*
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We have to live today by what truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it falsehood. ~William James
Pam watched the black and white ultrasound screen as the doctor moved the wand over her growing belly. What used to be a small blimp on the monitor looked more like a real baby now, with little arms and little legs, a tiny nose and eyes, and a round little head. As the baby moved on the screen Pam could feel the slight flutters inside of her. The fast heartbeat echoed in the small room and Adele, who was seated next to Pam, beamed, hearing the tiny thumps.
It didn’t seem like it, but Pam was more than half away along. She couldn’t believe that in a few short months she would be holding a small little bundle in her arms. The Andersons, especially Adele, were just as anxious to meet this child as Pam was. It was hard not to get caught up in the bliss of everything surrounding this baby. Even Joe, who was very distant and careful about their situation, became very present and participative in anything that involved Pam and the baby.
“Everything looks good, Pam,” the doctor said. “We got all 12 fingers and toes.”
Pam chuckled. “Can you tell if it’s a boy or girl?”
“Don’t you want it to be a surprise?” Adele asked.
“I do. But…I just want to know if you can tell.”
The Doctor smiled. “Don’t you think you’d be tempted to know if I tell you?”
Pam bit her bottom lip. “Okay, okay. I don’t want to know.”
“Because your baby seems to be a bit of an exhibitionist at the moment,” the doctor said, pointing at the monitor.
Pam pushed herself up on her elbows. “Where?”
Adele stood up and gazed at the monitor. “Oh, Dear. I can’t tell the difference between an arm and a leg.”
“Do you want to know?” The doctor asked.
“Yes! Um…. No, no… I don’t want to know,” Pam said, shaking her head.
“Okay. You can always give me a call if you change your mind. You’re all set for today. Please schedule your next appointment with Jodie at the front desk.”
“I’ll do that,” Pam said, pulling down her shirt.
“I’m happy everything is okay,” Adele said.
“Yeah, me too.”
They exited the doctor’s office and on the way home, they stopped by the Anderson’s publishing company. Adele wanted to show Joe and his coworkers the sonogram pictures of the baby. Adele might not be the baby’s blood grandmother, but she was already at heart. Pam didn’t know how this would work out in the end, but she hoped that Adele continued to be in her child’s life. One thing was certain; there was enough love to go around for this baby.
“Hi Mrs. Anderson,” the receptionist said.
“Hi, Mandy. How’s everything?
“Everything’s good, you?”
“I’m doing just fine. How’s Jack doing?”
“He is walking and starting to talk now. He’s a joy.”
“Oh, I’m glad to hear,” she said. “You’ve met Pam, right?”
“Yes, I have. How’s the baby coming along?”
“Good,” Pam said sheepishly.
“We have pictures!” Adele piped up, pulling out the black and white sonogram prints. Pam watched the excitement oozing out of Adele’s words as she retold all that had happened at the doctors. In the mean time, the baby fluttered and Pam’s hand traveled to her growing belly.
“Everything okay?” Adele asked.
“Oh yes. It’s just um… moving,” Pam explained.
“Ohh, may I?” Adele asked motioning towards her belly.
“Oh yeah. Here, give me your hand,” Pam said, guiding Adele’s hand to where the baby had just fluttered. They waited in silence and Adele’s anticipation was rawly palpable on her face. But Adele wasn’t able to feel anything.
“I guess the baby’s back to sleeping again,” Adele said affectionately rubbing Pam’s belly.
Pam smiled, but a bit of something sad curled inside her. Jim should be here. He should be the one to feel the baby move. He should be the one going to the doctor’s appointments with her. It was always sad to see couples in the waiting room, while she had no one.
“Joe is in meeting now,” Mandy said, “But he shouldn’t be long.”
“We’ll wait here.”
Joe was meeting with a new investor. Business had been slowly declining and everything had spiraled downward since the onset of Adele’s illness. The company became too much for Joe to handle and he had thoughts of selling it. That was when Kenny decided to return to Philadelphia to help his dad with the company. But business had steadied and Joe found someone who was interested in investing in his company.
