Aftermath

“Dunder-Mifflin, this is Pam.”

Oh. My. God. Jim pulls the phone from his ear and stares at it in shock. He can’t believe he’s been so incredibly stupid. He’s called the switchboard. It’s the first time in four months he’s done that.

“Hello?” Her voice sounds confused by the silence she’s greeted with. “You’ve reached Dunder-Mifflin. Can I help you?”

You made the mistake, just deal with it. Jim takes a steadying breath before he says. “Hey…Pam…"

At the sound of his voice her face turns ashen and she’s lost the capacity to speak.

“I’m…” Jim sighs. “I’m trying to reach Michael.”

“Sure.” She says curtly and places him on hold.

“Pam.” He says desperately, only to have some cheesy music blaring in his ear as a reply.

The line clicks again and he hears her voice shaking. “Go ahead for Michael.”

And just like that…she’s gone.

He pulls the phone away from his ear as Michael bellows. “Jim-in-y Cricket! How’s Connecticut treating you?”

“It’s great, Michael.” Jim replies with a roll of his eyes. Some things never change.

“Good, good.” His voice fills with concern as he asks. “No more talk of downsizing then, huh?”

Jim shrugs and leans back in his chair. “You never know. I’m just taking each day as it comes.”

“That’d be something. I mean if you moved all the way over there and then lost your job. That would be…pretty tragic.” His voice softens as he adds. “Almost as tragic as you and the you know…”P” situation.”

He can’t do this today. Not after hearing her voice. Jim quickly tries to change the subject. “Michael, I just wanted to go over some quarterly sales reports with you. Did you get my fax?”

He can hear paper shuffling and then the phone clanging, as if Michael tossed it down on the desk. Even though the sound is muffled he can still hear every word.

“Hey there…Schmamela? Is there a fax there for me from a Mr. James Halpert? You know the one and only James Halpert? Formerly of Scranton, now residing in the Stamford office?”

Jim cringes because he can picture her face. Her mouth set in a firm line and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. He can see her sitting there, not moving from her chair, holding the pages out for Michael to grab.

“Thank you very much.” He hears Michael say in a sing-song voice as he picks up the phone again.

“Ouch.” Michael winces as he gazes the numbers in front of him. “This doesn’t look good.”

xoxoxoxoxoxo

There’s a knock on his office door and his head pops up. His mouth forms into a smile on reflex. But today, after talking to Pam, it just doesn’t quite meet his eyes.

“Hey.”

“You’re slacking Jim. It’s almost twelve-thirty. Are you ready for lunch?” A lilting voice asks.

Jim glances at the clock and then back at the woman before him. The thought crosses his mind before he can stop it. She’s so different than Pam.

They are absolutely nothing alike. Becky is only about four inches shorter than him and wears her hair in a swingy blond bob. Today she’s dressed all in black with a shiny pair of red heels. Her eyes are smoky and sultry and there’s nothing at all innocent about her.

And he thinks, not for the first time, that this fact is exactly what he likes about her.

“Sure. I’m ready.” He says as he stands up and follows her out to the park across the street.

They settle on a bench and she looks at him thoughtfully. He’s been so quiet today. She spears a mouthful of lettuce before she says softly. “So. What’s going on? Something happen this morning?”

Jim sighs. She’s nothing if not direct. “What makes you say that?”

She gazes at him thoughtfully. He’s not such a complicated guy. He’s pretty easy to read. “It’s that…look in your eye, and my highly tuned HR skills. You talked to someone in Scranton didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” He nods and takes a bite of his sandwich.

Becky won’t give up easily. “Did you talk to someone or someone?”

“Becky.”

She’s trying to act stronger than she actually feels as she drops her fork and stares at him, her mouth gaping open. “Shut up. You called her?”

“I didn’t mean to…” He protests.

“You. Called. Her.” She says, in complete shock.

He gives her a look. “Again. To reiterate. I didn’t mean to. I was calling Michael, and I dialed the switchboard…accidentally.”

She shakes her head at him. “Nice try. There are no accidents. Paging Dr Freud...”

“Becky.” Jim gives her an exasperated look.

She takes another bite of salad and leans closer to him. “How did she sound?”

How did she sound? Jim thinks to himself. She sounded angry, hurt and pretty much devastated, but as easy as it was to talk to Becky, he wasn’t about to share that. She already knew too much anyway. Ever since that night four months ago, when the whole office went out for drinks to welcome him and many, many, many beverages later he had found himself in her bed.

He had to hand it to her. She’d been a good sport. He was sure for half of the night he’d babbled like a baby about the girl he left behind.

The other half of the night, they didn’t do much talking at all.

The next day, instead of it being awkward, it was surprisingly easy. Turns out Becky didn’t ask for any more than Jim was willing to give her and for that he was thankful. Since then, they’d spent a few more nights together, sans alcoholic beverages. There were times, occasionally, when he almost thought that maybe he could possibly, hypothetically, learn to love her a little.

But it wasn’t so easy. Especially on a day like today, when another woman filled his mind completely.

“She sounded okay.” He replies, unable to keep the sorrow from filling his voice. “She clearly wasn’t happy to hear from me.”

“It’s OK that you miss her.” Becky whispers.

“Yeah.” He can feel himself choking up and he doesn’t want to do it. Not out here, in the park, in broad daylight. He raises hisface to the sky and hopes that she simply thinks that the sun has gotten in his eyes, hence his squinting.

“It really is.” She says then, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze.

“Yeah.” He takes another bite of his sandwich as he looks over at her again. “Thing is, when I heard she had postponed the wedding I was sure she would call.”

Becky has heard this all before. Just recently, much to her surprise, her heart has begun to hurt a bit when he brings it up. “I know.”

“But...” He sighs and rolls his paper napkin into a ball. “…she didn’t.”

He gazes at Becky again, and is struck by the way the sunlight makes her hair glint like gold. Maybe it was time to finally start to move on. Temporarily pushing thoughts of Pam from his mind he leans close and presses a quick kiss to her cheek. “Ready to head back?”

“Sure.” Becky nods as she tosses the empty container in the trash next to her. Despite how tough she can talk she can’t keep the smile from spreading across her face when Jim grabs her hand and they cross the busy street back to the office.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Slumped in a chair in the ladies room, Pam’s head won’t stop pounding. It hadn’t since she’d heard his voice. It was just typical. She thinks with a sigh. Just when she thought she’d gotten stronger the rug was pulled right out from under her.

Again.

She couldn’t deny that she’d been waiting for him to call. She’d been so sure it would happen. Since the day she’d called off the wedding she would go home every night, sit by the phone and will it to ring.

A week went by and she was positively giddy. He had to just be hearing the news. She knew he’d definitely call her now.

Two weeks and she began to think, maybe he’s waiting, and maybe he’s asking to be transferred back to Scranton so he can surprise her.

Three weeks and she began to get nervous. Why wasn’t he here yet? He had said that he loved her. She didn’t understand. Now that she was free she was sure he’d come running back.

Four weeks and she was forced to admit it. Things didn’t go at all like she’d planned. She began to see things the way they really were.

He'd already been gone by the time she’d given Roy his ring back.

He’d already been gone when she moved out and got her own apartment.

She was reminded every day that he was gone when she looked over at his desk and saw Ryan sitting there instead, cringing every time Michael called his name.

She had been so sure that once Roy was out of the picture Jim would be right there waiting for her.

She couldn’t believe she’d been so wrong.