Jim plays the scenario over and over again, trying to figure out how to do this as easily and as smoothly as possible.  He soon realizes that none of this will be smooth or easy.  In fact, this is going to suck.

Athlead really was a mistake.

He calls an emergency meeting with Wade, Colin, Isaac, and Sandra.

“Jim, what’s this about?” Colin asks.  Out of everyone here, he probably already knows.

“Look, there’s no easy way to say this so here it is,” Jim takes a deep breath, “I’ve decided to resign as Vice President of New Acquisitions.”

Colin just nods.  As for the others, their breaths are taken away, as to be expected.

“What?  When?” Sandra asks.

“Effective immediately.”

“Jim, you can’t do this,” Wade begs.

“I have to.”

“What, is this about David Wallace?” Isaac asks, “We can find another—”

“No, it’s not that, it’s…” he’s not sure if he should reveal anything.

“It’s about Pam, isn’t it?”

All of them look at Colin, who already guessed.

The rest turn back to Jim, who looks down and admits something, “When all of this started, we agreed that I wouldn’t join the company.  We don’t have the money, and I’ve been gone for so long that...” he sighs, “All we’ve been doing is fight, and I’m tired of it.  And so is she.”

“Jim, this could be an amazing opportunity, for all of you,” Sandra points out, “Besides, we know you’re doing this for her.”

“And I mentioned that, but—”

“Think about what you’d be giving up,” Wade tells him.

The temptation to stay was getting easier by the second, “I have thought about it, a lot.  But none of this is worth giving up—”

“Are you really going to have your wife dictate your life for you?”

Now all eyes are on Isaac, who makes a face like he instantly regrets what he just said.

Now Jim is pissed.  Isaac believes that he is so whipped to the point that he’s giving up this whole thing because “wifey said so.”  The guy who’s never been married knows his wife better than him, apparently.  Jim knows the man is his friend and is looking out for him, but right now, he’s acting like a douche.

“No, Isaac, I’m not,” Jim makes clear, “She’s not dictating anything.”

“Jim—”

“This is my choice,” Jim’s tone rises, “I’m choosing to be there for my wife and kids because they’re what’s important to me.”

“Jim, settle down,” Colin interrupts.  Jim exhales and relaxes.  “Look, I don’t want to upset you or anything, but… I’ve prepared for this.”

Jim’s confused, “Really?”

“I spoke to a former business partner of mine from my old firm,” Colin explains, “He mentioned to me that he’d love to work in advertising, specifically in acquisitions.  Knowing him, he’ll be the perfect candidate for your position.”

“Do you need me here to show him the ropes?” Jim asks.

“That won’t be necessary,” Colin reassures.

Now Jim feels guilty, “Guys, I… I can’t apologize enough for this.  I feel like I’ve wasted your time.”

There’s a silence before Wade speaks up, “Look, I might not agree with your decision, but I understand where you’re coming from.”

“Besides, if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have gotten this far,” Sandra comments, “We actually have a shot at this and we have you to thank for that.”

“You’re a good man, Jim,” Colin says with a smile.

Jim smiles back, “Thanks guys.”

Isaac says nothing, he’s too embarrassed.

The meeting adjourns, and Jim shakes everyone’s hand, thanking them for the opportunity, even Isaac, who offers Jim a sincere apology.  Jim thinks nothing of it.

He spends the rest of his shift crafting a farewell email to send to the rest of his (now former) employees.  After it’s sent, he decides to just leave quietly with no fanfare or goodbye party.  He’s already out the door when

“Jim!”

It’s Darryl.

“I guess you read the email?” Jim asks.

“Man, I just hope you don’t regret it.”

“I’m not,” Jim says, “I need to do this.  For Pam.  I... I feel like I’m losing her.”

“Are you kidding?” Darryl’s surprised by that, “You two’ll be just fine.”

Jim wants to believe him.  He wants everything to work out so he won’t have to give this up.  But Darryl isn’t privy to everything that’s happened between them, he’s just an outsider looking in.  Jim understands that, and he wouldn’t wish this situation on him or anyone else.

“Look, we got into a huge fight last night.  The worst one we’ve ever had.  I just miss her, and I miss the kids, and they miss me, too.  I love this job, but I’d rather lose this over them.”

Darryl finally seems to understand, “Alright,” he gives Jim a powerful handshake, “Thank you.  For everything.”

“Pleasure’s all mine.”

