“Hey Jimbo! I need a favor-ski from you.”

Jim turned to see Micheal standing in his office door holding a stack of papers. “What’s up?”

“I need you to go down to the warehouse and have Darryl sign off on these. I just got off the phone with Jan and she was super pissed off that I didn’t have them to her like yesterday. But with all the other lame-o work she’s got me doing I just don’t have time. Be a bro and help a fellow bro out?”

Mentally, Jim growled in frustration. Keeping his face neutral though, he stood up from his desk. “Yeah, no problem.”

“Thanks a ton!” Micheal beamed before heading back into his office and reaching for some of the toys on his desk.

Making sure the papers were in order, Jim started heading for the door. He stopped at his favorite spot at Pam’s desk first to grab a few jellybeans. Pam’s face lit up when she looked up from her computer at the slight rustling sound.

“Hey you. Whatcha got there?” she nodded at the stack of papers.

“Just some papers Micheal needs Darryl to sign off on. So, I’m off on a quest to the nether world of the warehouse for a bit.”

“Don’t get lost,” Pam joked.

“I never get lost,” Jim defended himself. “I always know exactly right where I am. I’m always ‘right here.’ Can’t get lost if you always know where you are.”

Pam laughed at the silly joke. “Go on with you!”

Jim started walking backwards towards the door. “Besides if I ever really did get lost, you’d come find me.”

“Uh huh,” Pam deadpanned though still with a sparkle in her eye. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Grinning to himself at the brief conversation, Jim let himself out of the doors and made the trip to the warehouse. As he walked down the stairs he started scanning for Darryl. A small crowd of the warehouse guys were gathered around the door to Darryl’s office so Jim walked in that direction. As he got closer, he saw it was Lonny and Roy who were standing near their boss. Knocking on the door Jim broke into the conversation the other men were having.

“Hey Jim!” Darryl greeted him when he looked up. “What’s up?”

“Just some papers Michael needs you to sign. He said they were due to corporate yesterday.”

Darryl riffled through the stack after Jim handed them over. “Yeah, it’s just the monthly delivery numbers. They’re not actually due till next week. Ten to one says Jan was making a fuss early so Michael would get his ass in gear and get them in on time.”

“No bet here,” Jim grinned easily. “But yeah, that seems about right.”

“If you don’t mind hanging out a sec, I’ll get these taken care of and you can bring them back upstairs.” Darryl opened a drawer in his desk, pulled out a stamp that had his signature on it, and started working filling out the forms.

Roy looked over at Jim while they were waiting for Darryl to finish. “Hey Halpert, since you’re here, mind doing me a favor too?”

The familiar sense of irritation of being near Roy bubbled up in Jim’s chest. He tamped it down before looking over. “What’s that?”

“Mind bringing my truck keys up to Pammy when you head back upstairs? It’s poker night but Lonny said he could give me a ride right from here.”

“Sure.”

Roy let a small grin flash on his face. “Thanks man. C’mon I’ve got them over at my locker.”

Leading the way to a row of lockers tucked into a corner of the warehouse Roy opened the one marked with his name. Jim schooled his face as he saw the naked centerfold woman stare out at him from the inside of the locker door. What irritated Jim even more was there was no sign of Pam in Roy’s locker. No photos of her or drawings she may have given her fiancé. Before he could further dwell on things, Roy turned back to him.

“Here you go man,” Roy said while holding out his truck key.

“Got it,” Jim said as quickly as possible. The two men started walking back to Darryl’s office.

“Between you and me though,” Roy started, “It’s not actually poker night. I’ve got a buddy from my high school football team who’s having his bachelor party tonight. We’re going to meet up with my brother Kenny before heading out to Temptation. You know that place right by the skating rink? Don’t tell Pammy though, she’d kill me.”

Jim did his best to ignore the leer in Roy’s face. Unbidden the image of neon lights and stripper poles flashed in his mind. He quickly tried to dismiss the thought. “Yeah.”

“Hey! You should come out with us! After all it’s the only good thing about the whole wedding thing, getting to head out one more time for a guy's night before getting locked down with a ball and chain. Pammy’s been after me all week to look into crap like venues, and flowers, and shit. Seriously I need a night away from it all. Sure, you don’t want to come out? I’ll buy you a lap dance or two!”

