Jim could not wipe the smile of his face as he maneuvered his car through the pouring rain heading back to Scranton. He had decided just a few hours before that he just had to do it. The engagement ring had been burning a hole in his pocket ever since Toby’s going away party. Part of him wished that he hadn’t told Pam that he was planning on proposing. The disappointed look on her face that night broke his heart. He eventually told her that he had intended to on proposing duting the fireworks night but Andy had ruined those plans. That’s when they decided together that they would wait until she came back from Pratt. He may as well have gone ahead and given her the ring since she knew it was coming. But she deserved a proposal. She deserved an unexpected, down on one knee, never been seen ring, already asked your parents, kick your ass kind of proposal. He sincerely hoped that this would be the last proposal of her life.
Roy hadn’t proposed to her. One night while watching football as she did the dishes, he shouted into the kitchen, “Hey, we should get married.” She said, “Okay.” A few months later she asked him if he was going to get her a ring and he told her that they just got a Sears catalog in the mail and she should pick one out. “Something cheap,” he added.
After Jim’s first plan to propose hadn’t worked out, he was constantly trying to find the best time to get down on one knee. It had to be more than candles, rose, and champagne. Their relationship hadn’t been that way and neither should this. When they talked on the phone that morning, he was disappointed that they were going to go their second weekend in a row without seeing each other. He was trying so hard to be supportive and felt a little selfish everytime he told her how much he missed her. He really was so happy and proud of her. He knew he’d miss her but he didn’t realize how much. His heart literally ached each time they hung up the phone or had to say goodbye after a couple of hours or even days together.
He was thrilled when she agreed to meet him for lunch. He normally wouldn’t have promised Michael he’d be back by a certain time but he was just trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. He didn’t know how he was going to propose of even if he was going to for sure. But when he got to the gas station and saw her standing there, he barely heard her say that she had to drive farther than him. She said that he had to buy her lunch and he knew that he would buy her lunch for the rest of her life. So there he was, on one knee, pulling the ring out of his pocket. “I couldn’t wait,” he told her. “Oh my God,” she said. And then he asked her. “Pam, will you marry me?” He searched her face for some kind of tell and it had never occurred to him until now that there was more than one answer she could give. “Well?” he asked when she continued to stand there, not saying anything. She was probably waiting for him to tie his shoe or ask her to get him a cup of coffee. When she finally realized that he was actually proposing she nodded her head and said, “Yes!”. They kissed and laughed for what seemed like hours as the wind blew the rain horizontally, soaking them even though the were under the awning.
“I have to get back,” Jim said, his voice catching in his thoat.
“But…” Pam started to protest but he took her face in both hands and kissed her tenderly.
“Pam, I love you and the last thing I was to do is leave you right now. Believe me. When I pictured asking you to spend the rest of my life with me, I imagined a little more than a ‘propose-n-go’.”
“It was perfect,” Pam said, smiling at him.
“Maybe I’ll still come up on Sunday,” he said. “Even if it is for just a couple of hours.”
“This sucks,” Pam said. “But I understand. If you aren’t back on time, Michael will probably insist on me marrying him instead of you.”
“Gross,” Jim said. He smiled at her sweetly and then taking both her hands in his, he kissed her forehead. “I’ll call you tonight.” He pulled her in for one last tight hug and kissed her lips again.
“I love you,” Pam told him as they pulled away from each other.
“I love you, too,” he replied.
“Hey, Halpert,” she heard Jim shout as he opened his driver’s side door. She turned, not sure if she heard him correctly. When their eyes met, he smiled. “Just wanted to see how it feels.” She blew him a kiss, climbed into her car and drove away in the opposite direction.
Five minutes into her drive back to New York, she picked up her phone and hit redial on the last call in her call log.
“Is this how it’s going to be?” Jim asked when he answered the phone. “You can’t go five minutes without me?”
“You couldn’t go five minutes without me,” she joked back. “All I did was call. You bought a diamond. God, Jim. Be a man.”
“I thought that’s…” he started to say, but Pam interrupted him.
“So, I can’t wait,” she said.
“Are you making fun of my proposal?” Jim asked.
“No,” she said, sincerely. “I can’t wait until Sunday to see you. I’m going to drive back to Scranton tonight.”
“Pam, I know I’m irresistible but your last class doesn’t get over until 7:00 tonight. You wouldn’t be here until after 9 and then you’ve have to leave at like 5 in the morning.”
“I don’t care, Jim,” she said.
“Well, I do,” he said. “It’s your last two weeks of classes. You are about to start taking finals and I don’t want to be the reason you flunk out of school.”
“You are forgetting how brilliant I am, Halpert. I am not going to flunk,” she said. “Do you not want to see me tonight? Are you regretting what just happened?”
“Are you kidding me, Beesley?” Jim laughed. “I am fighting every urge to not turn this car around right now. But I get your point and I don’t want to sleep without you tonight either. So,how about I come back and stay with you tonight.”
“Your bed is bigger,” Pam rebuttled.
“That just means that we’ll have to sleep closer. Besides are you going to rob me of a chance to be the chivalrous boyfriend?”
“Fiancé,” she corrected him, as she looked down at her ring.
“Right,” Jim said. He couldn’t believe he was someone’s fiancé. Pam’s fiancé. “And I know that you are used to chivalry but I’m sorry. That’s what you are going to get with me.”
“Well, if it means that much to you,” she said.
“Thank you,” Jim said. “So I should be there about 7 which should be perfect timing.”
“So, are you going to tell them at work?” Pam asked.
“Tell them what?” Jim asked, acting like he didn’t know what she was taking about. “Oh,” he continued after a few seconds. “You mean that it’s raining? I think they can figure that out for themselves, Pam.”
“Ha. Ha,” Pam said, sarcastically.
“There would be nothing that could ruin this day faster than telling the people that we work with that we are engaged.”
Pam smiled just to hear him say it. “I love you, Jim.”
Story Notes:
I only own my imagination. The title is from a Tim McGraw song.
Chapter End Notes:
Stay tuned. There is more to come.
