Pam's heart was pounding in her chest as she carefully turned the corner onto his street. She was a terrible driver. Her palms were sweating and stretching out her gloves. They slipped all over the large wheel. She tried to breathe normally. Her daddy would never forgive her for crashing his new car.

But driving wasn't the only thing getting her nerves. It was only a few blocks and she'd already considered turning around a few times. But when she'd come in that morning to find Mr. Halpert gone and getting a call from him later to say he was quite ill and couldn't make it to work she just felt like she needed to do something. So she'd gone to the market to buy all the ingredients and now she was going to his house to make him dinner. He didn't know that of course, which is part of why she was feeling apprehensive.

The other part, was that her feelings for Jim had taken a sharp turn since Valentine’s day. But those were feelings to be tucked away for now. Because after all, she was engaged to Roy.

She pulled into the driveway as slowly and carefully as possible. She parked behind the Cadillac, seeing as there was another car next to it. She wondered a moment why he might have two cars before going to the trunk to get the groceries. She struggled with the two large paper sacks and started up the walk. A moment before she reached the front door a woman walked out of it. She looked a bit younger than Pam, curly blonde hair, strikingly beautiful. "Hello there" Pam choked out, her body betraying her as her head shouted to run back to the car as fast as possible.

"Hello" the woman replied. Pam suddenly felt very foolish. Of course he had a girl. Did she really expect a young successful man like him to sit at home alone every night?

She started to turn but Jim had seen her through the screen, "Pam?" he called.

She put on her brightest smile and faced the porch, "Oh, hello sir."

He opened the door for her, but she was still frozen on the front walk. Staring at him with her heavy grocery bags and plastered on smile.

He laughed uneasily, "Is there something I can do for you Miss. Beesly?"

"Oh!" she snapped out of it and stepped onto the porch, "I just heard you weren't well, I wanted to come make you dinner."

He looked back into the house, and then back at her. He wasn't sure if he wanted Pam to see this, to see what his life away from the office was like. His mother was a lot to handle, and the last thing he wanted was to scare Pam away.

He'd taken too long to answer, when he looked up from the ground she was already heading to the car, one of the bags on her hip was tearing at the bottom.

He leapt off the porch to chase after her, "Pam! Wait, please."

"I was very stupid to come here." She was fumbling for her keys, the celery on the top of a bag starting to teeter out. Her voice was heavy with impending tears,”I didn't know, that...that girl and...I'm just sorry."

He placed his hand on her arm, "Come inside please, I want you to meet someone." He put his arms out for the groceries, "Please, you went to all this trouble. I can't let you just leave now."

She handed him the bags tentatively. "There. Was that so hard?" He smiled.

They entered the house and Pam was surprised at just how much it felt like a home. She'd expected it to be more like a bachelor pad, big leather couches instead of matching floral printed ones. There were framed pictures on every wall, bookshelves filled with books and knick knacks. To her right was a beautiful dining room with a full china cabinet that stepped down into the kitchen, to the left was an old family photo hung over a small table. Jim ducked into the kitchen to put the groceries down and Pam went to admire the photo. A mother and father, a boy of about seven, another younger boy that she immediately recognized as Jim, and a toddler on the lap of his father.

Jim appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. He sighed heavily, preparing himself for what came next. "Would you like to meet my mother Pam?" he asked quietly.

Of course, the woman from Christmas mass. Pam lit up, "I would love to."

"Alright then," Jim had a sudden urge to take her hand, mostly out of fear. The two of them stepped down into the living room. Mrs. Halpert was in an armchair next to the sofa. She had an afghan draped over her lap and her head was resting on her chin. Jim left Pam in the middle of the room and crouched in front of the chair where she could see him.

"Mother," he spoke softly, "My friend Pam came here to make us dinner. Would you like to meet her?"

"Alright" she said softly. Jim motioned for Pam to come over. He was terrified that she might just run out the door any second. But she knelt right next to him and gently placed her hand over his mother's frail one. "Hello, it's lovely to meet you Mrs. Halpert."

For the first time in months Jim saw his mother smile, "Hello dear."

"I'm going to go start our dinner alright? I hope you're hungry because I'm making my famous chicken pot pie." She patted Mrs. Halpert's hand and went off to the kitchen.

Jim sat on the floor unaware that it was possible to love her any more.

----

Pam was carefully chopping celery and potatoes were boiling on the stove.

Jim came in, "It's been a very long time since anyone has actually cooked something in here. Thank you."

"It's really nothing." She went to the stove to check the potatoes, “Would you happen to have any flour? I didn’t bring enough.”

Jim went to the cabinet, “There should be some around here. I guess you didn’t think you’d be cooking for three.”

“I don’t mind really.” He found some flour and set it on the counter for her, she smiled quickly before turning back to her cooking. She tried her hardest not to sound mean when she asked, “How long have you been seeing her?”

“I’m sorry, seeing who?”

“The woman who was leaving when I arrived.”

“Do you mean Sarah?” he laughed.

Pam scowled at the can of chicken broth she was trying to open using a rather old can opener, “Yes, have you been seeing her long?”

Jim couldn’t believe how incredibly jealous she was getting. She really did care didn’t she? He stepped toward her, “Pam, Sarah is my mother’s caretaker. She’s in terrible shape and I can’t leave her alone here during the day.”

But Pam’s jaw was still tight and her eyes focused hard on the cutting board, “Well she is very beautiful.”

Not as beautiful as you, he wanted to say. But she continued, “I think you should take her out on a date.”

Jim tried to hide the defeat in his voice, “Yes, perhaps I will.” He turned to go, “I’ll be in the other room if you need anything.”

----

Later, the sun had begun to set. Jim helped his mother off to bed. He came back into the living room to find Pam standing near the fireplace, carefully studying the photos on the mantle. The warm glow of the setting sun through the windows was kissing a perfect glow on her skin.

“That dinner was wonderful, really.”

She turned toward him with an odd look on her face, “Did you fight in the war?” she asked quietly.

He went to the sofa and sat with a heavy sigh, “Yes I did.”

Pam was only fourteen when the war began. A lot of boys from her high school were drafted. Her neighbor Mary’s sweetheart had been sent to Asia. She proudly showed Pam her letters, pictures of him in uniform. Pam thought it was the most romantic thing ever to have a hero on the other side of the world, fighting just so he could see you again. The romance disappeared when the reality of it all sank in. Mary’s boyfriend never came home.

Jim followed her glance to mantle where three portraits of men in uniform sat in a row.

“My older brother William, he’s the one on the left,” He began, “He was a pilot stationed in Florida and he shipped out immediately. But I was still too young.” He laughed almost bitterly, “But right on my 18th birthday in ’43 I was on my way to boot camp.”

“Who is that on the right?” she asked.

“That is my baby brother Robert before he went to Korea.”

“You’re just a whole family of heroes aren’t you?”

Pam smiled, feeling an unexpected sense of pride. But she saw the look on Jim’s face, his eyes completely transfixed on the wall. It was the same look her father used to get when people talked about the war. She knew better than to press him with any more questions.

“I’m going to get the kitchen cleaned up now.” She started to leave but Jim caught her hand.

“Thank you for everything Pam.”

“I’m always here whenever you need me.”

She disappeared and he wished desperately that he could tell her that he needed her to stay.