Pam laced her fingers with Jim’s and squeezed his hand. They were sitting on American Airlines Flight 479 bound for Kona, Hawaii. As the plane engines fired up and began to blare, Pam looked out her window at the bright lights of the Philadelphia International Airport and a wistful smile crept across her lips.
“Hey, everything okay, Beesly?”
Pam nodded and continued to stare out the window.
“You know, the next time I look out this window and see Philly, I’m going to be Mrs. Pam Halpert.” She turned to look at Jim and her eyes conveyed both excitement and fear.
“It’s all going to be great. You’ll see,” Jim reassured her. “Look, we have 14 hours together on a plane. If by the end of this plane ride you can’t stand me anymore and want to call it all off, I’ll totally understand. We’ll just have to change our reservations to separate huts and make sure our snorkeling times don’t clash.”
Pam smiled half-heartedly. “We’re doing the right thing, right? I mean, not telling our families?”
“Well, I think we are both going to get an earful from both of our mothers, but yeah, I think this is perfect for us. There will be no camera crew, no annoying Uncle Dave getting too drunk and knocking over the wedding cake and, the fact that Michael will be in another time zone is very comforting.” He placed his right hand over top of their joined hands. “It’s just me and you. The way it should be.”
Pam nodded and smiled as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Their hands continued to cling tightly together as the plane taxied up the runway and burst up into the sky. They were off.
The past three weeks had been a whirlwind of planning and packing and secrecy. Everyone knew they were going on the trip, but no one knew they were going to be married. Toby had given them a bit of a hassle when they asked for two weeks off at such short notice, but Pam had promised to watch Sasha the next time he needed a babysitter, which seemed to sway him to agree. Jim had no problem telling his family about the trip and he actually seemed to enjoy the “cloak and dagger” aspect of secretly eloping. He even came up with code words for various aspects of the wedding and dubbed the whole event “Operation Pineapple”. The most difficult call Pam had to make was to her parents. She told them all about the trip and made the activities that were offered at the resort sound exciting, but a little piece of her heart broke at not telling her mother that she was getting married. Pam probably could have told her mom about eloping, but her mom would have definitely told her dad. She knew her dad would not take it well and would probably talk her out of it. Pam’s dad had a way of talking to her that would make her do whatever he wanted. So, it had to be a secret, for now. Jim could see that Pam was struggling with her parents not being there and suggested that they could forget about eloping and simply get married in Scranton. But Pam knew deep down that it was the perfect plan. It was her dream trip and she was marrying her soul mate. Her parents would understand. They would just have to.
The plane ride was very long, but uneventful. There were two connecting flights, one in Dallas and another in Los Angeles. After sleeping, watching in-flight movies, eating rubbery airplane food and playing endless games of hang man and “Would You Rather?”, the plane finally landed in Kona.
The sticky, warm air wrapped itself around them as they stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac of the tiny Kona airport. The sun was blazing in the sky and palm trees were everywhere. They walked into the open-air building of the airport, collected their bags and stopped out front to take it all in.
“Wow,” Jim exclaimed with wide eyes.
“Yah, wow,” Pam echoed breathlessly.
“If the airport is this beautiful, imagine what the resort looks like.”
Pam beamed. “C’mon, let’s get a car. I’m dying to see the ocean!”
The drive to the airport was an adventure in and of itself. The scenery was not at all tropical and looked like it was the setting for a science fiction movie. Jim and Pam stared out the window with amazement as the car wound its way through miles and miles of black lava fields.
“Why do I think that Dwight would love this place? It looks like something out of Star Trek.”
“Pam, what did I say about saying that name on our honeymoon? I thought we agreed on a complete ban. Any more talk like that and I may have to rethink this whole marriage thing.”
“Okay! All right. No more talk of Dw-“
“Ah ah! Zip it.”
Pam giggled and continued to stare out the car window with awe.
As they entered the Kona Village Resort the scenery began to change from black barren fields to lush green trees and shrubs. The resort rests on the shores of Kahuwai Bay and it is surrounded by stunning beaches and black lava cliffs. When they arrived to check in they could barely focus on what the concierge was saying. They were so distracted by their surroundings and so tired from their trip that even signing for their room took effort. Luckily for their weary bodies, the bellhop took them to their bungalow on a golf cart. It was all part of the service and they already felt like VIPs.
Their bungalow, or hale as it’s known in Hawaii, was a rounded, thatched-roofed hut and was right beside the beach. The waves of the ocean lapped against the sand and the sound was soothing and rhythmic. Pam stood outside the doorway of their hale and stared out towards the ocean.
“I have always wanted to see the Pacific Ocean.”
“Well, there it is…aaaand you’ve now seen it, so, are you ready to go now? C’mon, let’s go home. This place is just so below my standards anyways.” Jim’s mouth broke into a wide smile.
“Ha ha. Sooo funny. C’mon. Let’s go inside.”
The inside of the hale was small, but cozy, and the view from the balcony was incredible. The large bed was covered in a bold red and white bedspread that had what looked like oversized red ferns on it. Pam ran her fingers over the pattern, sat down on the edge of the bed and then flopped down on top of the bedspread. Jim followed suit and they lay there together staring at the ceiling.
Jim sighed. “You know, this is the most amazing place I’ve ever seen in my life and my head is trying to convince my body to just take you and make love to you right here and right now…but…my body…so…tired.”
“Mmmm...yah, I don’t think I would turn in a stellar performance right now, either.”
“What do you say we unpack later and just have a little nap?”
“That sounds…”
“Pam?”
Jim turned onto his side and saw that Pam was already fast asleep. He turned on his side and moved right beside her. He got even closer by nuzzling his nose against her cheek and wrapping his arm around her middle.
Their wedding was in two days, but right now, it was time to sleep.