Inwardly seething, Jim made a quick frown and shook his head. “Nah, thanks though, but I’ve got some other stuff going on tonight.”

Roy shrugged. “Suit yourself. Hey, another quick question for you. Do you know why Pammy traded an iPod for some stupid teapot last week at the Christmas party?”

White hot anger flared in Jim’s chest at hearing Roy talk about Pam’s teapot in that manner. He barely managed to keep his voice level. “No, not really. Maybe ask her?”

“I tried,” Roy sighed. “She just told me she liked that teapot better. Which I don’t really get. Why the hell would you trade an iPod for something chintzy like that? Sometimes I just don’t get her, ya know?”

“Sorry man, I don’t know what to tell you,” Jim all but croaked out.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Just figured you might know something I don’t. I mean she wouldn’t even tell me who gave it to her. Just that Secret Santa meant just that.”

“Sorry to but in,” Darryl said. “These are all done. Here you go Jim.”

Grateful to have an excuse to leave, Jim took the stack of papers. “Thanks man. Take care guys.”

A chorus of good-byes met his ears as Jim turned to the stairs. As soon as the door was closed behind him, Jim let out the breath he’d been holding since turning away from Darryl’s office. His feelings were as mixed as his thoughts. He turned in one spot to back up against the wall as his mind went a mile a minute.

Blowing Pam off for poker night is one thing but lying about going to a strip club instead! Where does he get off? Asshole doesn’t deserve Pam! Doesn’t even have her picture in his locker! I should tell Pam that! Make her see what kind of a jerk he really is! And calling my teapot to her stupid! Something Pam actually wants instead of a damn sweater! How does he not know that about her!? Seriously! Do they even talk? And she wants to get married to that cretin! She didn’t tell him the teapot was from me! What the hell do I do with that? Is she ashamed of me? Did I make her mad? Is she scared of what he might say? Oh god I hope it’s nothing like that!

Just one chance Pam! That’s all I need. Just one chance to show you what you really deserve! To be with a guy who appreciates you. Who will be loyal to you, not some naked porn star. Why the goddamn flying fuck to the good girls keep going for and staying with assholes like Roy? Seriously? What the hell does she see in him? He’s always blowing her off, doesn’t care about her interests, would rather be with his brother than her, and won’t even commit to a wedding date! Just keeps stringing her along! Fucking asshole!

Jim ran his hands through his hair and started to take some deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. His thoughts kept racing through his mind though.

Not that I’m really any better. I chickened out with the card in her teapot after all. The one time I thought I had the balls to really say something, and I let it pass. Damn. What was it that Sam was saying last week? If I’m really her friend, shouldn’t she know the truth? Screw it! Enough fear. Tonight, when I give her a ride back from cooking class, I’ll do it. No turning back this time. Just tell her.

With his will resolved, Jim took another deep breath before heading down the corridor in the direction of the office. When he walked in, he saw Pam with her ear to her phone while also typing something on her computer. She looked up as he walked up and motioned that she’d be willing to talk as soon as she was off the phone. Jim nodded and changed direction to Michael’s office. After consenting to watching a video with animated squirrels dancing a Scottish reel, he escaped Michael’s office to make his way back to the reception desk.

“Finally got out of there huh?” Pam commiserated as he approached her desk. “Was it the video with Scottish squirrels or the squirrels in pants?”

“The Scottish one, though Heaven help us if he finds one that combines them,” Jim chuckled.

“I can see it now,” Pam grinned. “The Adventure of Squirrel McPants.”

“Anyway,” Jim said as he pulled out Roy’s key. “Roy asked me to give you this. He’s going to get a ride from Lonny tonight.”

“Oh thanks,” she said as she accepted the key. “This will actually work out great. I was planning on meeting up with Beth before the class. Now I won’t have to beg a ride off her or you.”

Once more Jim had to tamp down the boiling frustration seething in his chest. “Sounds good. Hope you two have fun. I’ll just see you at class then.”

“Sounds good. Can’t wait to see you there!” Pam beamed.