Pam hadn’t known how serious their financial problems were. It’s wasn’t something they shared or even admitted to anyone. To an outsider, the Anderson’s business was extremely sound. But like every other business, they hadn’t been immune to the crumbling economy.
They were seated just outside Joe’s office when the door opened and he stepped out with two gentlemen dressed in perfectly pressed, dark suits. As soon as Joe saw Adele and Pam, he walked the short distance towards them.
“Gerry, Rob, this is my wife Adele and this is Pam.”
Gerry looked familiar. Pam couldn’t pinpoint where she’d seen him before, but something about him struck a chord with her. He shook her hand, then Adele’s, but kept his gaze fixated on her. Pam immediately felt self-conscious. Pam swears he even blinked a few times as if to make sure she was actually standing in front of him.
“I-Is this your daughter?” Gerry asked.
“I guess you can say she’s our daughter,” Joe said and smiled. “She was our late son’s girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Gerry said a bit surprised.
“She’s expecting our first grandchild,” Adele said.
The man’s face turned ghostly pale. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. He looked as if someone had punched him in the stomach. He finally got himself together and said, “C-Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Joe said.
“How far along are you?” He asked.
Pam hands traveled protectively to her belly. “Five months,” she said.
“Oh, that’s… great,” he said and took a cloth from his pocket and wiped his forehead. “Your name is Pam, right?”
Pam frowned. “Yeah.”
“Okay,” he said, exhaling for what it seemed like the first time since he laid eyes on her. He then turned to Joe and said, “I will be in touch with my lawyers and I’ll personally get back to you.”
“No problem. I’ll be waiting,” Joe said.
They watched as both man stepped outside to an awaiting town car. Joe looked at Adele and both smiled. They knew if they chose to invest on his company, they wouldn’t have to sell it. The future of Anderson’s publishing lied solely on the hands of that man (and his money).
“How did the meeting go?” Adele asked.
“It went fine. They seemed interested and even suggested a few business strategies for the future,” he said and exhaled. “All that it’s left to do it wait.”
“We can wait.” Adele said. “Now, let us show you the sonogram pictures.”
***
Jim was walking to his car when his cell phone began ringing in his pocket. He fished it out and groaned when he saw the caller id.
“Hello, dad,” he said unenthused.
“Hey Jimmy. How’s Stamford?”
“Fine.”
“How’s Karen?”
“She’s good. If you are calling in mom’s behalf to persuade us to come for Thanksgiving, don’t.”
“No, don’t come,” Gerry said, a little too hasty. “I mean, you don’t have to come.” He cleared his throat. “I called because I wanted to ask you a couple of question about your lady friend from Scranton. Do you know where she is?”
“Whh…Why do you want to know?” Jim said. “I thought you knew everything,” Jim said bitterly.
“I just want to make sure she’s not going to put us at risk.”
“I don’t know where she is.” Jim said sadly. “I haven’t spoken to her since the day after you paid me that little visit in Scranton.”
“How much did she know about us?”
“I didn’t even get a chance to tell her anything, dad. She doesn’t even know my real last name.”
“Oh!” Gerry exclaimed. “Thank goodness.”
“W-What’s this about? D-Do you know where she is? Did you see her somewhere?” Jim said and as the words rolled out of his tongue, his heart jumped to his throat in anticipation.
“No, no… I don’t know,” Gerry sad indifferently. “I just wanted to make sure she… wouldn’t pull something like Katy did.”
“Pam wouldn’t do that.”
“You never know, Jimmy.”
“She just wouldn’t, dad. Not her.”
“Alright, son. I have to go now. And don’t worry about coming here for Thanksgiving. I got you covered.”
“Okay, Bye, dad.”
“Bye, Jimmy.”
Jim hung up his phone and shook the thoughts out of his head. He had been really good at not thinking about Pam. He was with Karen now and he liked her. It took him sometime for him to reach a point in which he allowed himself to relive those months he spent in Scranton without falling into a precipice of anguish.
“Hey, Halpert,” he heard Karen call.
“Oh, hey.” Jim turned around and saw Karen exiting the office building. “I thought you were staying to finish the Simmons’s report.”
