“So what did Rachel want?” Jim asked as Pam joined him on the terrace after finishing her phone call. It was strange to think that he was the sort of person who was on first-name terms with the CFO and his wife, stranger still that Pam was too—and that while David Wallace might call him at work, Pam and Rachel had exchanged cellphone numbers. They’d actually been talking quite a bit recently; apparently Rachel Wallace didn’t have a lot of friends who were into art, and Pam was blossoming under the attention, he could tell.

“Well, first of all, she told me that you have been holding out on me, mister.” Pam crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Did you or did you not get a call from David this afternoon?”

“I did,” he acknowledged with a nod.

“And did or did not this phone call happen to include the offer of a job at corporate?”

“It did,” he nodded again. “Or really just an interview. Nothing more than that.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” She crossed over and punched him in the shoulder. “I was dying over there playing FreeCell and you got a job offer—OK, an interview, but you know how much he likes you—and you didn’t tell me?”

“Well, he called at 5. Exactly 5.” Jim leaned back and watched his girlfriend. He could tell a real pout from a fake one, and this one was doing a very good job of being fake. She was clearly as excited as he’d been when he’d gotten the call. “And you may recall that someone has art class on Thursdays, so she’d already left by 5, while her darling boyfriend helped distract Dwight and Michael. And you might also recall that she was already on the phone when she walked in the door at 7, mouthed ‘Rachel’ at said darling boyfriend, and went and hid in the bedroom.” He crossed his arms behind his head. “So I would say that by any fair definition this constituted the first opportunity for me to tell you.”

“And?” She cocked her head to the side again.

“And by the way, Beesly, I got a call from David Wallace today”

“The CFO?” she put her hands to her mouth and mock-gasped. “What did he want?”

“He wants me to come interview for some corporate job next month, up in New York.”

“Fascinating.” She grinned and plopped down in his lap, while his arms instinctively came up to cuddle her. “Thanks for letting me know.”

“Of course.” He squeezed her tight. “Now, answer my question.”

“What question was that?” She kissed him and he briefly considered letting it go before deciding that he’d rather like to know.

“What did Rachel want?”

**

“Oh yeah.” She curled up in his lap and leaned her head against his shoulder. It was a good thing the patio furniture her dad had dropped by (gruffly commenting that ‘we barely use it anyway’) was sturdy enough for two. “She said David was offering you a job he really wanted you to take.”

“I knew that, thank you.” He squeezed her tight and she snuggled in closer.

“And I think she wanted to talk me into talking you into taking it.”

“Oh?” Jim had a way of being quiet when he wanted to hear what she had to say that could sometimes be annoying, but was usually helpful. Like right now.

“Yeah.” She sat up enough to see his eyes as they talked. “She thinks it would be a really great opportunity. For both of us.”

“Both of us?”

“Yes…and of course, she’d love it if we lived, how did she put it, a little closer to civilization.” They both laughed. Pam and Rachel got on like a house on fire, but both she and Jim were well aware that for all that they liked her, Rachel thought of Scranton as somewhere akin to the depths of furthest Siberia in terms of cultural cachet, and was continually trying to get Pam to visit.

“Hah.” Jim had been supportive—‘go ahead! I know you’d love to see the museums in New York’—but she had balked at imposing on her new friend’s hospitality.

“Yeah.” She smiled nervously. This was the part that Rachel had really been pushing under cover of telling her about Jim’s job offer. “She was telling me about this little art school she knows a professor at…”

“What’s it called?” Jim perked up at that.

“The Pratt something. It’s in Brooklyn, I think.”

“Cool.” He shifted under her. “What did she say about it?”

“She suggested I should look into it. Apparently Dunder Mifflin has scholarships for employees and dependents who take classes there? She took one, that’s how she met the professor.”

“Very cool.” He smiled up at her—an experience only available when sitting or lying down, given their difference in heights—and she smiled back. “Am I correct in assuming that this isn’t about distance learning? That Rachel was hinting that you should go there if I got the job at corporate?”

“I’m not sure hinting is the right word.” She grinned, glad that he seemed to be taking this well. “She outright said it. More than once.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Well, she’s right. I mean, it’s just an interview, and I’ve never been sure that I want to make Dunder Mifflin a career…but you totally have the talent.” He made a motion indicating he wanted to stand up and she slid off him to her feet. He stood, keeping an arm around her, and squeezed. “I wasn’t sure I was interested when David suggested the interview, but this sounds like a real opportunity for you.” He started walking inside and she moved along with him. “I think you should look into it.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”