She awakes to the sound of snoring coming from the living room. Roy’s home. The clock reads nearly 8 AM. Pam lies there for a moment thinking of what she should do with her day. After her thoughts are continually interrupted by Roy’s snoring, she swings her legs over the side of the bed and slides her feet into her slippers. She goes to the couch and stands over Roy. When he’s asleep he looks a lot like the younger version of himself that she fell in love with. Long eye lashes on tanned cheeks and an athletic body. The weekends full of kegs and case races has left him with the beginnings of a belly in his mid-twenties. He is deep asleep and Pam knows waking him would only make the conversation that much worse. She goes into the kitchen and pours herself a bowl of cereal. She checks her phone and sees messages from her friends and sister but none from Jim. She thinks, “What were you thinking he’d say to you after you rejected him, Pam?” She kicks herself again thinking of the events of last evening. She finishes her cereal and washes the bowl gently placing it in the dish rack. She goes back to the bedroom and gets dressed in a cute sundress and decides she’s going to the mall. Even though Roy doesn’t know it yet, she’s going to be a single woman by the end of the day and retail therapy is just what she needs. 

                She arrives at the Steamtown Mall and takes a walk around to get her bearings. It had been a long time since she had been there and almost forgets what it offers. She decides to get a manicure and chooses a cheerful pink color. She imagines long fingers intertwining with hers as the manicurist handles her nails. She stops in a few stores and purchases a few shirts for work, a pair of shoes, a book, and a lot of underwear. She tells herself that she’s not buying them for anyone and that she can’t remember the last time she had bought herself underwear – or anything really. She treats herself to lunch in the food court and people watches for a while before she feels she can’t delay the next step any longer. She has a strange feeling come over her as she leaves the mall and hopes that the next time she is there maybe she’ll be on a date with someone else. She makes a quick stop at the grocery store to get a few items to leave at the apartment for Roy. She knows he’s a helpless man-child but she feels guilty about what she’s about to do so leaving him with milk and cereal make her feel a tiny bit better. She picks up a card while she’s there and decides she’s going to write Jim a note. She’s going to put her feelings in the card and leave it at his desk on Monday. She’ll be able to watch his expression from her desk and maybe they’ll sneak into the stairwell or make plans to meet up after work to talk. She can’t wait to tell him she’s not with Roy anymore and see where things go. 

She arrives back at their apartment and has to stifle the smile from her face as she pushes the door open to find Roy watching television in almost the same position she left him in hours ago. As she’s putting the few groceries away he calls to her “Hey babe did you bring lunch?” She tucks the card she bought for Jim in her purse. She looks at the clock and it’s almost 2 PM and responds “I got milk and cereal, you can help yourself.” She hears a small sigh come from him as she knows that he wishes she had brought some sort of takeout. She walks into the living room and sits on the coffee table to face Roy. At first he doesn’t look at her which causes her cheeks to burn with frustration.  

“Roy.” 

“Hmm?” he’s still not looking at her, staring at the television. 

“Roy, I want to talk to you.” 

He finally looks at her and sees the frustrated look on her face. A strange look crosses his face.  

“Are you pregnant?” 

“Why would you think that? Just because I want to talk to you?” 

“I don’t know you seem serious…” 

“I’m not pregnant, Roy.” Pam’s maintained eye contact up to this point but the thought of being pregnant with Roy’s child at this moment makes her avert her eyes to her hands folded in her lap. She takes a breath and says “I’m not happy Roy.” 

He doesn’t respond so she continues “I’m not happy in this relationship. I think we should break up.” Her voice gets small when she says “break up” and if she hadn’t been sitting so close to Roy he wouldn’t have heard her.  

“Who told you?” Roy responds, surprising Pam. 

                “What do you mean?” 

“I mean - who told you Katie was at Kenny’s?” Now Roy looks angry because he thinks he’s been found out about whatever shenanigans happened with Katie. 

“No one told me about Katie… wait… where were you last night?”  

Roy takes a deep breath and rolls his eyes “Does it even matter? Seems like you’re already one foot out the door.” He flops backwards onto the couch and stares at the ceiling.  

