They spent the next three hours rotating from swimming to napping on the beach to enjoying the culinary delights of the various eateries along the boardwalk. They bought a sack full of salt-water taffy from the Candy Kitchen, and brought it back to their towels. Jim was doing an excellent impression of Pam trying to talk while the candy was still stuck to the roof of her mouth.
“Mmwhah, wahah manha…”
Because she still couldn’t get any words out, she gave him a playful slap on the arm.
“Ouch!” He said, a little surprised at the pain.
They both looked at their red skin, and realized that they had probably had too much sun. It was time to pack up.
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The walk home was silent. Jim had to compare it to the silence that had existed between the two of them the last few months at work. It was amazing what a difference a few days can make. Before, Pam pretty much avoided talking to Jim at any cost. He tried to find out what was wrong, but every time he did, she would find some work to do. When he continued to pester her, she started actively shooting him down. He eventually got the hint that she didn’t want anything to do with him, and resigned himself to doing nothing at work but work. It was a pretty pathetic existence.
Jim had no idea what brought about the change in Pam in the last few days, but at this moment, he didn’t care. She was with him, walking down a shady road, beach chairs and salt-water taffy in hand, and life was pretty good.
“So what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Hmm…I don’t know. What are you in the mood for? Once we get all cleaned up, I can get the grill started up. Then maybe a game of bocce? I happen to be a mean bocce player . . . oh shit.”
Pam, startled, looked up at Jim, and then followed his eyes to the cottage, and the minivan sitting in the driveway.
“Shit. No one else was supposed to . . . it’s my brother, Nick.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Pam asked, concerned.
“No, he’s cool, it’s just…he’s got three kids…” Jim’s heart sank. He wanted to spend every minute of the weekend alone with Pam. He wanted to sit on the porch with her and kiss her in the moonlight. Family bonding didn’t fit into the picture.
They walked up to the porch door, and were immediately knocked over by a shaggy mutt. “Hey Stewie.” Jim said, with disappointment in his voice.
Pam knelt down to pet the dog. “What a cutie!” Jim knew that Pam loved dogs, but she couldn’t get one because Roy was allergic.
“Hello! Hey Nick, you around?”
A taller version of Jim appeared from the yellow room. “James! I saw your car in the driveway. Didn’t think you’d be up for the weekend here, not with all the crowds…” Nick stopped when he saw Pam playing on the porch with Stewie. “Oh, uh, are we interrupting something? It was just a spur of the moment thing to come down here. We were visiting Annie’s mom, and the cottage is about half-way, so we thought we’d spend the weekend here. But, if you’ve got other plans…” he said, and gave a not-so-subtle nod of his head towards Pam.
“No, no, of course not.” Jim said, desperate to get off the topic. “Pam, this is my brother Nick. Nick, Pam.”
“Oh, Pam, we’ve heard so much about you!” Nick said eagerly, embarrassing Jim further. At that moment, Annie, Jim’s sister-in-law, came into the living room, with one small boy in her arms, and another following closely behind.
“Jim! What an unexpected surprise!”
Jim reached over and gave Annie a peck on the cheek, and grabbed Henry out of her arms. Throwing him over his shoulder, he introduced Pam and Annie. Henry, a four-year-old with devilish look in his eyes, squealed with delight and insisted that Jim spin him around for a helicopter ride, while Annie coaxed their older son George from behind her legs. George was six, and very shy. Pam got a quick wave and a “hi” before George ran out onto the lawn with Stewie.
“The kids can take the bunk beds in the sunroom, and Annie and I can take the yellow room with Holly in the porta-crib, and . . .” Nick wasn’t sure where to go with the issue of where Pam and Jim would sleep. He had heard plenty about Pam from his younger brother, and didn’t want to assume anything.
Jim spoke right up. “I’ll take the couch, and Pam can have the blue room.”
“Great, everything’s settled. Now, onto dinner!”
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While Nick and Annie unpacked the food they had brought and started up the grill, Jim pulled Pam over to a private corner on the porch.
“I’m really sorry about all of this. I really wanted you to have a fun, relaxing time. You didn’t sign up for a ‘Meet the Halperts’ weekend.”
“Jim, don’t even think about it! Your family so nice, and I’m having an amazing time. Really.” She gave him a smile that showed that she meant it. “Now let’s hit the showers. I need to get all of the sand out of my hair!”
As she walked away, he smiled to himself. Twice in two days, she had delivered a line that sent shivers up his spine.
