“Please don’t do this, Pammy,” Roy begged.
Pam didn’t want to have this conversation today. When she told Roy it was over, Pam hoped that she could move out without much drama. Secretly she hoped that he would just go get drunk with Daryl. The fact that he was standing here fighting for her made it so much harder. In fact, it made her angry. After all these years, now he chooses to make a stand.
“Roy, stop it!” Pam shouted, then paused for a minute to regain her composure. “Look, it’s just not working out. I don’t want to marry you. We are not right for each other.”
Roy used his stupid sweet talk voice that Pam had gotten sick of a long time ago. “Come on Pammy. We’ve been together for so long.”
“That’s not a reason to stay together longer. If anything, it means we shouldn’t waste even more time. And don’t call me Pammy,” she said defiantly.
“What can I do, Pam? Whatever it is, let me know. I can change.” He was really trying now. Maybe for the first time, he realized all the crap he had put Pam through and he didn’t want to lose her.
“You shouldn’t have to change, Roy,” Pam said sincerely. “You like getting drunk with the guys and watching sports all day. You enjoy gawking at other women. And you deserve a girl who doesn’t mind that, not one that … pretends.”
“Pretend?!” Roy shouted. “What are you saying, Pam? You’ve been pretending to love me all this time?!”
Pam dropped her head. “Not all this time, Roy. I did love you at first. We just don’t belong together anymore. Now will you please let me go? You’re just making it harder.”
“You’re the one dumping me, Pam! And I’m making it harder for you?”
“Roy, I’m miserable. I have been miserable for the past two years, maybe longer. Do you really want me to be like that? If you care about me at all, then you’ll just let me go!” Pam made a mental note that this was the last time she was going to have an argument like this. She would never let herself get into a relationship like this again.
Roy was taken aback. He had never seen Pam stand up for herself like this. This wasn’t the same Pammy he knew. Roy decided that he’d have to let her go, at least for now. Dragging out this argument would just make things worse. “At least let me call Daryl to help you move. You should take some of the furniture with you.”
“That’s ok. I think a fresh start would be good for me.” With that, Pam grabbed her few remaining bags and headed out the door of their home. Roy watched her go with sadness, but was certain she would be back, and he would do whatever it takes for that to happen.
Jim Halpert arrived at work Monday morning, ready to start another weary day at the office. This day he was even more disappointed than usual, because Pam was not there to greet him. That was certainly the brightest part his day, and had gotten even better over the past couple weeks. She seemed to look at him a little bit differently now, with a smile that was certainly more flirtatious than usual. “She’s engaged, idiot,” he had to keep telling himself.
However, something in the back of Jim’s mind kept telling him something else. After all, she kissed him at the Dundies. Then when they talked about it, she didn’t seem upset or try to deny it. She wasn’t even mad when he admitted kissing her back, and actually kind of flirted with him a little. Jim had decided it was best to play it cool and see what happened. After all, he couldn’t possibly make a move while she was engaged to another man, even if that man was a jerk who didn’t treat her right.
Jim sat down and began to work. After all, there was nothing else to do when Pam wasn’t there. He had to somehow placate Michael by pretending that a dirty e-mail forward was funny. Then it was back to cold calling potential clients, which got so boring that he almost hoped Michael would come back. Then that’s when it happened. Todd Packer showed up.
There were few people on the planet that Jim liked less than Todd Packer. Todd was an immature, sexist, alcoholic sleazebag who was constantly shouting graphic and inappropriate jokes at the top of his lungs. Todd was in rare form today, telling an obnoxious story about the company CFO that got fired for sexual harassment. Jim quickly got up and volunteered a brief interview with the documentary crew to tell them his opinion of Packer. Jim always liked playing it up for the cameras, and the filmmakers certainly enjoyed showcasing him whenever they could.
After leaving the conference room feeling a little better (trashing Todd Packer was always a good stress reliever), Jim saw a familiar face walk in. He went to the reception desk to greet her. “Beesley. I was wondering when you’d show up.”
“Yeah, I was uh…staying at a friend’s place, and didn’t really time my morning departure well.”
“Oh yeah, I was just wondering. It’s not like you to be late.”
“Actually, it’s not like you to be early, which you were all last week. Are you becoming a goody two shoes, Halpert?”
Jim played dumb. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And by the way, when is the last time you’ve pulled a prank on Dwight?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately. No time to plan a good prank.”
“Really? Aww, that’s so sweet. You’ve become a good dorky corporate boy,” she teased.
“Wow, that’s low Beesley. Actually, I had an idea for one where everyone calls Dwight Dwayne…” but Jim couldn’t finish his sentence, because he noticed something odd about Pam’s hand. There was no engagement ring on it.
