Pam sat at her desk, later that week, in a constant daze. A smile never cracked her face no matter how hard Michael tried.

     Michael decided, just a few days after Jim left, that he didn't like how empty the space outside of his office was, so he made Ryan move out of the annex into Jim’s old desk. Michael was quick to move on, along with the rest of the Dunder-Mifflinites, but Pam could not.

    Every morning she would go to work early and hold her breath when she pushed the door open. The dark office welcomed her with silence, all the while her heart rate increasing when she stepped closer to her desk. She would raise her eyes up to Jim's old desk in anticipation, but every morning reality continued to stare back. He was never there; he was never waiting for her.

    She’d sadly sit down at her desk and pull up apartment listing websites on her computer. She’d take care of any and all business related to the wedding before her co-workers arrived between 8-9 am. She’d also check her email, constantly refreshing, just hoping for his name to show up in her inbox.

    It had been 16 days since Jim left when Pam decided she'd found the perfect apartment. She stopped by one Saturday on a whim and it had everything she wanted and was reasonably priced. The down-payment was within her price range and they had one available right away. She saw it as a sign, it really was time she left.

    Pam lined everything up with the move, before speaking to Roy. She knew his temper, knew him so well, she was afraid of how he'd react. He hadn't called since he left the other night after they "broke up" and she was scared at how he'd react when he saw she wasn't joking. It was the first time the thought of him hitting her actually crossed her mind. He'd always gotten upset and thrown items or broken dishes but he'd never touched her. She didn't know how she was going to go about telling him but she felt incredibly relieved to have her new place already set up before having to cross that hurdle. She had taken the opportunity of him out of the house, to start packing up her things.

    One night, while sitting on the floor of the living room, Pam heard Roy's truck pull into the driveway. When he entered the house, his footsteps were loud across the tile.

    "Pam?"

    "Hey." She turned around and tried to smile up at him.
    "What are you doing?" He looked around the messy living room cluttered with boxes, in confusion.

    She stammered on her breath trying to stop the words spilling from her lips.

    "I'm leaving."

    "Leaving? W-what? I thought you just needed some time." His voice hitching on the words.

    "No Roy." She turned away from him, her eyes falling to the floor in front of her. "I-I can't do it anymore."

    "Fuck, yeah whatever." He exhaled loudly and just shook his head in disbelief.

    "I'm sorry."

    "Sorry? Where are you going?" He demanded.

    "I found an apartment near work."

    "When are you leaving?"

    "Saturday."

    "This Saturday?"

    She nodded. "I'm sorry."

    "No you're not. What happened Pam? What happened between us? You can't even look at me."

    "It's just time Roy. We've grown apart. It's not the same anymore. I-I need to be alone."

    "What about me Pam? How do you think I'm supposed to deal with this? What am I going to do alone?"

    "You've got your brother, you'll be fine." She could feel him inching closer behind her.

    "Whatever. So you're going to pack up all your shit by Saturday? I'm not going to help you know? You want to leave, fine you leave, but I'm not helping you."

    "I know."

    "Who's coming over to help you? What about the wedding?"

    "I have it handled."

    "Oh, so you've been doing all of this behind my back? How long have you known Pam? How long have you decided this was over? Was it when Halpert left? Did he put you up to this?"

    "What? No, he didn't say anything about this. He doesn't even know. We don't talk anymore Roy, he's gone. This is about you and me, not Jim."

    "Yeah, right. Fuck it, I thought I'd come home and everything would be fine. I'm going back out." She heard his shoes swish on the tile. "Don't wait up, like you would anyway."

    Pam heard the truck door slam and the engine rev up in the garage. Then she watched the truck fly out by the window and down the road. She leaned her hands down into her face and cried. Tears flowing freely for the first time in a few days.

    A couple hours later she found herself in the kitchen washing a small amount of dishes, when she looked down at her hands and eyed the tiny engagement ring on her finger. She gripped it between her index finger and thumb and twisted it around delicately for a moment, then pulled it off freeing her skin from the mini-band. She lifted the ring up in front of her face and eyed it with a clear mind for the first time. She inspected how perfect it was for their relationship. It was cheap, small, and ugly. When Roy had given it to her it had been perfect. She didn't want anything flashy, in fact she hadn't even wanted anyone to notice. Now, however, it looked so sad and lonely. She set it on the kitchen counter and plunged her hands back into the water. The warm soapy liquid began washing away the tarnish of the ring, and any traces left of what Roy had been in her life.

*****

    If Pam had been a betting woman she would have laid it out that Kelly noticed first in the office that her ring was missing, however, she would have lost and lost big.

    "Pam."

    "Yes Angela." Pam looked up from her desk at the petite blonde accountant.

    "I noticed that you are no longer wearing your engagement ring. Has something happened?"

    Suddenly Pam could feel all the eyes in the office on her. Her cheeks flushed and heat rose up to her face. She swallowed hard and swiveled her chair over to face Angela on the other side of the small dividing wall.

    "Yes Angela, Roy and I have broken up. Anything else?"

    "I'm sorry to hear about that." Angela turned around avoiding anymore conversation.

