She threw open the doors and sprinted into the emergency room, looking for Kelly. She found her, sitting in the corner, a pile of tissues on the table next to her.
“Kelly!”
Kelly looked up as Pam maneuvered around the room to her. Kelly stood up and hugged Pam, crying into her shoulder.
“Have you heard anything yet?” Pam was doing her best to not sound completely scared shitless, but she doubted she was succeeding.
Kelly pulled back and wiped her eyes. “No, nothing. Something about family only and…” Kelly froze and Pam watched her eyes widen. “Oh thank God!” Kelly screamed as she vaulted across the room. Pam turned slowly and saw Ryan appear through the doors, a sling across the left arm. Kelly walked up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He slid his right arm around her waist and leaned his head down into her shoulder. Pam swallowed the large lump in her throat as the doors opened again and Jim appeared on crutches, his right ankle wrapped up and a bruise appearing on his right cheek.
Pam smiled and walked across the room. She wanted to throw her arms around him, but she stopped short when she saw the distant look in his eyes. They hadn’t talked to each other at all after the casino night. He had started disappearing during his lunch hour and spent all day on the phone. He wasn’t talking to her, or acknowledging her existence, but his sales had sky rocketed and he seemed to be single handedly saving the branch from closing down. He didn’t even say goodbye before he left for his trip – no smile, no wave, no voice mail, nothing.
She watched the clock that morning, knowing what time his flight was due to leave. When the clocked clicked over to 10:15, her heart felt like it broke. With each turn the clock made, the pain got worse and worse and she knew why. She had known it when he kissed her – hell, she was pretty sure she had known it long before then, but she finally gave into it that night when she ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer.
The feelings overpowered her and she bolted, spending the rest of the night drunk at the makeshift bar till Angela finally took her home. And, that was it. Roy wasn’t there when she got home, but she could have cared less. She had vivid dreams about Jim and that kiss that night and she knew when she woke up the next morning that she couldn’t marry him.
They parted as amicably as they could. Pam tried to tell Jim, but struggled to find the words, not that she had much of a chance to talk to him. He would leave the room as she entered. She would come back from her break or the bathroom to find that the jellybeans on her desk had been raided, but he never bothered to look at her. The day he left was the day she made the official announcement that the wedding was off. She never told anyone exactly why, but she was sure that most of them knew.
She looked him up and down, keeping the tears at bay. This was the first time she had seen him in over two weeks and it felt like heaven.
“Are you alright?” she managed to choke out.
“Fine. It’s just sprained” he said coldly, looking over her head, across the room, at Ryan and Kelly, anywhere but at her. Pam looked down at her shoes, scuffing the right toe across the line in the floor.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. She looked up at him. “Kelly called and told me that you were…” she swallowed her tears as best she could. “She said that there had been an accident and I just thought that…”
“Oh” he said, looking down at his cast.
“I just wanted to make sure you were alright” she said as quickly as she could, before she lost her nerve.
“Ok then” he said, sighing.
“Jim, you want a ride?” They both looked over at Kelly, who was holding up her keys.
“Yeah, I guess I kind of do.” Jim pushed forward a little when Pam jumped in front of the three of them.
“There’s not room in your car of Jim and…. I’ll take him.”
“Pam, you don’t have to” he said roughly. She looked up at him, her eyes bright. “I want to. Please, Jim.” He looked down and just nodded. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just go.”
TBC
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© 2006-2023 More Than That | Skin created by Kali
© 2006-2023 More Than That | Skin created by Kali