She can tell Roy doesn’t want to admit to whatever he did last night but now she’s putting her foot down and finding out. 

“Tell me what happened with Katie. Don’t make me have to find out from Kenny again.” Pam’s eyes start to fill with tears as she remembers the last time Katie fell onto Roy’s lap and Kenny had accidentally told Pam one night when he was wasted. Actually, how Pam specifically found out was Kenny telling Pam “You look so much like her, no wonder he was confused.” And then Kenny laughed so hard he fell over and put a whole in their drywall trying to support himself.  

“Katie was at Kenny’s,” the look Pam gives him makes him continue “Kenny called me when I left that stupid event with Michael and told me his car wouldn’t start. He was on his way to go out somewhere. I had just walked in the door and left a note for you,” he lingers on this part as if writing her a note would make up for whatever else occurred that evening, “and went to his place. He decided since I was there he wasn’t going to go out anymore and made some calls. I didn’t know who he was outreaching to but Katie showed up. We were playing poker that’s all…” he drifts off at this detail. Pam knows. Her blood starts to boil. 

“Strip. Poker, right, Roy? Just like last time.” She adds the last part quietly.  

Roy averts his eyes, “I’m sorry Pammy. It wasn’t my idea.” 

“Don’t. Call. Me. Pammy.” Pam stands up. “I’m going to go to Isobel’s for the rest of the weekend.” 

She goes into the bedroom and retrieves the duffel bag from under the bed. She enters the bathroom to grab her toothbrush and a few other toiletries. When she returns, Roy is standing in front of the door.  Pam starts to feel nervous.

“Pam, please, it was a mistake.” Roy’s eyes are pleading. Just like the time he forgot to check her battery and left her stranded. Just like the time she went to pick out the DJ alone. Just like all the other times he told her it was a mistake. 

“Roy it’s over, I’m out of forgiveness for your behavior. You’re supposed to be my fiancé. I don’t even have the details of what happened last night and I don’t need them. My ring is on the counter." she sighs, "Maybe you should date Katie?” she says the last part lightly, almost meaning it. Maybe they’d be good together? “Please, move out of my way.” 

Roy stands for a second and then moves out of the way. Pam’s heart is beating fast. She wasn’t sure how he’d take things and she’s grateful it’s gone like this. She’s also grateful that since her and Roy had helped Isobel move a few years ago, she’s moved again so he won’t know where she is over the next few days.  

Pam sits behind the wheel of her car for a moment making sure the door is closed before she breaks into a big smile. She can’t believe she did it and she doesn’t feel sad in the least. At least not yet. She calls Isobel who shrieks so loudly on the phone Pam nearly drops it. Isobel wasn’t the biggest fan of Roy and now hearing that Pam has broken up with him she is elated.  

“So how about that Jim guy?” Isobel asks. 

“Yeah… about that Jim guy. Do you have any wine at your place?” 

“Absolutely I do.” 

“I’ll be there soon.” 

Pam drives to Isobel’s apartment which is actually close to where she remembers Jim’s place had been. At least, back when he had the barbeque. He could have moved since then. Now that Pam thinks about it, outside of her wedding and her issues with Roy she’s not sure she’s heard much about how Jim is doing at all. He could have moved and she probably wouldn’t have known it. She drives through the apartment complex anyways but doesn’t see Jim’s car. Resolving that she’s selfish and he’s probably moved by now and she doesn’t even know it because she’s too absorbed in her own things she drives on to Isobel’s. 

Isobel meets her at the door with a bottle of white and a bottle of red.  

“Which one does my single best friend prefer?” 

Pam smiles “Single… that sounds so weird? Um, white for now.” 

Isobel goes to the kitchen to open the bottle of wine. She yells over her shoulder to Pam “So how long do you think you’ll be crashing here?” 

Pam’s brow furrows as she didn’t think it was a big deal she crashed at Isobel’s. She places her shopping bags on the floor near the door.  

“Um, maybe for the week?” Pam gives Isobel a hopeful look. Isobel looks relieved “Okay great, it’s not a big deal but Peter is in town next week and I was kind of hoping to… reconnect with him.”  