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Jim was already showered and in a pair of clean shorts and t-shirt, attempting to gauge whether the hamburgers were done, when Pam walked out. He glanced up, and almost dropped his barbeque tongs. She had changed into a simple blue and white sundress, and wasn’t wearing any shoes. She had thrown her hair, still wet from the shower, into a messy bun, but a few strands had escaped, and curled around her face. The sun had brought out freckles on her shoulders, and her nose was a light shade of pink. She really was breathtaking.
After a moment, he realized he was staring, and went back to focusing on the food. He had let a hot dog burn during his reverie.
“I’ll have the burned one. I like my dogs well done.” She said, sidling up next to Jim. Her closeness was intoxicating. Even over the flames and food, he could smell her shampoo.
He gave her a weak smile, but couldn’t come up with anything witty. Not even a “that’s what she said.” He was relieved when Nick came out with a beer for each of them, and Pam went to sit next to Annie and the kids. Annie was holding six-month old Holly, and George was slowly warming up to Pam.
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Over dinner, the topic of the grandstand concert came up. Jim explained that on weekend nights, there was a band playing on a little stage on the boardwalk. It was usually a folk band made up of retired people from the area, or jazz band, or occasionally a cheesy cover band, but it was usually good music, and a big crowd always showed up.
“That sounds like a lot of fun, we should all go!” Pam exclaimed, and Jim gave an inward groan. Who had even brought up the subject? His vision of walking the beach with Pam underneath the moonlight was quickly turning into a group affair.
“Oh, no, it’s really not that fun.”
“Come on, Uncle Jim! Lets go!”
“Yay! Can we get ice cream, too, Uncle Jim?”
Realizing he was facing a losing battle, he finally conceded.
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Pam grabbed her blue cardigan and threw on some flip-flops. Henry was hopping up and down while trying to pull Pam out the door. Unlike George, he needed no time to warm up to her. “Lets go! Come on! Ice cream!”
Pam had to laugh. “What about everyone else? Your mom and dad are still getting Holly ready.”
“Lets go!” He squealed, moving onto his Uncle Jim.
“Okay, okay. Nick—we’ll start up with Henry and George. We’ll meet you at the grandstand. We’ll be the ones with chocolate all over our faces.” George and Henry grinned at the thought of chocolate, and the foursome started off towards the beach.
“Stay on the sidewalk, guys!” Jim yelled, as the two boys skipped ahead. Pam looked at him, and just as she had the day that everyone had brought their children into work, realized what a great dad he was going to make. The two of them strolled leisurely along, keeping an eye on the boys.
“Hey, we’re getting close to Route 1. Hold up.” Jim said, as the boys ran back to them. The four of them walked up to the intersection, and Pam pressed the pedestrian crossing button.
“Safety first!” George said, obviously repeating his parents’ instructions. “Everybody hold hands!” George grabbed Pam’s hand, and Henry held Jim’s hand. A moment passed, and then without looking up at him, Pam took Jim’s hand.
Pam trained her eyes ahead. The light still hadn’t changed. The four of them stood on the sidewalk, holding hands, waiting for the sign on the other side to tell them to start walking. Had she been too bold? She knew she was trying to be a bit more daring in her life, but if he had wanted to hold her hand, wouldn’t he have just done it first? She could just say they were teaching the kids about pedestrian safety. That was a good story, right? She felt her hand start to sweat. What had she gotten herself into? And when was the god damn light going to turn?
Finally, the traffic stopped, and the foursome scooted across the highway. On the other side, Henry and George broke free, and ran to look in the window of the ice cream shop. The anxiety that had been building up in her chest lifted, and she dropped Jim’s hand.
Her hand was free for only a split second, though, before Jim took it back. Pam’s heart felt like it jumped into her throat. Whatever was happening between them, it was definitely no longer about safety.
Neither of them acknowledged what had just occurred. Instead, they silently joined the boys in staring at the ice cream parlor window. Pam pretended she was concentrating on the long list of flavors, but she was actually looking at her reflection in the window. There she was, holding hands with Jim. She couldn’t help but smile. As she looked at their reflection further, she noticed the same smile forming on Jim’s face. They didn’t have the courage to actually look at one another, but her eyes met his in their reflection, and he gave her hand a squeeze.
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© 2006-2023 More Than That | Skin created by Kali
© 2006-2023 More Than That | Skin created by Kali