“Thanks for coming to this.” Jim pulled up to David Wallace’s house and turned to Pam, who was busy unbuckling herself from the passenger’s seat. “Seriously, I know this isn’t your kind of thing…”

“Is it important for your job?” She smiled up at him.

“Yes?” Where was she going with this?

“Will you feel more comfortable with me there?”

“Yes.” Definitely.

“And is there free food and drink?”

“Well, yes.”

“Then of course I’m going, silly.” She punched him in the arm and jumped out of the car, forcing him to follow. He felt warm inside—this was, he supposed, how relationships worked? You did things with each other because it was better than doing them alone?

They walked into the house and started to do their best version of mingling. Neither of them felt particularly comfortable around what Jim had called “corporate types,” but then again no one actually seemed to feel that comfortable, and Jim was able to crack a couple of jokes that eventually got a little circle of people around them chatting away.

One of them turned out to be David Wallace, to Jim’s surprise. They got to talking about basketball—both of them were certain that the 76ers were right to go with The Process—and from there to, well, basically everything that wasn’t paper. This was good, because Jim cared very little about paper, and that had been him main concern about this event beforehand: that other people would care about it.

“Hey, Rachel!” David waved a woman over towards the group. “Jim, this is Rachel, my wife.”

“Charmed.” He shook Rachel’s hand and took the opportunity to inveigle Pam into the conversation as well. “This is Pam, my girlfriend.”

“Pleased to meet you both.” Rachel smiled at David and then at them both.

“Wait, Pam…do you also work at Scranton?” David’s forehead crinkled. “I seem to recall Jan saying something about a Pam who ran interference for Michael.”

Pam nodded, and before she or Jim could say anything Rachel charged into the breach. “Oh, that’s right!” She grabbed Pam’s arm and pulled her aside. “You must tell me how you manage him.” She gestured over towards another part of the room where Jim could make out Michael and Jan talking to another group of partygoers. “Seriously, I can use all the help I can get.”

“I…” Pam looked up at him and he made his best ‘I’ll back you up whichever way you go with this’ look. “I’d love to.” She turned to him and grinned. “Don’t get into too much trouble without me.”

“He won’t.” David slapped him on the shoulder. “Unless you consider getting his butt kicked at HORSE trouble. What do you say, Jim, want to shoot a few hoops? I have a court out back.” Rachel rolled her eyes as she escorted Pam away and Jim found himself somehow, improbably, playing basketball with the CFO.

**

“Seriously.” Rachel pulled Pam into a side room. “How do you deal with him?”

“On a case by case basis.” Pam shrugged. “What did he do now?”

“Well, he and Jan are…talking…about some…personal details?” Rachel looked uncomfortable, and Pam immediately understood—the gist at least.

“So, in that case I’d suggest divide and conquer.” She looked around the room, which was hung with some really remarkable paintings—including what she was pretty sure was a Turner. “Jan doesn’t really like talking about that kind of thing, so if you can separate them and then get Michael to talk about something else you’ll get them both on a new track.”

“OK…but how do we get him to talk about something else?” Rachel sat down and waved Pam into another overstuffed chair.

“I mean, with Michael it could literally be as simple as ‘ask him about something else.’ As long as he’s not next to Jan.”

“Ah. So the divide part of divide and conquer…”

“Is key, yes.”

“Makes sense.” Rachel noticed Pam looking at the paintings. “You like art?”

“Yes?” It came out as more of a question than Pam had intended, but Rachel didn’t seem to notice.

“This is really my room. David has his basketball court out back, but the walls in here? They’re my passion. Would you like a tour?”

“Shouldn’t we separate Jan and Michael first?”

Rachel waved that away. “We can do that anytime. It’s so rare that any of David’s guests have any interest in art.” She clapped her hands. “Let’s start in the red room!”

“The red…” but Rachel had popped up and opened a door into a room completely filled with paintings, the dominant color of which was, well, red.

“This is going to be fun!” gushed Rachel as she ushered Pam inside.

And what do you know? It was.