“Jim? Earth to Jim?” Then she saw where he was looking and quickly hid her hand.
“What happened to your engagement ring?” Jim asked, trying to hide his excitement and remembering that she might need a shoulder to cry on.
“Oh, um, that’s a long story,” Pam sheepishly replied.
“Well it’s a good thing we work at Dunder-Mifflin, then.” This got a laugh out of Pam. Jim gave himself a mental fist pump. He loved cheering her up even more than he liked playing it up to the cameras.
“Actually, my mom is coming today, so I’m sure she’ll want to talk me to death about it. I think she’s always kind of liked Roy, so I’m dreading that. But it‘ll be good to have you here to cheer me up.”
“Well you’ll probably need a lot of that today, because guess who stopped for a visit? Todd Packer.”
“Oh no,” Pam moaned. “Who has two thumbs and wants to kill herself?” Pam dropped her head to her desk.
“Wow, that’s a bit harsh Pam. I mean if there’s going to be any killing today, then Todd Packer should be on the receiving end, don’t you think?” She laughed again. Another victory for Jim. “Maybe we can convince Dwight that Todd is Voldemort?”
“Or Sauron. That’s a tough call.”
“Very tough call.”
Thankfully, Packer left to go on a business call so she didn’t have to deal with him for most of the day. Unfortunately, Toby announced he was going to be doing a sexual harassment seminar. Pam always hated these days, because all the guys in the office thought it was clever to harass her. She grabbed Jim’s attention with a flirty IM, using the winking face with lipstick.
“What’s up, Beesley?” he said as he made his routine trip to her desk.
“I thought of something you can do for me.”
“Anything you want.”
“Um, well you know it’s sexual harassment day. And you know how everyone is. I was just wondering if you could say something…”
“Say no more.” Jim went around to talk to each of the guys and received their assurances that they’d be respectful to Pam for the day. He would never tell her how he did it, but that Dwayne joke would now have to be put on hold. For the most part they followed through on said assurances, the lone exception being Michael, who brought in a blow up doll and tried to get Pam to enact a lesbian scene with it. Jim sighed with the realization that he couldn’t win every battle.
Pam’s day brightened up a bit when her mom showed up. She was still a little nervous about how her mom would react to the Roy situation, but at least it would give her an excuse to ignore Michael or Packer.
“So how’s the apartment holding up?”
“It’s good. Kind of lonely, but I’m getting used to it. Not a lot of furniture yet.”
“Well don’t worry about that, sweetie. I’m going to take you out shopping and get you some furniture.”
“Mom, you really don’t have to do that.”
Jim was waiting for his chance to jump up and introduce himself, but just as he was about to Roy showed up. He looked much different, wearing a sweater and sporting smoothly slicked hair.
“What are you doing here?” Pam said, obviously upset.
“I just wanted to say hi to this awesome woman,” Roy replied as he went up to hug Pam’s mom.
“Aww that’s really sweet,” Pam’s mom replied. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” She pulled Roy aside.
“Mom, what are you doing?” a bewildered Pam asked.
“Just hold on a second honey,” she replied before turning to Roy. ”Roy, I think Pam would like you to leave.”
“Oh come on. You‘ve known me for a long time. You know this is crazy what she’s doing.”
“Roy,” she said sharply. “I need you to leave.” Roy could tell she wasn’t kidding. He looked at Pam, shrugged, and walked out.
“Mom, what did you do?”
“Sweetie, there’s one thing I need you to understand,” she said tenderly.
“Yes?”
“I’ll always be on your side.”
Pam wiped away tears and they hugged. “Thank you, mom.”
She whispered to Pam, “So now, which one is Jim?”
Pam blushed and pointed in Jim’s direction. “Shhhhh. He’s right there.”
“You kissed him? Wow, he’s adorable.” Despite the whispering, Jim heard all of this and thought Pam had the most awesome mom ever.
Pam and her mom went shopping that afternoon and had a long talk. It was a surreal conversation for Pam, because now her mom only seemed to want to talk about Jim. Pam still wasn’t sure what to make of her feelings about Jim, but it was nice to have someone she could talk to about it and get stuff out in the open. When her mom left to head back home, Pam found herself staring at the phone and remembering what her mother told her.
You owe it to yourself to take a chance once in a while, Pam. Don’t wait too long or the chance could pass you by.
“Hey. How are you doing? Yeah, I was just wondering if maybe you’d like to grab a coffee?”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Pam moves into her new apartment and prepares for her mother's visit to the office.
Chapter End Notes:
Next Week: Office Olympics
