She looked at her favorite painting. She'd made it after Jim had left and she'd decided to call off her wedding to Roy. The colors were bold; this was no painting that would be displayed at a Holiday Inn. It showed a field of sunflowers in a thunderstorm. In the background were two birds, one white and the other brown; both were flying away from the artist.

She wondered what Jim would think of it.

Jim arrived shortly after the showing began. She saw him ambling towards her and couldn't hold back a smile. "So, I finally get to see fancy new Beesly's art. I hope you know that I'm a tough audience. I was something of an artist in my younger days, you know."

"Really?" Pam asked.

"Oh yes," Jim said. "Mixed media, finger paint and macaroni sculpture, that kind of thing."

"I'm sure you were something," Pam said with mock seriousness.

"Yes," Jim said before his face broke into an exaggerated frown. "But then I had a paste addiction problem, had to give it up. You know how it is."

"Paste addiction claims a lot of young artists," Pam agreed. "In fact, I think..." She stopped as she saw that Jim's attention had been diverted by her painting. The painting.

He looked at it for almost a minute, not saying anything. Then he backed up a couple of steps, still silent.

Finally, just as Pam was sure she was going to scream, he said, "That was last summer, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. So, what do you think."

Jim pointed to the white bird. "That's the wedding, right?" She nodded but he never looked at her. "And is that Roy or is it me?" he asked, pointing to the brown bird.

"You."

"I'm sorry I left you," Jim said softly. "It must have been so hard."

"If you hadn't, I don't think I could have called off the wedding," Pam admitted. "After I did, I missed you so much more than I missed being with Roy. That's when I knew I'd made the right decision. I had to try and make myself happy."

"That's why it's a field of sunflowers." Jim guessed.

"Exactly, I knew that getting to my dreams might be tough, but I was determined to get there." She was surprised that after all this time, Jim was still able to understand her so completely.

"It's beautiful," Jim said, trying to keep from sounding too emotional.

Pam started to say something, but some of her classmates interrupted. She turned to introduce them to Jim, but he was gone. She had a steady stream of people coming by for the next half hour. She tried to talk to each person, but she was upset that Jim had abandoned her. She remembered Roy doing the same thing when she was in high school.

Then she saw Jim. He was sitting in a corner watching her. When he saw that he'd been found out, he got up and walked back to her.

"Why did you leave," she asked.

"Because this is your thing. You don't have to take time out to introduce me or make sure I'm having a good time. I just wanted you to be able to enjoy yourself. Besides, it was fun to see you like this. I made up dialogue for the people that dropped by. Like that lady with the shawl, she was offering to tell your fortune in return for an oil painting of her cats."

"She was actually very complimentary," Pam said. "She liked my brush strokes."

"Which is why she selected you to pain Mister Whiskers," Jim kidded.

Pam pretended to hit him in the shoulder but held on to his arm as more people came by. After they walked away, Pam said softly, "I thought you'd left."

"Never," Jim whispered back as he let his arm go around her waist.