“Yeah. I need to get back to work.” Jim nodded back at his desk. “Don’t want Dwight to get all bent out of shape.”

“It is kind of the reason you’re here,” Pam retorted.

“True, true, that paper won’t sell itself,” he commented as he walked away.

Sinking down into his chair he grabbed a pen and pretended to start writing things down. Internally only one thought went through his mind.

Goddamn it!

_____________________________________________________________________________

Pam looked up as the door to the coffee shop she was in opened. She waved as she saw Beth walk in and start to pull off her scarf.

“Beth! Over here!”

“Hey Pam! Good to see you,” Beth said as she walked over and draped her coat over her chair before sitting down.

“You too!” Pam beamed. “Thanks for shooting me your drink order. It was a mad house when I got here.”

“No problem.” Beth grinned as she took her first sip of coffee. “So, how are things going with Roy?”

“Honestly?” Pam sighed. “More of the same, so not great. We get home and he just plops down on the couch in front of ESPN with a beer and basically expects that I’ll have dinner ready for him soon. Like I’m not tired too at the end of the day. I tried to set up a nice romantic evening for the two of us, but he just fell asleep while I was getting ready in the bathroom. I brought up going out and doing something this weekend and he said he already has plans with his brother. I asked his opinion on some wedding things, and he just blew me off. He’s done stuff like that for a while, but he really pissed me off last Friday. He called my new teapot stupid because I traded a video iPod for it. That teapot really means a lot to me, and it hurt that he said it was stupid.”

Beth took another sip of her coffee before replying. “I’m sure none of that was fun. You’re trying and he’s not reciprocating. Let’s try a different tack. What DO you love about Roy?”

“Ummm, well,” Pam looked down at her Chai tea while she pondered the question. “He has a steady job that pays most of the bills. When he does hold me, it feels good to be held by a big strong guy. We get on pretty good in the bedroom. He’s just this big comfortable thing that’s always been there. I mean what girl hasn’t had the dream to marry her high school sweetheart after all?”

“So, here’s the hard part,” Beth warned. “Time to set aside the emotions and look at actions. In the past week, you’ve been trying to put effort into your relationship. By your admission, Roy hasn’t. When I ask what you love about him, you can only give me four reasons.”

“There’s more than four!” Pam tried to exclaim, but her heart wasn’t in it. When Beth gestured to her to go on, she looked down at her tea again and started to rack her brain. “I like how he gets excited when he gets competitive.”

Beth cut in. “I said ‘love,’ not ‘like.’”

Pam hung her head a bit. “Right sorry.”

She was about to say she loved Roy’s competitive streak until she remembered the last time it had appeared, and Jim ended up with a bloody lip. The protective streak she’d admired when they were in high school had manifested several times in Roy threatening any guy who he thought was looking at her wrong, often with her feeling embarrassed rather than secure. The athletic trophies that had once glittered and captured her eye were now covered in dust. He never asked her for her help anymore like he once did in their senior study hall, which was when he’d first started talking to her. The parties he’d brought her to after football games that had once been exciting with the thrill of possibly getting caught had long since transformed into bar nights where more often than not, she’d be sitting at the table alone while he and his buddies played pool or darts. Once she’d worn his football jersey with pride. Now she could hardly stand the smell of his dirty laundry.

“Is it bad that I can’t really think of much more right now?” Pam said softly.

“No,” Beth said kindly. “But it is good that you’re thinking about it. Like I said last week, marriage is a big decision and not to be taken lightly. Have you ever asked him why he wants to get married?”

“Umm, no,” Pam’s eyes focused on the table again.

“Have you ever asked any of your friends or family what they really think of Roy?”

Pam shook her head.

“Hey,” Beth’s voice held no condemnation. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad, really. But I do feel it’s important to be honest and have honest conversations, even if they’re hard. Here, we’ll change it up a bit. Realistically, what have you always envisioned married life to be like?”

