“So, where do you see yourself in 10 years?”
It was like David Wallace and corporate and New York had disappeared. He fingered the gold yogurt lid and closed his eyes for a moment. It all came rushing back to him, everything that he had been pushing to the back of his brain for a year.
Flonkerton and paper doves. “I think we broke his brain.” Her sitting on his bed, looking through his yearbook. “I feel God in this Chili’s tonight.” Jinx. A black cat costume. Threat Level: Midnight. Palm reading. “Dwight Schrute Privates.” A brilliant CIA operative prank she had concocted just for him. Legally Blonde. The way her dress felt under his hands. The way her lips felt on his. The look of utter sadness at Phyllis’ wedding. “I called off my wedding because of you, Jim.”
“Jim?”
His eyes flew open and he was back here, in a place he didn’t recognize. A place that didn’t feel right and probably never would.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Wallace. What was the question?”
“I asked you where you see yourself in 10 years.”
And it was out of his mouth before he could stop himself. “With her.”
David Wallace shook his head. “I’m sorry. With who?”
Jim shoved her note and that priceless yogurt lid into his bag and stood up, shocking David Wallace. Jim extended his hand across the desk. “I appreciate the opportunity. I really do. But this… I can’t… this place isn’t me and I’d be fooling myself if I even thought that I could make it work here. Hire Karen. She’s corporate. I’m Scranton.”
David nodded and shook his hand. “You sure?”
Jim just nodded. “More than ever.” David gave him a slight smile and nodded. Jim grabbed his bag off the floor and bolted out of the office, heading toward the one place he had been avoiding for a year.
