leave you standing in the rain.”

She heard his last statement like it was an accusation, whether it was or not. Not that she was going to blame him if it was, because she couldn’t remember the last time she was so upset with her fiancé either. She sighed deeply and settled back in her seat.

She could see Jim looking at her out of the corner of her eye, and she finally turned her head to look back.

“I didn’t mean -”

“Yes, you did,” she cut him off, staring past his head at the sheets of driving rain rolling down the window. Then she looked him right in the eyes. “Roy can be a thoughtless jerk, all right?”

He nodded slowly, then turned to put the car in drive.

She clamped her lips shut, but it was too late, because she had already said what she was really thinking. And that was something she never did, at least not when it came to Roy, and especially not around Jim. She closed her eyes tightly, and when she opened them they were at a stop sign.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” she managed.

“I’m cool with the truth if you are,” he said flatly, not taking his eyes off the road. He couldn’t have anyway, as it was nearly impossible to see through the rain, even with the windshield wipers at full speed.

She didn’t say anything else for the duration of the ride, because, as usual, Roy was a total sticking point with them, and she did not want to think about why that was. Even if she did think about it all the time, she really, really didn’t want to think about it anywhere near Jim. She had enough doubts to make her truly worried when he wasn’t around.

This was not the way she had seen her day turning out.

When Jim pulled into the driveway of the little house she shared with the man neither one of them wanted to talk about, he dug the umbrella out of the backseat, and got out to come around to her door. He was every bit the gentleman he had been at the office lot, but now there was an even stronger undercurrent of tension, the existence of which could throw them off for the rest of the week.

He walked her to her door, and waited as she rummaged through her purse for her keys and unlocked it. She looked back at him, and he was still standing there, patiently holding the umbrella over her to keep her dry. She knew she had to say something.

“I didn’t mean for things to get weird,” she said.

“I know. Me neither.” He looked relieved. “Look, the next time you need a ride, just ask, okay? I’m a taxi.”

She smiled up at him, relieved as well. “Okay,” she said with a firm nod. “Thanks again,” she said, even though it seemed completely inadequate.

“Anytime, Beesly,” he said, and gave her that crooked smile that never failed to cheer her up.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she raised up on her tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek, then turned and ducked inside before he could react.

She leaned against the door, closed her eyes, and listened to the roar of the rain pounding heavily on the roof. When her composure was regained, she looked out the small window on the front door to see him retreating to his car just then, the black umbrella twirling despite the storm.

Finis