VI. Rescue 

Jim shook his head in wonder. "You- really?"

"Mm-hmm." Pam continued out the electric-eye doors toward the parking lot. "I was having fun. It wasn’t that late, and I told myself that Roy wouldn’t care, and it was funny to watch you try to stay cool. Didn’t you think it was odd that I never suggested stopping somewhere for directions or calling someone to come rescue us?"

"Wow. And here I thought you just had so much trust in my navigational skills." Jim opened the trunk of his car and started loading their grocery bags.

"I have all the trust in the world in you," Pam said. She rested her head against his arm for a second before moving toward her car door.

A moment later, Jim slid into the driver’s seat. "Unbelievable," he said as he turned the key. "So we were driving around in the dark, both pretending we had no idea where we were heading when we both knew all along?" Pam laughed, a louder, heartier laugh than Jim thought the comment deserved. "What?" he asked in confusion.

"That’s just a perfect description of our whole friendship for the whole time before you went away," Pam answered, obviously amused. Jim glanced over at her; her eyes and the sparkly charm on the chain around her neck caught the lights from the dashboard and the on-coming cars.

Jim smiled ruefully. "Ouch. You’re totally right. I promise I wasn’t trying to get all metaphorical on you, though."

Pam reached over and placed her hand on Jim’s leg. He immediately covered it with his own. "We really should have called someone to come rescue us, huh?" she said, her smile still evident in her voice.

Jim squeezed her hand lightly. They really didn’t talk about their past that much, but the silly game at the grocery store seemed to have given them the freedom to revisit their shared history. Still, humor came easier than self-reflection to Jim. "Like who? The fire department?"

"Hmph." With a single indistinct syllable, Pam conveyed amusement and dismissal of his attempt at humor. "Now that you mention it, though, the fire department also always reminded me of you," she said.

The game, apparently, had not ended when they left the store. "How so?"

"Well, every time I saw a fire truck or heard a siren, I’d think of the day that Ryan caught the office on fire, and how weird I felt that day because Roy was around and then Katy- I really didn’t like her, you know." Pam released his hand and started fidgeting with her necklace. "But anyway, yeah, I’d think about how that day could have been different if I’d have just been honest with myself about my feelings for you…so, fire trucks and other emergency and rescue vehicles remind me of you."

"I’m starting to think you have some issues, Pam," Jim said laughing.