“Well, now I gotta find a new roommate.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“No problem.  No offense, but you’re a real slob.”

“Oh, c’mon, I’m not that bad.”

“You used the same cereal bowl three mornings in a row.  Three!”

“I ran water on it before I used it again.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Darryl shrugs, “Say hi to Pam for me.”

“Will do.”

Darryl heads back inside as Jim calls a taxi.

Pam arrives at work as the crew packs up for the week, a normal Friday.  She finds Brian standing by her desk.

She smiles at Brent, who greets her happily.  But really, he’s the farthest thing from happy.  They now have to edit out Brian asking what’s wrong by tampering with the footage.  He gave Brian quite the talking to about interacting with the documentary subjects last night, and Brian just had to stand there and take it, despite how annoyed he is about the whole thing.

But Pam sees it differently.

“Hey Brian, you got a sec?” she asks.

“Yeah, hold on a sec,” he then looks to her.

“I shouldn’t have broken down like that,” she admits, “I feel awful.”

“It’s fine.  It was my first slip up in nine years of miking you.  I felt like I should’ve said something.”

She knows Brian well, he would’ve, but she didn’t need to burden someone else with her problems.  She’s already done that with Jim.  “Thanks for being a good friend,” she tells him.

“Sure, anytime,” he’s curious, “Uh, how about you and Jim?  Everything squared away?”

“Yeah.  Mostly.”

“Pam, phone call,” Erin interrupts their conversation.

“Um, hey, say hi to Alyssa,” Pam tells him.

“Will do.”

“Okay.  Thank you,” she sits down, hoping the phone call will get her mind off of things.

“Sure.”  Brian can’t lie to himself, if it wasn’t for the voicemail, he would have comforted her himself.  Just seeing his friend cry like that… he wanted to drive to Philly himself and kick Jim’s ass.  He knows better than to do that, especially since he’s on hot water with Brent and the others as it is, but he can’t help but be reminded of her time with Roy, how miserable he made her feel.  And now here’s the supposed love of her life, doing the exact same thing.  He wonders if it was worth even telling Jim about her breakdown, given how little he seems to care already.

“Hey, boom guy,” Meredith gets his attention.

“Oh, hey Meredith.”

“When are you gonna boom me?”

Jim’s on the bus when he dials David’s number.  He hopes everything can be smoothed over as quickly as before, but he’ll just have to see.

Surprisingly, David picks up.  “Hey David,” Jim greets.

[“Jim.”]

“Have I caught you in a bad time?”

[“Not at all, what’s up?”]

“That side project I was working on… I decided to quit.”

[“Oh,”] this takes David by surprise, [“Okay.”]

“Yeah.”

[“Well, I was going to have Dwight recruit a junior salesman to cover for you, but it seems like I don’t have to.”]

“Good.”  Knowing Dwight, Jim can only imagine how the hell that would have turned out.

[“Have you talked to Phyllis and Stanley about your clients?”]

“Not yet, I’m on my way back to Scranton now, I’ll do it then.”

[“Great.  But if you don’t mind me asking, what made you decide to quit?”]

Jim pauses, not wanting to say too much but needing him to understand, “You don’t mind if I get a bit personal, do you?”

[“Doesn’t leave this call,”] David reassures.

“As you know, I started working at Athlead’s offices in December, and me being out of town, back and forth… it started to affect my marriage.  I was so focused on making Athlead work that I rarely ever considered Pam and how she feels about it all.  I felt like I was losing her, and-and nothing is worth that.”

David’s response surprises him, [“Well, I gotta tell you, Jim,”] he commends, [“a lot of guys in my circle?  They wouldn’t even change their golf schedule to shore up their marriage, let alone their professional goals.”]

Jim nods, “Yeah.”

“I know I won’t.”  After what Isaac said, Jim now knows he definitely won’t.

But David’s curious, [“So this company, you mentioned that it’s an advertising firm?”]

“Yeah, we—” Jim quickly corrects himself, “they meet with professional athletes directly to discuss how they want to promote themselves.”

[“And you worked in acquisitions?”]

“Yes, sir.”

[“Good to know…”]  Jim can tell that David’s mulling something over from the other line, but he’s not sure what.  [“I’ll keep in touch.”]

Jim’s puzzled, trying to figure out what else David needs to tell him, “Okay, great.”

[“Good talk, Jim.  Have a great rest of your day.”]

“You, too.”  After Jim hangs up, he breathes yet another sigh of relief.