Andy got the idea to tag team sales calls. And wouldn’t you know it he chose Michael as his buddy. Jim had a bad feeling about where this was heading. Sure enough Phyllis picked Karen, Stanley (when forced to choose) chose Ryan and that left Jim and Dwight together. The sale actually went perfectly. Jim was sure the camera crew was surprised. And that made him proud that at least some of him was a grown up. Not much, but some.
Karen and Phyllis also had good luck on their outing. Karen had to give Phyllis credit for knowing her customer. She thought they looked like fools and wondered why Phyllis was wasting time and money that they could be out talking to customers. Right up to the point she saw the guy’s wife in a photo. Good as the call went it was the ride home that Karen will always remember.
“I’m so glad you’re with Jim. He was hung up on Pam so long I didn’t think he’d ever get over her.”
Phyllis dropped that in like you’d slip in a comment about getting the grass stain out of some pants or recovering from a hang nail. Karen was actually most upset that she hadn’t put two and two together. She’d seen the look in Pam’s eyes on the first day in Scranton. She’d seen Pam go in to talk to Jim when she shunned him over the fight about the room for rent. But she never knew Jim had felt the same way about Pam. Why hadn’t he mentioned it before? Did he still feel the same way? There would be no shunning him at break time today.
“So did you have a thing for Pam?”
“A thing? No.”
“Jim I moved two hours away from my home in Connecticut for you. I need to know. God forbid I’d gotten that house last week and signed a lease only to find you back with her. Is that why you didn’t want me to get a house? To keep your options open? Lining up plan B?”
“Karen I’m glad you came. Pam helped me see that I was too hung up on your physical closeness.”
Jim left out the part about emotional closeness. And he certainly left out the part about Pam giving him plan B. When she smiled he smiled too. Though he wasn’t sure if he was smiling because she smiled, or because someone made their Mary Kay commission for a month on all the makeup she was wearing. And that hair. My God that hair!
The gloating over the sales calls had emboldened Andy’s annoying side. Jim was sure he’d have no choice but to perpetually carry around the tape of “Rockin’ Robin” and be prepared to strangle the man with it if he ever met the singer of the song.
It was time for a prank. Almost out of habit he turned to Pam’s desk. But he knew that wasn’t going to sit well with Karen. It might give up the whole thing that he still (if only partially) loved her. He knew from the squeaky chair that Karen could be almost as much fun to prank with as Pam. Maybe that would improve with practice too.
“I have 15 new clients files all password protected by a different mythical creature. I can’t.”
And there was that word again. That was the word that sent him to Stamford where he met Karen. A conscious choice against him. Would Pam have ever turned down a prank? He knew even at their worst she’d have laughed and agreed in an instant. He’d even tried to get Ryan in on the game. So maybe it was just him today. Maybe everyone else wasn’t as worked up about this as him. The only way to find out was to ask Pam. If she wouldn’t go along then maybe it was just the fatigue from wrestling with this decision.
“I’m kind of in the middle of …yes definitely!” was Pam’s answer.
As their pranks go it wasn’t that sophisticated. He’d spilled some pens on Andy’s desk and grabbed the phone in the commotion. After checking with Pam for messages and dropping the phone off he went back to his desk. A minute later he got up for some water. Pam smiled and followed close behind.
Karen saw the whole thing. Her eye had been even more closely on Jim and Pam since the traveling sales calls. It was a nightmare in many respects. She saw but couldn’t do anything to stop it. Her worst fears were coming true.
Sure enough a minute later Andy’s voice and the three other versions of Andy’s voice were raining down on the office. No one knew where the sound came from. Almost no one. And as Karen looked at Andy getting madder and madder she saw Jim and Pam share a smile. She couldn’t help but think back to the coffee shop smile Jim gave her. That seemed almost painful. This was blissful. As the music stopped she couldn’t help but think of being the third person in a game of musical chairs. Jim and Pam had their chairs and she was left standing and staring.
As Jim and Pam shared a laugh about the hole Andy punched in the wall earlier it was all falling into place for Pam and to pieces for Karen. When he was finally alone Karen asked him, “Do you still have feelings for her?”
