He thought he was seeing things.  There was no way that she could be standing there, staring at him.  As he stood up, she took off and he knew she was real.  “Oh my god” he said, running around tables.

“PAM” he screamed as he pushed through the restaurant door.  He looked up and down the street, searching for her.  He took a couple of steps to the edge of sidewalk when he saw her car backing out of a parking spot.  “PAM” he yelled again, running in the direction of her car.  She drove away from him as he stood in the middle of street, watching her.  He finally moved when a car honked at him.  He slowly walked back to the restaurant and found Janine waiting for him right outside.

“So, that’s the reason you’ve been so sullen since you’ve been here?”  Jim just nodded his head. 

“What’s her name?”

“Pam.  She’s… she’s the receptionist at in Scranton and we… but she’s engaged.”

Janine put her hand on his arm.  “Jim, as a woman, let me tell you what – she wouldn’t have come all this way to find you if she was still engaged.” 

“Really?”

“Trust me.  She’s here for a reason and I would bet my entire bank account on it not being because she needs to know where to send your wedding invitation.”

He grabbed her hands.  “Janine, I’m sorry.  I need to…”

She just nodded.  “Go, its fine.  I completely understand.”  He smiled at her.  “You are the best.  Oh… I should at least get dinner.”

Janine shook her head.  “Don’t worry about it.  Just go.”  He dropped her hands and jogged over to his car as Janine went back inside.

+++

“Son of a bitch” she screamed, tears running down her face.  She hit her third red light in as many minutes and she couldn’t take it anymore.  “What was I thinking?” she said to herself as she slammed her hands on the steering wheel.  The car behind her honked and she looked up to see a green light.  She knew she needed to get off the road.  She pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot and pulled her cell phone out of her purse.  She scrolled through the numbers until she found the one she wanted and hit dial.  “Mom…” she said, sobbing.

+++

Julie Beesley hung up the phone, shaking her head.  Pam wanted to drive home immediately, but Julie convinced her daughter that it was too late and she was too upset to be doing that drive right now.  She told her to go back to the hotel, get some alcohol and some sleep and come home tomorrow.  She could only shake her head as Pam told her about seeing Jim on a date and how he looked like he was happy and having fun.  Pam swore that he was over her, that she had missed her chance, but Julie wasn’t as sure.  The few times she had been to the office, she had seen the way Jim looked at her – Roy had never looked at her daughter like that, not even when they had first started dating.  Pam didn’t want to hear it, though. 

“It’s what I get.  I took him for granted for so long… I deserve it.”  Julie could only listen as her daughter cried.  Julie finally hung up after 45 minutes, after Pam had promised to go to the hotel and get some sleep.

As she set the phone down on the table, it rang again.  “Hello?”

“Um…. Mrs. Beesley… yeah, this is… this is Jim Halpert… umm…”

“Hi Jim.  How’s Stamford?”

“Oh… it’s… well… ok, I guess.  Ummm… I was just wondering… I mean, I’ve been trying to get a hold of Pam and…”

“The phone kept going to voice mail?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, she called her, quite upset.”

“Oh god.  It wasn’t… I swear, it wasn’t anything.  She was just…”

“Jim, I’m not the one that needs to hear this, you know that, right?”

He sighed.  “Yeah, but now she’s not answering her phone and…”

“She’s at the Marriott.”

“What?”

“The Marriott.  The only one in Stamford.  She’s there.  Not sure which room, but…”

“Oh God, Mrs. Beesley… I just…”

“Jim, you want to get off the phone now, maybe?”

“Yeah, absolutely.  Thanks, Mrs, Beesley.”

“Oh Jim?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t ever want to hear my daughter crying like that again, understand me?”

“Completely.”

“Good.  Have a good night.”

Jim snapped his phone shut and threw the car into gear.

+++

“Another Tom Collins, miss?”  Pam just nodded her head.  She slouched further into the couch in the back of the lounge.  The place was mostly empty since it was still relatively early for a Saturday night, but then, there weren’t very many people in the hotel this weekend, so she was taking solace in the emptiness of the bar while she got drunk.

She had spent about 20 minutes in her room, but she felt like the walls were closing in on her.  She couldn’t breathe.  Every time she stopped moving, the silence took over and all she could see was Jim and the blonde, sitting there, smiling at each other.  She tried the TV, but the only thing worth watching was Legally Blonde and she just couldn’t bear that, not tonight.

She leaned her head back against the cushions and listened to the bad piano music coming from the front of the lounge.  She heard her glass hit the table.  “Thanks” she said, not opening her eyes.  She continued to listen to the music, but she felt like she was being watched.  She tried to ignore it, but she couldn’t.  She finally opened her eyes and lifted her head off the back of the couch to find warm green eyes seated across from her.  She thought that maybe she had fallen asleep, so she rubbed her eyes, but they were still there, twinkling at her.

“Hi” Jim said, taking a drink from his beer.

TBC…