He kept replaying the fight, and the words they had both said, in a continuous loop in his head. Driving home, while he ate alone off his TV tray, and worst of all, in the quiet of his bed. It was all that he could think about, to the point of obsession, because it had never happened before.

He was angry for the way she had acted. How, with just a couple of words, Roy had changed her from an optimistic, excited, and smiling prospective artist, back to a self-doubting, adrift, and financially pragmatic receptionist. And how she had defended that change, how she really believed that he was right, unquestioningly and unthinkingly.

The anger had dissipated pretty quickly though, as the importance of their friendship and the hollowness that its absence created, loomed larger. He thought at first that he could use the newsletter picture as an icebreaker. That it was something that they could at least talk about, and maybe then ease back into a normal conversation, but the more he considered it, the more impossible its seemed.

Because, really, how could he go up to her and ask for the favor that she had agreed to do for him, which was also a symbol of the fight they had just had? Consequently, they didn’t talk, except for work related stuff. It had been four days, and he was going out of his mind.

Luckily, he had a plan that he thought would work. A plan he needed to work. Valentine’s Day was next Tuesday, four days away including the weekend, and on the off chance that they still weren’t talking by then, at least he’d have a reason to give her something to remind her of their friendship, and what it meant.

“Pssst! Jim, I’m ready.” Dwight leaned back against his desk, a bulging plastic grocery bag clutched in his hand, and an intense gaze framed by his glasses.

He couldn’t help it; the incredible wrongness of the entire situation prompted him to ask it. “Dwight, why are you on my desk?”

“Don’t be weird Jim. Let’s do this. I don’t want to lose the light.” Dwight suddenly stood up, and looked at him and his desk questioningly.

It took him a second to understand what he was looking for. “Oh, it’s in my car. I didn’t want to bring it into the office, uh, might ruin the surprise for everyone.” He said the last part as more of a question than a statement.

“Smart. Good. Okay, let’s go.” Without another word, Dwight briskly walked away from him, past Pam, and towards the exit.

He didn’t really have a choice, so he followed, hands in his pockets and head down. At her desk he cast a quick glance over and saw that she was eyeing him suspiciously. However, it quickly went back to intense interest in whatever was on her screen when their eyes met.

-----

It had begun to snow lightly as he entered the parking lot. Dwight was impatiently standing near the entrance, arms crossed, but still holding the grocery bag.

“Let me just get it from my car, and we’ll be good.” He paused for a moment, and thought how he could better convince Dwight to be patient, because he needed this to work. “Michael is going to love this.”

Dwight slowly smiled, the corners of his mouth curling at what he previously thought was an impossible angle. And maybe it was the snow, but if Dwight’s actions were suddenly narrated by Boris Karloff, he wasn’t going to be overly shocked.

He reached into the backseat of his car, and grabbed Mark’s camera. All he needed was one of those cheap, disposable kind, but he wanted this to seem important for Dwight.

“Alright, Dwight, let’s do this. Uh, oh..” at his words Dwight whipped out a blaze orange cap from his pocket and pulled it snugly on his head. Even so, it extended almost a foot up into the air. Though he had to admit, it accompanied his shoulder to knee, Gortex jacket well. Still that wasn’t what really tied the ensamble together.

“Dwight, is that scarf purple?”

“No, it’s mauve.” Dwight wrapped it tighter around his neck.

“Why….do you own a mauve scarf?”

“My girlfriend gave it to me for Christmas. She said it would help control my unchecked virility.”

“Wow, okay, right….” He decided to just move on….and to remember to tell this all to Pam at some point. “So did you get two good ones, like I said?” He was close to breaking at just Dwight’s clothing, but he knew that he couldn’t, even though it was exactly what he wanted.

“I did Jim. It was very difficult to procure suitable ones. Obviously, I’ve sold all my money ones during the fall.”

“Naturally.”

Dwight continued, “anyway, these are still an acceptable facsimile.” He reached into the bag and pulled out two large beets, stems attached.

“Fantastic. Okay, so I was thinking, in front of the Dunder-Mifflin sign, uh, and just hold them out on either side of you.”

Dwight nodded. “Good, good. I think Michael would want the sign in the picture, considering it’s going on the front page of the newsletter.”

He choked back a laugh. “Yeah….I agree. Michael would want that. Right okay, and a big smile for the camera, okay? We want people to know that Dunder-Mifflin employees are not only prized beet producers, but also happy.”

At his words, Dwight smiled so widely; he could see the shadow between his cheek and gums.

“And now the beets.” He gestured with his hand for Dwight to raise them up.

Quickly Dwight held each beet next to his head, on either side. He quickly focused the camera, and took as many pictures as his finger would let him. Seven seconds, and fifteen pictures later, he was sure that he had one that Pam would love.

“I think we got it Dwight, good job. This is going to be the best cover photo ever.”

“Of course it will be. Everybody loves beets. As a gift, I want you to have the big one.” Dwight swung his hand towards him, the beet swayed in the snowy breeze.

“I’m good, Dwight. Big lunch, but thanks.”

“Fine, I need to get back to work. I’ll put the beet on your desk.” Dwight turned quickly in the snow-dusted parking lot, and walked back inside.

He watched him walk back in, before he put the camera back into his car. Last year, he had only gotten Dwight’s head on his Valentine’s Day card to Pam. This year, he had gotten Dwight, a mauve scarf, and two beets. He knew that if this didn’t make her laugh, and didn’t break the freeze that had come over their friendship, nothing would.