Pam’s eyes snapped open, as they did every morning, five seconds before her alarm clock went off. She took a deep breath in as she turned off the alarm. OK. Today was a simplified dry run: time to figure out if she could make some of her coworkers a little happier. Her mind shied away from the idea that she could, of course, try to make herself or Jim happier by breaking up with Roy. Even though that felt inevitable, she wasn’t sure she had the momentum built up to do that yet. Today was simpler. She had only two targets: Toby and Kelly. Everyone else could wait.

Well, she might indulge herself a little. After all, she already knew how easy it was to get Jim not to bring Katy, and she did like Larissa…

She prepared breakfast as usual, limiting her rebellion this morning to just not making Roy’s—she knew he’d come running out of the bathroom and forget it anyway. She bought Dwight’s nunchucks: he wasn’t even supposed to have them, so all it took was a pair of slightly widened eyes, a voice pitched slightly higher than normal, and the overly earnest delivery of the line “oh, were these your nunchucks? I was just going to hand them over to Hank as a safety violation” to send him fleeing in retreat. She smirked at Jim and initiated what she thought of as the Larissa protocol by asking about how she was doing, and hinting broadly that she was hoping to spend a lot of time this evening chatting with her, “that is, if you’re not bringing someone else to whatever it is Michael has planned for us.” Soon Jim was on the phone again, trying not to let her hear as he called Larissa. She giggled to herself. This was just like a giant prank on the universe, making it line up the way she wanted it to.

She had a flash of inspiration at the meeting where Michael officially unveiled the Booze Cruise plan. Remembering her earlier decision that she and Jim needed to help Brenda, she decided to take action. She swung back to the annex to suggest to Toby that he show Brenda around and keep her away from Michael. But apparently her throwing those two together was unnecessary: she found Toby and Brenda in a comfy coze in the break room, discussing something she didn’t quite process about Corporate’s new paperwork requirements. She slowly made herself tea (in her lovely new teapot! She needed to find a time to thank Jim properly for that) and waited for the perfect opportunity to drop in her two cents.

Like raindrops under dark grey skies, it was inevitable. Toby mentioned something about getting dinner before the cruise and Pam swooped in before Brenda could respond.

“Oh, you two should totally get dinner before the cruise.” She sat down next to Brenda, who looked at her somewhat oddly. Toby’s head jerked up—obviously he’d somehow managed not to notice she was standing behind him. “Sorry to interrupt, it’s just…” she bent closer to Brenda and stage-whispered. “You do not want to get stuck with Michael for dinner.” She winked at Toby, whose face turned an alarming shade of puce. “Hang close to Toby. He knows all the best ways to make Michael leave you alone.” Mostly just by being Toby, but Brenda seemed to have much more in common with the quiet HR rep than their overly enthusiastic boss. She turned to Toby with a smile. “Oh, Toby, do you have Sasha tonight? You should totally take her to dinner with you.” Leaning back to Brenda, she enthused quietly about Toby’s daughter and his devotion to her for a moment, recalling stories Jim and Toby had both told her about the girl (who Jim babysat due to his longstanding friendship with Toby). Then she stood up and grabbed the teapot with both hands. “I mean it, though, Toby—we’d all love to see more of Sasha.” It wasn’t a lie, precisely: she did like the girl. But she felt as awkward around her as she did around all children. Still, Brenda had perked up at the description of Sasha and anything that would keep her away from Michael (while giving Toby some company) was worth it, even a little light prevarication.

She was extremely pleased to note that Brenda and Toby both missed the boat’s sailing time, even though Michael insisted on holding it for ten minutes “just in case that hot corporate broad is running late.”

On the boat, she enjoyed her time with Larissa and Jim, and kept an eye open for ways to help Kelly. One time she noticed Ryan slipping out of the cabin, caught Kelly’s eye, and nodded towards the door, but generally he kept to himself and Kelly sat a table away staring at him while chattering overly-gaily to a couple of non-Dunder-Mifflinites she had aggressively befriended—most likely because of the location of their table, Pam thought.

Michael was being a lot better this evening, she thought. Maybe the absence of Brenda meant he didn’t feel quite as pressured to perform; or maybe it was just a trick of her memory. But one person’s better was another person’s worse, and she couldn’t help but frown as she watched Michael sit down next to Ryan and start making “hottest in the office” jokes. She was going to have to do something about that.

Since when was she responsible for Michael? Apparently since she was gifted some kind of power to redo every day, she thought. She looked for ways to intervene, but before she knew it, though, Roy was striding up towards the microphone, and she had to grab Larissa, blurt “bathroom” at Jim, who merely raised his eyebrows, and drag the younger woman outside with her.

Once they were at the rail, she shook her head. “Sorry, but I could tell Roy was going to propose back there, and…”

“Wait, back up.” Larissa held up her fingers and counted off points one by one. “First, aren’t you two already engaged? Second, why are you running away from him, engaged or not? Third, why bring me along?”

There were clearly more points, but Pam knew she didn’t have a lot of time. “First, yes but he doesn’t really count it. Second, I don’t want to be anymore. Third…it was you or Jim, and I’m not up for having this conversation with him yet.”