After taking a deep breath, Pam cast in her mind to an image that had long had time to percolate. “A husband that I love and who loves me for me. We can talk and laugh and just be with each other. We love doing things together and encourage each other in separate interests. Maybe start out in an apartment but move into a house big enough to start a family. At least two, but maybe three kids and a dog running around the yard. We’d take road trips in the summer, run through corn mazes in the fall, hunt for Christmas trees in the winter, ride bikes in the spring. Little league, ballet, art classes, school plays and band concerts. If we have a daughter, I’d braid her hair before her first day of pre-school. If a son, I’d take a picture of him roaring at me in a dinosaur costume for Halloween. You know, typical family stuff. It may seem simple and ordinary, but there’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things.”

“That all sounds lovely,” Beth beamed at Pam. “Do you think Roy would want the same thing?”

A bubble of anxiety formed in Pam’s chest. “I, um, I’m not sure. I hope so. Honestly, we don’t really talk a whole lot about the future. You’re going to tell me it doesn’t sound good for me and Roy does it?”

“I think you need to have some very serious discussions. With Roy, but also with other people you trust. Your family and any friends that have known you and Roy would be good places to start.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Pam said in a small voice.

“I know it’s a lot to take in.” Beth reached over and put a comforting hand on Pam’s shoulder. “But getting married should be one of the more pivotal decisions of your life. It deserves to be well thought out.”

Pam took a sip of her tea to give herself a brief pause. “It’s just hard to think about. Roy is the only guy I’ve ever been with. He’s all I’ve ever known. If it doesn’t work out, that’s years of my life that were building up towards nothing.”

“Yeah, I get why that might be scary. Though, things may not be as bleak as you might think.”

“What?” Pam snapped her head up.

Beth shrugged and leaned back. “All I’m saying Pam, is that you’re a kind, caring, lovely young woman. If you do end things with Roy, and that’s a big if by the way, I’m sure it wouldn’t take long for any decent and caring guy to realize that as well.”

For a moment Pam let her thoughts turn to a life without Roy at her side. It shocked her but the vision of the house with the kids and the dog seemed a bit warmer. In her mental snapshot she saw the silhouette of a different man waiting with open arm to embrace the two children running across a living room. A tall lanky man with a mop of shaggy hair scooped the kids in the air while near them a teal teapot rested in a place of honor on a shelf.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Jim leaned over to his cooking partner who was edging closer to the oven. He didn’t even try to keep the smirk off his face.

“We were told very clearly not to open the oven for a full twenty minutes or the batter might not bake right.”

Pam jumped a little at Jim’s voice. “Right, sorry. I just want to see how it’s coming is all.”

“Probably the same as those peas on the stove.” Jim gestured to the pot containing the peas that had boiled and were now simmering. “I think it’s time we started in on the gravy.”

Standing up from the oven, Pam turned to their workstation. “Sure, hand me one of those onions please.”

It was the work of a moment to do so. Together Jim and Pam started to peel and slice the onions and garlic that would go into the gravy they were making. Across the stove Sam and Beth were also starting to work on their own gravy. Pam glanced up at the big board at the front of the class that had two Union Flags draped over the corners to celebrate the international night of cooking for that week. A brief hint of trepidation hit Jim when he saw the recipe for Toad in the Hole and mushy peas, but it was quicky alleviated at the sight of Pam lighting up when she the pictures of the dish they were making.

They put the cut veggies in their frying pan along with some butter and gently stirred them until the onion and garlic were translucent and aromatic. They added some balsamic vinegar along sprigs of rosemary and thyme and set the heat to reduce the liquid. After a few minutes they added the packets of authentic UK gravy powder and stirred the gravy over the soft heat. The timer they’d set dinged, and Pam donned oven mitts to remove the Toad in the Hole from the oven. The English sausages had cooked to perfection resting in a Yorkshire pudding batter. Setting the baking tin on the stovetop, or hob as it had been referred to all evening, to rest for a few minutes. Jim turned the burner off under their saucepan of peas and removed the lid. He added some butter, mint, and squeezed the juice out of lemon before lightly mashing the additional ingredients into the softened peas.

Sam had brought plates and flatware for the four of them. They helped each other to portions of their dishes before tucking in.

“Wow!” Pam’s eyes lit up. “This is really good!”

