Pam’s figures drum against the steering wheel rhythmically with the down pour of rain surrounding the car.  It was a rainy September 3, and a week ago the Stamford branch had finally been closed down and was to be incorporated with the Scranton branch.  Today.  Pam’s stomach did a little flip.

            Tap, tap, tap, tap, her fingers rap against the leather, counting seconds, half seconds, milliseconds.  Her impatience, frustration, and anger were beginning to churn up more and more and in her mind she reviewed what she would say.  How’d she scream at him, and exclaim how dare he.  How dare he leave her without a goodbye?  How dare he leave her and not call her or email her or contact her in anyway?

She drummed faster and clenched her jaw, her lips a thin straight line.

            It had been only a few days before the wedding when Roy tried to postpone it again.  When Roy had asked her oh-so nonchalantly if they could hold off the wedding until October she had snapped.  Inhaling deeply, she had responded in the same casual voice, “How about we call it off entirely?”  Then she had chucked her engagement ring at him.

            Tap-tap-tap-tap more and more rapidly as the painful memories replayed in her thoughts.  That very day she had packed all her things in about two suitcases and left.

            At first she had sat there, staring down the deserted road, with know idea of where to go or what to do.  She could always check into a hotel, but the bill was bound to become more than overwhelming after only a short time.  So, instead, she just drove… and drove… and drove.  And when she found herself at Phyllis Lapin’s door, she had no idea how she had got there.

The door had opened after only a moment, revealing the disheveled, sobbing Pam laden with luggage and begging for a place to stay.  Phyllis had immediately pulled her inside and taken care of her, and refused to take rent money from her.

For the next two or three weeks, Pam had stayed with Phyllis and slowly recovered.  The change was refreshing, and took her mind away from the things that haunted her.

            Finally after weeks of search, Pam found an apartment in Dunmore, a small town about 3 miles from Scranton, and moved out of Phyllis’s and into her new apartment.  At first she’d get lonely, living by herself, and she’d find herself calling Jim.  And even now as she taps and peers through the mask of rain drops, she knows she’s left him exactly 69 voicemails over the 12 weeks, 3 days, 16 hours, approximately 7 minutes since she’s seen him.  But who’s counting?

            Taptaptapta-  Pam freezes mid-tap as she watches a familiar red corolla turn into the parking lot pull into a parking space.  Shoving the door open, she quickly clambers out of her car in time to see a weary Jim Halpert do the same.

            Pam sprints the twenty feet from me to him, the pouring rain drenching her through, her clothes and hair both clinging to her body tightly.  The distance between them closes rapidly, and Jim turns around just before some crazed petite woman with frizzy hair throws her weight against him, knocking him backwards, bouncing off his car door.

            “Why, Jim?!” Pam shoots at him, and he seems to be totally taken off guard.  His sweet green eyes are wide in surprise and underlined with heavy bluish-blackish bags, which only add to his distinct half-asleep look.  That mop-like hair of his is a hopeless mess and is beginning to stick to his forehead in random bits.  He also looks a little pale, maybe, and Pam can see he’s lost weight by the way his clothes are clinging to him.

            When he doesn’t answer Pam shoves him again, and he just stands there and takes it, letting a dirty puddle of water form around his feet.

            “Goddamn it, Jim! WHY?!”

            He sighs, and this time he answers, “You know why, Pam.”

            She feels her heart break when she hears him speak, but instead of abating her anger, like she would assume it would, it only increases it.  “How dare you do this to me, you fucking asshole!”  She shouts at him, pushing him again.

            Pam knows she is pushing her luck, but she wants so badly to make him mad, to make him hurt as much as he hurt her, but he doesn’t seem to react to her last statement at all.  In fact, his face is as solemn and stony as she’s ever seen it, and, to her frustration, he’s staring at his shoes in a sad defeated way that makes it even harder to hate him.

            “You left me!” her voice cracks with emotion as she lower it from a scream to a simple accusation. “You left me, and you didn’t even say goodbye!” She can feel hot tears filling her eyes, as sweet rain drips steadily from her nose and chin. “And then I call you sixty-nine fucking times, Jim.  Sixty-nine times!  And you wouldn’t even answer my calls!”

            “What did you want me to do, Pam?” he answers at last.  There’s no resentment in his voice, not even a hint of annoyance, he just says is as though he were asking what she was planning on having for lunch.

            “To stay, goddamn it!” She exclaims, looking him directly in the eyes.  His eyelashes clumped together and his green eyes sparkle with gorgeous reflections of rain.  And it’s not the cold rain that’s making her shiver.

            “Why, Pam?” was all he said, biting his lip and licking away rain that was trailing down his face feverishly.

            “Because I’m in love with you, you dumb ass,” I cry, grabbing him by his soaked collar and pulling him into a kiss.  And first he hesistates, but soon his kissing her back with equal urgency.  He tastes like rain.