“So you’re not doing it?”

“How did you know?”

“Why not?”

“Just not—No big reason. Just a bunch of little reasons.”

“Come on. There will always be reasons not to do something. Those shouldn’t stop you from pursuing what you’re passionate about. ”

“Roy’s right. There’s no guarantee it’s gonna lead to anything anyway.”

Jim comments, “Roy said that?” while giving Pam an incredulous look. 

“What? You have something you wanna say?”, Pam challenged him.

“I just think that if you truly care for someone, you support them. You gotta take a chance on something sometime, Pam….I mean do you wanna be a receptionist here, always?”

His words provoked Pam. “Excuse me, I’m fine with my choices.” She knew that wasn’t the truth and so did he.

“Just because you’re comfortable with your choices doesn’t mean they are what’s best for you.”

“Roy is just being realistic.” She defended him.

“What? By doubting your abilities?” Jim knew he was overstepping but she needed to be pushed. If he wasn’t the one to do it, who would? He watches Roy walk all over her while she does nothing but take his shit. Roy chips away a piece of her everyday and it physically pains him to see.

“What is your problem?” Pam was starting to get angry. Jim has no right to say what he’s saying and frankly he was crossing a line.

“I just—” Jim tries to collect his thoughts before he says something he will regret. And apparently it does nothing to help, “Can I just ask why?”.

“Why what?”, Pam says in a rush.

“Why do you let Roy decide everything for you?”

“Jim.” There was warning in her tone. She wasn’t going to allow him to do this.

But Jim was very persistent, “Why do you let him put you in a box? You could be so much more, have so much more.” Jim was the “so much more” in this case but, of course, he didn’t say that.

Pam sat silent. Her eyes begging him to quit while he was ahead. Jim saw this and tilted his head. His eyes reflected an unmistakable sadness. It seemed Pam’s engagement to Roy was hurting him more than it did her.

Pam quietly said, “It’s more complicated than that”, as she rose from the table heading for the kitchen door with her head down.

“It might feel complicated but, it’s really pretty simple”. Jim moved between Pam and the door. He couldn’t let her walk away, not like he did on the booze cruise. “Sometimes it takes someone from the outside to see things clearly.” He waited till she looked him directly in the eye. “And what I see is that you deserve better.”

“I can’t plan my life without my husband. It doesn’t work like that”. Pam said impatiently trying to ignore how much what he just said affected her.

“Fiancé”, Jim corrected her.

Her face fell and furrowed her brows. She pressed her lips closed, creating a thin line. She was shocked by his hurtful words. And the worst part of all was that he wasn’t wrong. Roy was her fiancé and it felt as if that wouldn’t ever change. 

There was a long moment of silence, both of them unmoving.

“He treats you like a job Pam.” Jim could tell by Pam’s face that she knew exactly what he was referring to. Yesterday Roy came in during their lunch break. Somehow the conversation led to Roy saying how he “deserved some time off” from their relationship. Jim had left the room without a word, obviously affected by what Roy said. Everyone but her was oblivious to Jim’s reaction. “Love takes sacrifice and it definitely isn’t something you take PTO for.”

Pam said without thinking, “You don’t know what love is”. Love was a topic high on the list of stuff they never speak about. 

He drew back and turned his head away with a scoff. She immediately knew she made a mistake saying that. His jaw tensed, and when he returned his eyes toward hers, they were shielded by tears. She was stunned by his response.

Jim felt as if she stabbed him in the chest because, really, he knew a lot more about love than she did. She didn’t know what it was like to go through life loving her while she was tied to someone who didn’t deserve her. “Maybe I don’t. But I do know what love isn’t. And it sure as hell isn’t that. When he finally blinked, a single tear fell from his face like a droplet of rain. 

And with that Jim walked away.