Unfortunately, Kelly chose that moment to burst out of the cabin. “PAAAAAM! Ohmigod! I can’t believe you’re out here, you totally need to come in and hear what Roy’s saying!”

Pam shoved herself wearily off the railing. “Did he just suggest we get married on June 10th?”

Kelly and Larissa stared at her. “How did you know? Did he already talk to you in advance? Ohmigod, Pam, can I be a bridesmaid?”

Pam glanced over at Larissa. This conversation was more important. And at the thought of smiling through another date-setting she knew was going nowhere, something inside her snapped. She turned to Kelly. “No.”

“What? Why? PAM! Is it something I did? Is it something I said? Is it….” Kelly was going to keep on listing questions and getting increasingly worked up so Pam stopped her the only way she could think of—with a full-body hug.

“No. It’s just that I don’t think I’m going to marry Roy.” Saying the words suddenly made things feel very clear to Pam. “Did he even notice I wasn’t in the room?”

“I mean...but…ohmigod, Pam, you’re not going to marry Roy?” For once Kelly was speechless. Pam gave her a pat and released her before extending a hand to Larissa. “Come on. I think I’m going to need some support.” But before she could talk to Larissa, she still had one thing to do. “Kelly, could I ask you a favor?”

“Anything! Ohmigod, this is crazy. Does this mean you aren’t engaged anymore?”

She smiled at her friend. Kelly was excitable, but she was a good person underneath all the poorly expressed enthusiasm. “Probably. But what I wanted to ask you doesn’t have to do with Roy. It has to do with Ryan.”

“Ryan?!? What’s going on with Ryan?” Kelly glared at Pam. “Wait, you’re not breaking up with Roy to take Ryan, are you? That’s, like, totally not fair. You have Roy and Jim, you don’t get to take Ryan too!”

“Hold on Kelly. I don’t have Ryan. I don’t have Jim, either, not that it’s any of your business, and we just discussed how I don’t think I’m going to have Roy much longer anyway. That’s not what this is about anyway. It’s just that I noticed Michael’s been kind of monopolizing Ryan’s time, and I think he could maybe use a distraction? Maybe someone really cool and hot and awesome who could take him somewhere on the boat and make him forget about Michael’s particular brand of humor?”

Kelly didn’t even bother to utter a spare ohmigod as she sped away from Pam back into the cabin.

“You do, you know.” Pam had almost forgotten Larissa was out there with her.

“I do what?”

“You do have Jim.” Larissa shrugged. “My brother’s completely gaga over you. I figured you knew.”

Pam felt her face flush hot against the cold air blowing off the lake. “Would it help or hurt if I told you I only figured it out today?” For a generous definition of today, but Larissa didn’t need to know that.

“So…” Larissa leaned against the railing and cocked an eyebrow at Pam. “Do I need to ask what your intentions are towards my brother? Because until tonight I’ve been telling him he needs to get the hell over you, but now I’m not so sure.”

Pam leaned up next to her. “I’d appreciate if you didn’t do that, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Which? Ask you your intentions or keep warning him off?”

Pam laughed humorlessly. “The second one. Or I guess, both, though I’ll happily tell you my intentions towards your brother once I can articulate them to myself.”

Once again she was interrupted by an eruption out of the cabin, this time by Roy himself, champagne bottle in hand.

“Pammy!”

“Hello, Roy.”

“Did Kelly tell you? We’re getting married on June 10!”

Pam sighed, and Larissa slipped an arm through hers for support. She looked her thanks and leaned against the other woman. “No, Roy, we’re not.”

“What?” He whispered the word as if he couldn’t find the breath to say it out loud.

“I said we’re not getting married on June 10.” She stood up, still holding Larissa’s arm, but no longer leaning on it. “In fact, I don’t think we should get married at all.” She worked the ring off her finger and put it into a stupefied Roy’s hand. “I’m sorry, Roy.”

“You’re SORRY?” His voice, which had died to a whisper, exploded into a roar. “Ten years and you’re sorry? I put myself on the line! I proposed to you in front of all our friends and coworkers, and this is how you repay me?”

Pam was shaking her head. “No, Roy, you didn’t even do that. You ‘proposed,’” and she made sure to pronounce the scare quotes “to a room full of friends and coworkers, but you didn’t propose to me. You didn’t even notice I wasn’t there. I left right before you walked up to the microphone, but you didn’t even see me. I’ve loved you Roy; I think a part of me will always love you. But I can’t do this anymore. Come on Larissa.” And she turned to walk away.

The rest of the night was a muddle: Captain Jack ended up having to tie Roy to the railing before he either attacked Pam or threw himself overboard, and Pam couldn’t find a time to continue her conversation with Larissa because she was instantly surrounded by Michael Scott (who insisted he would find someone else to marry her) and the rest of the Dunder Mifflin crew—with the notable exception of Kelly and Ryan, who she saw out of the corner of her eye sneaking into a supply closet together. So there was another good deed done.

Now she’d need to figure out a way to do it without causing this almighty ruckus when she broke up with Roy. But that was for another cycle.