“I was, but then… I decided not to,” Karen said and smiled.
“Nice.”
“So, who were you talking to on the phone?”
“Oh um…. My dad.”
“Oh hey, that reminds me…Are we still doing Thanksgiving at your parent’s? ’Cause we could totally go. It will be nice to meet your family.”
“Nah… I don’t want to go.”
“I don’t know what you have against your family. They seem really nice.”
“Yeah… I’m just… not up for it this year.”
“Okay, would you be up to going with my family?”
“No,” Jim said way too quickly. It didn’t go unnoticed by Karen. “It’s just…” He tried to mend it, but how could Jim say what he wanted to say without Karen taking it the wrong way? “Isn’t it too early for us to meet each other’s family?”
Karen frowned. “Too early?”
“We’ve been dating for what? two months?”
“We’ve been dating for three months,” Karen said and began walking to her car. “Whatever, Jim. You do what you want to do.”
“Karen,” Jim called as she briskly walked away. “That’s not what I meant. You know that I—”
Karen either didn’t hear or didn’t care about what Jim had to say because she got in her car, slammed the door shut, and sped out of the parking lot. For some reason, Jim was okay with that. It didn’t matter what anyone said, including Karen, it was way too early for him to meet her family. There were only going out for what, three months? They were not there yet.
“I’m really excited to show my mom around. She really wants to meet everybody.”
“Oh yeah,” he said.
“Mmm-hmmm.”
“Good cuz I have a lot of questions.”
“Oh really.”
“Yeah. As a child, did Pam show any traits that would hint towards her future career as a receptionist?”
Pam laughed. “But seriously, are you okay with meeting her today? It’s just that she’s only back for a couple of weeks and then she’s on a plane again to God knows where.”
“I’m totally okay with meeting her. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“I don’t know... we’ve only been dating for a couple of months. Don’t want that to pressure or—”
“Pam, I would have met your mom on our first date.”
What Jim had said was true. He would have had no problem meeting Pam’s mother on their first date. In fact, he wouldn’t have had a problem marrying Pam on the first day he met her. He knew he had found the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life. So, meeting her mother when they were only a couple months into their relationship was never an issue. But for some reason, meeting the Filippellis definitely rubbed him the wrong way.
It was not that he didn’t think Karen was the one. Their relationship had potential. It was just… too early for them. All relationships are not made equal. They are all different. Not bad, not good – just different. But Jim wouldn’t remain in a relationship where he thought nothing would come out of it. Would he? Without thinking, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Karen’s number.
“What?” Karen answered heatedly.
“I just wanted you to tell your parents to set an extra seat on their dinner table on Thanksgiving.”
There was a small pause and Jim could almost hear her smiling.
“Why did you change your mind?”
“I was overreacting.”
“No kidding?”
“Can I come over tonight?
“Sure.”
“I’ll be there at seven.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Jim hung up the phone and something new curled inside him. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it felt really good. Perhaps, he thought, that’s what moving on felt like. He didn’t feel guilt or remorse, like he sometimes did. Agreeing to spend the holidays with Karen felt liberating. Jim was on step closer to regaining his life back.
****
That same night, during dinner at the Anderson’s house, Joe stood up and raised his glass. “I would like to propose a toast,” he said.
Everyone seated at the table stopped eating and waited curiously to hear what Joe had to say. He raised his glass to his eye level and said, “To the future of Anderson’s publishing!”
There was a beat of silence before Roy asked, jumping to his feet, “They’re investing on us!?”
“Yes! I got the call today.”
“That’s wonderful news Joe,” Adele said standing up and hugging her husband. “I knew they would.”
“Wow, that’s amazing!” Pam said.
“Okay, so let us all raise our glasses, except you Pam,” Joe said, jokingly, “To Anderson’s Publishing and Halpert’s Enterprise working together.”
“To Anderson’s Publishing and Halpert’s Enterprise,” everyone chanted.
Chapter End Notes:
I know I haven't replied to the reviews yet, but I will! Thank you for those who are sticking with me on this one. I almost thought of giving this one up.