    "What!?" Michael stepped from his office doorway just as Pam answered Angela. "You and Royster are over? Wow! Did you tell Jim?"

    Pam placed her hands back on her keyboard and looked down at the monitor. "No, I didn't."

    "Whoa! You should Pam, you know he had a thing for you? Whoops, never mind I didn't say anything. My bad!" Michael turned around and smiled.

    "Yeah, maybe."

    "Hey Pam." Kevin stood up from his desk. "I can tell him; he's still in my fantasy football league."

    Pam closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Thank you Kevin but no; he doesn't care, it's fine. Just please, everyone please just... I don't want to talk about it."

    Kevin slowly sat down in his seat and eyed his phone.

    "You'll be alright Pamster. I mean look at me, we'll be a great single-pair. You and me, a duo-dynamic. Do you need somewhere to live? I have an extra room. I could even move the futon that's in the living room in there."

    "No, thanks Michael I already found an apartment. But if you really wanted to help me, you could help me move my stuff. I would be grateful." Normally she wouldn't want Michael anywhere near her things, or her mother, but she was short handed and could use the help.

    Michael's smile vanished and he looked away awkwardly. "Oh, yeah sure, when are you moving?"

    "Saturday."

    Dwight suddenly stood up from his desk and addressed Pam. "If you need my assistance I would be more than happy to lend a hand, and Michael I will pick you up so we can carpool. Your vehicle will not be sufficient in helping move items anyway and therefore would be a useless piece of machinery."

    Pam smiled wide. "Oooh, thanks Dwight that would be nice. That's really sweet of the two of you. I couldn't do it without you." She looked up at Michael and gave herself a silent pat on the back, success.

    "You got it Pam, anything I can do, you can count on me." Michael turned around and gave Dwight a frustrated look and walked back to his office.

    Phyllis slowly meandered up toward Pam's desk. Pam could feel her eyes on her. She looked up from her computer and smiled and slouched down into her chair.

    "Soooo Pam, since you're not going to be getting married would you be wanting to get rid of all of your stuff? I mean the magazines and contact information? I would be happy to take it off of your hands." Phyllis smiled brightly.

    "Sure Phyllis." Pam reached over to the bottom drawer of her filing cabinet and pulled out a notebook and a stack of wedding magazines. She dropped them onto the counter top and pushed them toward Phyllis. "Have fun."

    "Oh I will." Phyllis scooped the items into her arms and walked away.

*****

    Saturday went off without a hitch. Michael didn't drop anything, Dwight didn't scare her new neighbors, and Roy avoided all of it. Her mother  stayed over that night to help her get settled in and Pam was relieved. She found herself in a new place, sleeping on a new bed and the idea that she really left Roy hadn't sunk in yet. While lying alone in the dark empty room, Pam cried herself to sleep. She had never been on her own and she felt so lonely even with her mother in the living room. The idea of being completely alone scared her and she feared it would only get worse. Jim wasn't coming back and she knew that, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. What would she do?

    The next morning she sauntered out into her living room and found her mom tidying up some boxes.

    "Good morning dear."

    "So I was thinking last night." Pam stretched her arms wide over her head and yawned.

    "What's that?"

    "I think I'm going to take some art classes at the community college."

    "That's a great idea. You've always wanted to do more graphics stuff. Didn't you say DM had some sort of summer intern thing?"

    "Yeah but that was just for this summer. From the sounds of it our budget is overbloated and there might be some cutbacks going on. I wouldn't be surprised if that ended up being one of them for next year. It's alright though. I'll get into these classes and maybe I can find a job doing some graphic design work in New York."

    "Are there still talks of downsizing around there?"

    "A little bit here and there. If anything, it'll be Scranton. With Michael and all, I'm surprised they haven't shut us down yet."

    "Do you want some tea or coffee?" Her mom stood up from the couch and headed into the kitchen.

    "Sure, some tea would be lovely."

    "So, have you heard from Jim yet?"

    "No mom" Pam sighed, she knew exactly what her mother was trying to accomplish with that line of questioning.

    "Well?"

    "I'm not calling him. He obviously needs a break, and honestly so do I. I'm just going to enjoy this new life, try and go out and do things and not think about it."

    "Well maybe it'll be good for you to be single for awhile. I don't want you to jump right into another relationship anyway. You haven't been given the chance to blossom yet. Here." Her mother handed her a large ceramic mug.

    "Thanks. Yeah, I think I'm going to enjoy this for a bit, we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll even buy new clothes and try some things with my hair. I was starting to feel like a bum lately."

    "Well you know I love you no matter what."

    "Yeah I know. Well I think I'm going to work on some stuff in the bedroom. Are you going to keep working on this stuff in here?" She motioned to the boxes piled up in the middle of the floor.

    "Yep, I'm going to keep working on it."

    "Alright." Pam walked back into her bedroom and smiled. She stood in the doorway for a moment and eyed the bare white walls. They were her walls, they weren't their walls or Roy's fiancee's walls, they were Pam's. She could close her eyes and envision how she wanted it to look, and she knew that she could actually do it. Her smile spread so wide she bit her bottom lip with glee.

    Maybe it was going to be alright after all.