Pam was surprised to get a call from Karen that night.  She told Pam that she had been called into New York for a meeting, but that she’d given her ideas on the novel and the novel itself to Jim.  This was the first time that Karen had acknowledged seeing Jim outside of work and Pam was a little surprised.  She stumbled a bit over her response, but thought she’d been able to cover up the sadness that overwhelmed her.

            That’s it then, she thought when she hung up her cell phone.  Karen and Jim aren’t hiding anymore.  They must be getting serious if they were ready to be officially together.  It made sense, after all.  Karen was great and she obviously made Jim happy.  It even made sense in terms of the novel.  She would set the last chapter in her story in the fall and have all the animals preparing for winter.  Since there would be no warm places for them in the barns, the fox and the mink would leave together in search of the true wilderness.  The canary would stay behind, maybe even return to her cage, too frightened of the wild and the winter to leave the comfort of the farm.  Pam finished a rough draft of the final chapter and half a bottle of wine before she finally went to bed late that night.

            Despite the wine and the lack of sleep, she was in the office early the next morning.  She just wanted to get the conversation with Jim out of the way as soon as possible.  She was certain that Karen would suggest an ending similar to the one she’d already mapped out, that Jim and Karen might even go public that day.  She planned to ask for Karen’s notes as soon as possible, but when Jim arrived, looking solemn and downcast, she changed her mind.  She didn’t have the courage to just uproot that last tiny bit of hope.  Jim was worried about having this conversation, she thought, because he was afraid she’d be hurt or angry or vindictive.  Maybe, if she didn’t talk to him alone today, she could just get the news with the rest of the office.  Besides, she didn’t really need Karen’s notes.  She knew how it had to end. 

            Both Jim and Pam were unusually quiet all day.  Pam made up an errand to avoid being in the break room with Jim at lunch and tried to be sure that she was busy with phone calls whenever it looked like he might approach her desk.  From her vantage point behind him, Pam could see Jim staring at Karen’s desk periodically during the day, lost in thought.  He must miss her, Pam thought.  It was sweet, even if it did make Pam’s heart drop into her shoes.  By 4:30, she couldn’t take it anymore.   She needed to think about something else.  She put the phones on voicemail, picked up her sketchbook and headed into the break room.  She was surprised to hear Jim’s voice from the doorway a few moments later.

            “Hey.”  He leaned against the doorframe, hands in his pocket.  He looked hesitant, as if he was waiting for an invitation to come in.  “Got a minute?  Karen had some ideas about the novel that she wanted me to run by you.”

            “Oh, yeah.  Right.  It was really nice of her to do that, but I think I have the ending.”

            “Really.  Can I see?”  Pam nodded slowly, swallowed and slid the sketchbook across the table.

            Jim flipped quickly through the last few pages.  He looked up, his eyes full of questions.  “Is this the way you want it to end?”

            “I, uh, I just thought it made sense.  I thought it was realistic.”  Pam felt trapped in Jim’s gaze.  He wasn’t looking away and she was beginning to lose herself in the green of his eyes.  “Besides, Karen is great.  She makes you . . . I mean, Karen the Mink makes Jim the Fox happy.  That’s good, right?  I should be happy with that if I really cared about . . . my characters.”

            “Right.”  Jim hesitated, unwilling to make the first move again, but even more unwilling to let the conversation drop.  “The thing is . . . I don’t want to tell you how to write your story, but that’s not how I saw it ending.  Because Karen asked me to read the whole thing again last night and, when I did, I kind of thought it was going somewhere else.”

            “Really?”  Pam made herself look Jim in the eyes, hoping that she would find something different from what she expected there.  “Your opinion is really important to me, Jim.  I mean, you’ve been so helpful on this project  . . . and everything.  I’d like to know what you see happening.”

            “I . . . well, I thought the canary and the fox might have something.  I mean, I thought the canary wanted there to be something.  Did I, umm, misinterpret?”

            Pam flinched at Jim’s choice of words, but kept her eyes focused on his.  “No.  I don’t think you did.  I don’t think you ever did.”

            Jim held Pam’s eyes, covered her hands with his.  “Maybe we can work on another ending.  A happier one.”

            Pam’s heart was beating so hard she thought it would burst out of her chest.  She swallowed the hope that was quickly rising in her.  She had to be sure.  “What about Karen?”

            Jim squeezed her hands gently.  “These are her notes, too.  She knew how it should go before either of us did.  I guess she had the advantage of being able to see the canary and the fox at the same time.  Her meeting in New York is to talk about a transfer.” 

            “How is she?” Pam asked, concern in her eyes.  “I mean, is she going to be okay?”

            Jim’s heart felt even more full.  Pam was worried about Karen.  She had just learned that Karen was out of the picture and, instead of being overjoyed, was worried about how she was doing.  How could he have ever imagined that he could stop loving this woman? 

            “She’s not great, but she’s going to be okay, I think.  At least, she sounded okay when I left her place last night.  Karen is great and I really hate hurting her, but we weren’t going anywhere.  We could never get past the ‘sort of’ seeing each other stage.  Now she knows why.  She’ll find better.”

            Pam kept her eyes focused on Jim, unwilling to let hope overtake her until she was absolutely positive.  “What about you?  Are you going to be okay?”

            “I hope so.  I guess it depends on how this project of yours ends.”

            Pam felt as if she were floating.  As sad as she felt for Karen, she couldn’t stop the hope and joy that were bubbling up inside her or the huge smile that was spreading across her face.  She felt as giddy as she had when she’d thrown herself into Jim’s arms on his first day back in the office.  “You’ve worked almost as hard on this as I have – so our project, not just mine, okay?  And if I’m going to change the ending, I’d better get to work.  I only have the weekend to finish.”

            “Need some help?” Jim asked.  He stood up, his hands still wrapped around hers and pulled her to her feet.  “My weekend is suddenly freed up.  It looks like I have all the time in the world.”

            “Well, you  know what Dwight says – writing is all about research.  And, if we’re going to change the ending, we’ll need to do some research on how that would work.  So I may need all that spare time of yours, if that’s okay with you.”  Pam looked up at him, eyes glistening and smile trembling a little.

            “Definitely.”  Jim pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, ignoring the glass window and all the people working or pretending to work in the office behind them.  Pam rested her head on his chest and sighed happily as Jim buried his face in her hair.  Then he reached up, cupping her face in his hand and raising her chin towards him.  He gently brushed his lips against hers once, twice before resting his head forehead to forehead, nose to nose against hers. 

            “That is more than okay with me, Beesley,” he whispered.  “I wouldn’t have it end any other way.”