“Yeah,” Jim agreed. “I’ll admit I was hesitant about the peas, but they’re pretty tasty.”

“Never been to England before, have you?” Sam asked.

“Nah, only a trip to Niagara Falls my senior year in high school,” Jim answered as he poured some of the gravy over his sausages.

“I haven’t even gone that far,” Pam admitted. “Though I’d like to. I’d love to be there at night when they shine lights over the waterfall so I can sketch it. What about you guys? Ever take any fun trips?”

Sam looked over at Beth after finishing his bite. “Greece was nice.”

“Yeah, the Parthenon was gorgeous when it was lit up at night,” Beth agreed.

“You guys went to Greece?” Pam’s eyes were huge.

“It was our honeymoon,” Beth shrugged. “We flew into Athens and then took a cruise around the Greek islands. Stopped at places like Santorini and Crete. Gorgeous weather, lots of fun history, amazing food.”

“Great night life,” Sam smirked which earned him a loving smack on the arm from his wife.

“Hush you,” Beth teased.

Jim laughed alongside Sam and Beth. He looked over and saw a blush of red bloom on Pam’s cheeks.

Llyod was making his way around the class to inspect the final results. “How’d it all turn out?”

“Great!” Jim said. “Though changing up the units for measuring things threw me off for a second.”

“When in Rome,” Llyod chuckled.

“He’s just teasing,” Pam said. “It was really easy to follow along, and it’s all delicious.”

“Glad to hear it. As always, the recipe cards for the meal are near the door if you’d like to re-create the meal at home.”

Llyod departed to check on other students. The dish had taken a bit longer to prepare than some of the other meals so there wasn’t as much time to eat. Jim scooped the leftovers into a box and graciously let Pam have them to take home. He walked her back to the truck and waved good night. His car was in the same direction as Sam and Beth’s so he walked with them. It was only after Sam held the door for Beth and closed it behind her that Sam turned to Jim.

“Talk to Pam yet?”

Jim sighed. “No. I was going to in the car tonight, but she ended up driving herself.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “So, more excuses. Dude, something like this, you’ve got to step up and make the time.”

“Easier said than done,” Jim scoffed. “What happens when I tell her everything and she tells me to get lost?”

“Then you respect her choice and move on with your life,” Sam told him bluntly while he walked to the driver's side of his car. “Yeah, it would hurt. But also, think about this, what happens if she says she has feelings for you too? Though still, be careful. If she does break things off with Roy, she’ll need time to heal from that. The last thing you’d want to do would be to catch her on the rebound. It happened to a few of the couples we’ve mentored, and the results were not pretty.
“If you can’t tell her how you feel, she at least deserves to hear from her best friend what he thinks about the man she’s supposed to marry. Friends are supposed to be honest with each other. Especially with the important things.”

Another knot of tension wound itself inside Jim’s chest as Sam sat down in his car and drove away. Another layer of fear and doubt settled in. Though also something new stirred inside. A challenge to be brave. He swallowed hard before heading back to his car to mull things over for the night.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The door slamming startled Pam awake. She started to get up from the couch where she’d fallen asleep last night to the sounds of Roy and Kenny in the small kitchen of the apartment. She stood up and started walking towards them.

“Man, the tits on that chick last night were amazing. No wonder you paid for so many motorboats. Anything to eat around here Roy? I’m starving.”

“Just grab whatever out of the fridge.”

“What the hell’s this green shit? Smell like ass.”

“Got me. Pammy’s been making a bunch of new shit.”

Pam rounded the corner of the kitchen and was horrified to see Kenny dump the last of her mushy peas down the sink before using a grease-stained hand to shovel the remains of her Toad in the Hole into his mouth. Roy turned and saw her standing there he broke into a grin to see her awake.

“Pammy! Hey there. Just in time to make us all some breakfast before we head into work!”

Unbridled rage burst in her chest. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING KENNY?!”

The two men were taken aback at Pam’s shout.

“Eating somefing,” Kenny said around a mouth of food.

“GET OUT! NOW! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY APARTMENT!” Pam slapped the box out of Kenny’s hands and began shoving him out of the door.