He’d actually spent most of the afternoon thinking about that very question. Karen couldn’t find time to play a prank when she thought all was well with them. Pam knew just the right thing to say. He knew this was the worst part. The silence probably told her what she needed to know. But he still had to say it. So he finally got his lips to open and say “yes.”
“And it didn’t just come back today with the phone did it?”
“No.”
“Why did you lie to me at the coffee shop? Why did I trust you? I thought I could see it in your eyes. I convinced myself you were just feeling sorry for Pam because she felt something for you that you didn’t feel back.”
“Karen you have to believe me. I wanted this to work. Crazy as it sounds Michael was right.”
“How many people here know about this? Was I the only one you didn’t tell the truth to? You don’t even like Michael and he knew. Phyllis could tell without your talking to her either.”
“He knew before Pam did. Anyway I told him the girl from Bennihana was his rebound girl over Carol. Carol was the one he photoshopped vacation pictures with himself and her kids. I told him the waitress was the one that distracts him from who he really wants to be with. Who’d have guessed that was Jan? Without even a moment’s hesitation he told me you were my rebound girl. I told him you and I had a little more than six hours to go on. But he was right. Today when you couldn’t find the time to play a prank with me I knew. Pam was just as busy as you. But I couldn’t even finish asking her the question and she not only knew the question but knew the answer. I’m really sorry you got dragged into this.”
“No it’s my fault. I should’ve seen this a mile away. And even though I didn’t I can’t stay with someone now who won’t be honest with me. Jim we could’ve worked this out. If you’d just told me the first time what you really felt we could’ve talked about this. But now even if you told me you wanted to fix it I could never believe you. Good luck. I sure won’t be around to be Plan C. You’d better hope like hell Plan B works out. If not I may just come back to laugh in your face if it doesn’t. You’ll never know what you missed out on in me.”
With that she left. He knew he deserved more than that from her. Maybe she realized the futility of it all. In a way she was right about not knowing what he missed. The main thing he thought of was how wrong she was about Pam being Plan B. Pam had always been Plan A. He’d forgotten the rest of the alphabet. That’s why the other plans always ended like this. So he’d never know what he missed. He wasn’t going to miss anything. He could finally have everything.
She didn’t wait too long. She didn’t want Karen to have time to change her mind. Pam had waited six months and sure didn’t have interest in waiting any longer.
“Hey that didn’t look good.”
“Yeah. Who’d have guessed a hole in the wall would fill a hole in my heart? Umm. Are you free for dinner tonight?
“Yes.”
“Good. Then it’s a date. Let’s get out of here.”
“Now? Isn’t that a little obvious to everyone?”
“Who doesn’t know? I got ten emails the day you called off your wedding. I think I was the last one to figure it out. Besides if they don’t know they’ll figure it out soon enough.”
On the way out the door he was sure he caught both Phyllis and Michael wink at him. Or maybe that was the lemonade.
Monday was a weird day. Karen was gone. Dwight had to settle in at a new desk. So Dwight being Dwight he took Andy’s things out of HIS desk and was going to carry them to the dumpster. Andy would be gone for a while in anger management. It was the only way he could keep his job according to Toby. So Jim volunteered that Andy could have his desk.
It wasn’t ideal. He wanted his old desk back. But there he was the temp of all people refusing to give it up. So he took Karen’s desk. Not because she’d been there. Instead because it put things right with the universe again. Her desk was a little further away than it was a few months ago. But he could turn to his right and see her again. See her smile. Give an air high five when they pulled off something together. Somehow it seemed closer because they were emotionally together again, but more than before. Now when he got up to talk to her he didn’t have to worry about what other people thought. On his way to the desk he did think about how much less work he’d get done having to take these five extra steps each way. He also thought about how Angela would have to switch to legal paper to keep track of the score in Pam Pong.
After scoring his jelly bean fix for the next five minutes he sat down and smiled at her. When she smiled back he thought it may not be a waterfront view like Stamford was. But he wouldn’t trade this for an office with a view of the Sydney Harbour.
rahenson1 is the author of 2 other stories.
This story is a favorite of 3 members. Members who liked Back From Vacation also liked 1876 other stories.
This story is part of the series, If only. The previous story in the series is Diwali. The next story in the series is Phyllis' Wedding.
