“In the fridge, Pam. Could you bring me one, too?” Jim called after her.

For the first few months, he’d done everything for her, as if he were afraid that one less-than-chivalrous moment would make her second-guess herself, make her rewind to “We’ll always be friends.” It had all been very sweet, but she had to admit she liked making herself at home in his apartment, padding into his kitchen in her socks on a Thursday night to grab a Coke from his fridge before they settled on the couch to watch a movie.

It was ironic, because she’d gone through so many domestic motions for Roy for so many years, and she couldn’t remember ever feeling the happiness that she felt in the small proprietary action of getting a soda from Jim’s kitchen. She’d been with Roy for so long that she’d gotten used to the idea of unexciting love; she’d forgotten there could be more—or convinced herself there couldn’t. But after six months with Jim, it still felt like those first giddy days of “I have a boyfriend,” of putting a hand on his knee while he drove, of linking her fingers with his in line at the theater and thinking, “Other girls are looking at him, and he’s mine.” She somehow didn’t think she’d ever get used to it, and that was just fine with her.

She opened the refrigerator door and froze. There was no Coke. There was no milk, no eggs, no salad dressing or orange juice or bacon bits of indeterminate age. Jim’s refrigerator contained only one item: a plate holding a perfectly-molded dome of green jello. Suspended in the jello was a diamond ring.

She put her hand to her mouth as she felt Jim come into the kitchen and lean against the counter behind her. She didn’t know what would happen if she looked at him, because her throat already felt tight and tears were welling up in her eyes. The jello blurred.

“You’ve never jelloed my stuff before,” she observed softly.

He smiled behind her. “In point of fact, Beesly, I still haven’t. Technically, it’s not yours yet.” He lowered his eyes to the floor, slid one foot in front of the other nervously. He noticed a grape that had rolled between the sink and refrigerator.

“Halpert,” she said, turning.

“Yeah?” Jim answered, raising his head.

A small laugh escaped her as a tear dropped onto her left foot. “No, I mean you’re going to have to start calling me ‘Halpert’ instead of ‘Beesly.’” She tilted her head up and slid her gaze to his face. Even though it was clear what he was asking, her heart raced at the boldness of her answer, as if she didn’t truly believe the facts laid before her: a ring in jello, her best-friend-turned-boyfriend looking at her with hope blazed across his face.

“Really? So you’ll…really?” he stammered.

She fell in love with him all over again. “I never could say no to jello.”

- - - - - -

Two hours later they lay on the couch, Dazed and Confused having ended without them noticing. The room was bathed in the blue glow of the television and Pam was almost asleep, Jim’s arms around her. Her left hand lay on her stomach, and Jim kept sliding his fingers over it, absent-mindedly turning her ring from side to side.

“Hey, if I start calling you ‘Halpert,’ what are you going to call me?”

Pam laughed, a low and sleepy sound. “Um…I was thinking of ‘Jim Dear.’”

“Interesting choice,” Jim said thoughtfully. “Do we have to get a cocker spaniel?”

“Nope,” she said on a yawn.

Jim kissed the top of her head. “Jim Dear it is.”