“Ah! Ow! Pam! Stop!” Kenny muttered until he was outside, and the door was slammed in his face.

“Pammy! What the hell?” Roy had a shocked expression on his face.

Pam flashed around him and leveled a laser focused glare at him. “Whose tits were you motorboating last night? I thought it was poker night.”

“Oh, um, yeah,” Roy started to stammer. “Well, you see instead of poker night it was actually a bachelors' party for Wes. You remember him, from high school, right? Well, we kinda ended up at a strip club to help him celebrate. You know how it goes.”

“So not only did you lie to me about what you were doing, but you had your face shoved in another woman’s breasts all night long!” Pam screamed.

“Well, what about you!” Roy fired back. “Just kicking Kenny out of here simply because he was getting something to eat. What was that about?”

Pam stormed back into the kitchen and picked up the box from the floor. Roy had followed her but took a step back when she shoved the box in his face. “What does it say right there one the box?”

Roy glanced down and saw Pam’s name clearly written on the box. He didn’t reply.

“What does it say Roy!?” Pam pressed.

“It says ‘Pam,’ ok? Happy now?”

“No, Roy! I’m not happy! I’m pissed!” Pam threw the box down again. “You come waltzing in here with your brother after a night at strip club doing who knows what, let your brother eat food clearly labeled as mine, and then just expect me to make breakfast so you can get ready for work! What am I your personal chef?”

Roy sighed and tried to reach out to her. He managed to put his hands on her hips and started tickling her sides to get her to relax. “Hey, let’s calm down okay.”

Pam wasn’t having it. She slapped his hands away. “No! You don’t get to do this Roy! Not this time! You don’t get to put on a hurt puppy dog face and try to tickle me into forgiving you! Do you have any idea how upset I am with you? How disgusted and disrespected I feel right now?”

“What? It was just a bachelors party. It’s not like I’m going to cheat on you with any of those strippers or anything. It was just a night out with the boys.”

“This is supposed to mean something Roy!” Pam held up her engagement ring, so it was right in front of his face. “It’s supposed to mean you’ve promised to be with me and only me for the rest of your life! To not look at any other women!”

“So, I can’t go have fun with my friends? Is that what you’re saying?” Roy’s voice had some fire in it.

“If it means doing something I’d be uncomfortable with, yes!” Pam yelled back. “Did you even think about how I might feel if you went to a place like that? Did it ever cross your mind that I wouldn’t want you lusting after some silicon filled bimbo?”

“Fine!” Roy rolled his eyes. “You want me to say I screwed up? I screwed up. It was one time. Jeez you’re really getting all bent out of shape about this.”

In a flash the thoughts she’d been having for the past week raced through her mind. The anger left her voice, only to be replaced by regret.

“It hasn’t been just one time Roy. It was the time you spent the money we saved for the wedding on wave runners for you and Kenny. It was all the times you’ve chosen your friends over me. It’s how you won’t lift a finger to look at a date for a wedding. It’s how you almost always just plop down in front of the TV and expect me to serve you dinner when we get home from work. It’s all the times you’ve said no to going to an art gallery with me but will never miss a chance to head to Philly for a ball game.”

“I’m just supposed to abandon my friends? My brother? All so we can walk around some artsy-fartsy museum and stare at the walls? You try doing anything after loading boxes or making deliveries all day long. I need a break because I don’t get to just sit on my ass and just answer the phone all day long!”

The breath caught in Pam’s lungs. She felt her eyes start to mist over. She stared into his eyes and only saw the boy she’d known in high school. Not a man who would fit in the vision she had for her future. She looked at him and felt something break within her. Her right hand reached to her left ring finger and pulled off the small band of gold. Her voice was quiet and thick with pain when she spoke.

“Get out and take this with you.”

She shoved the ring back at Roy who now had a dumbstruck look on his face. A mixture of anger and incredulity worked its way over his face. Wordlessly he shook his head and stomped out of the apartment. The slam of the door echoed off the walls followed by the crash of shattering glass. Looking towards the door, Pam saw what was broken. Glass littered the floor next to a crumpled watercolor painting of plastic flowers. Her knees finally gave out and she sank to the floor as tears poured down her cheeks.