Pam’s not sure what to think, she just broke up with her fiancé and she felt Isobel was kicking her out already. “Sure we’ll see what happens. I can stay with my Mom, too. It’s a little further of a drive to work, that’s all.”  

“Oh my gosh, yes, of course. No, you can stay here Pam. Sorry, I just got a text from Peter right after you called me. Let’s talk about what is going on with Pamela Morgan Beesley? Heartbreaker of Scranton…” 

By the time Pam is done recounting the events of the last 24 hours she’s hungry and exhausted. Isobel listened to every word as they drained the first bottle of wine and started in on the second.  

“I think I’m gonna need some food soon.” Pam says to her friend. 

“Chinese?” Isobel offers because Isobel does not cook. 

“Sure!” 

Isobel goes to the kitchen to place their order and Pam takes a moment to check her phone. She’s not sure what she expects to find but she’s just hopeful there’ll be a message from Jim. There isn’t, instead there’s 17 pleading texts from Roy and she can tell he’s drinking because each one is getting sloppier by the minute. She ignores the texts and opens the last message she exchanged with Jim. It was about a prank they played on Dwight a few weeks ago. They didn’t typically text outside of work but sometimes they’d discuss something that had happened that day. Isobel enters the room when Pam is holding the phone.  

“What are these?” Isobel is holding the shopping bags up. Pam doesn’t respond and Isobel looks at her sullen face “What’s up?” 

“Nothing… just… hoping Jim would text me.” Isobel drops the bags next to Pam. 

 “Pam you ripped the man’s heart out and stepped on it, what do you think he’s going to do? Text you and ask for more?” 

“You’re right, I guess I just feel bad and want to tell him how I feel.” 

                “Listen, it’s the millennium but people still don’t do that stuff over text, Pam. Maybe you should call him?” 

“I don’t know how to do this, Isobel! I haven’t had to date in years! I couldn’t even vote when I had my last first date!” 

Isobel laughs at Pam’s admission “You’re right, let me give you some tips.” 

Isobel lays down the groundwork for Pam and leaves it up to her on if she wants to call Jim or not. Pam decides instead of calling him, she’s going to work on writing in the card she bought for him. The Chinese food arrives and Isobel places it all on the coffee table and turns on Legally Blonde. Pam uses the time to eat and write on a notepad and then after getting approval from Isobel on the final draft, she enters her words on the card. She signs it “Love, Pam”. She’s giddy with excitement as she thinks of him reading it. She can’t wait to talk to him, to spend more time with him, and she is definitely hopeful to kiss him again. By now, she and Isobel have shared two bottles of wine. Isobel tries to be sneaky and slides Pam’s phone across the coffee table.  

“What are you doing?” 

“I don’t know Pam, I feel like you should call Jim!” 

“Isobel this isn’t 6th grade, he’s going to know it’s me. I can’t just call and hang up on him.” 

“Where is he… hm… John… Jimmy… oh there he is! Jim Halpert!” 

Pam lunges for the phone and Isobel spills her glass of wine in the process of trying to protect the phone from Pam. They’re both laying on their backs on the floor panting when they hear the ringing.  

Looking down between them they realize Isobel did in fact call Jim and the phone is now ringing. They both stare until the voicemail picks up and Pam picks up the phone and hangs up.  

“What are you doing?!” Isobel yells at her 

“Isobel I can’t talk to him right now. I just can’t. I feel like I’m going to throw up.” 

Pam goes into the bathroom and splashes water on her face. “Love will do that to you my friend!” Isobel calls after her. Pam doesn’t get sick, and comes back from the bathroom recovered from the near phone call with Jim. 

Legally Blonde comes to an end on the TV and Isobel changes the disc and turns on another movie. “Sorry” she says to Pam. Pam shrugs. They settle onto the couch on opposite ends. This time Pam is full of food and wine and her eyes are feeling heavy. She doesn’t realize it but she falls asleep on Isobel’s couch. She wakes up a few hours later with the DVD player running on the title screen and her and Isobel’s legs intertwined under a few throw blankets. Pam gingerly removes her legs from the equation and gets up from the couch. She tucks her friend in and then takes her things to the spare room. She spreads out on the bed and drifts off to sleep.