Pam had stayed in the car while Jim rummaged around his trunk then came back with the news. “Who doesn’t have a tire iron?” she teased him. She had her jacket on and he stood with his hands in his pockets as they stood on the sidewalk looking at the flat.
“Hey, it was there when I bought the car,” He said in confused certainty.
“We could call AAA,” she suggested, shrugging a shoulder.
“Do you have your cell phone?” he turned and asked her.
“N-no,” she laughingly said. She’d left it behind on purpose. “Don’t you?”
“Nah,” he shook his head, biting the inside of his cheek, “I can’t figure out where I put it. I guess I left it at home.” He looked around them, “It’s about two blocks to your place, right?” At her nod he looked at her feet and pulled a doubtful face, “You game in those shoes, Beesly?”
Pam drew her arms around herself, hugging her jacket to her. A moonlit walk with Jim!? Her feet be damned. “Um, yeah. I’m good.”
“Alright, then,” he said, sweeping an arm out ahead of him. “Shall we?”
********
They walked in companionable silence for the most part, listening to the sounds of the neighborhood and the occasional sound of traffic. They smiled at each other, every other minute, as though reality kept reminding them what they were doing.
Jim was plenty embarrassed about the tire, but he couldn’t be happier at the turn of events. He looked down at the top of her head as they walked side by side. Tonight had been so great. They way she looked. Their conversations. Their laughter. Her wit, warmth, and attention... He closed his eyes for a moment as he savored the sensations swelling in his chest. …was better than he’d even dreamed.
Pam felt like she had to be glowing with what she felt inside. She’d relished his every story of when he’d been away. All his jokes, his teasing…everything. She felt like she needed to fill up the Jim-sized hole that had been part of her soul since he left. She looked up at him to find his eyes and his smile trained on her once again.
Then she tripped.
He caught her once again by the arms, laughing uproariously as she cursed her shoes. They stood for a moment as Pam found her balance and her pride. “That’s it! I’m afraid I have to check your pedestrian license, Ma’am.” He stuck out a hand, chuckling. “You’re a danger to yourself and others.”
“Shut up!” She yelled, laughing as they resumed walking.
“Here, at least…,” he took her hand and wrapped it around his arm. “There. You see...ballast.” She rolled her eyes, but hung on. They were walking closer now than they had before and she breathed in deep as his scent enveloped her.
“I haven’t heard all your lines yet, you know.” She reminded him as they entered her apartment’s parking lot.
He looked up, squinting his eyes in thought, then shook his head in defeat. “Nope, nuthin’. Sorry. Drawing a blank here,” he said with a grin, repeating her words from earlier.
She took no mercy. “I was promised begging, Jim.” She reminded him archly “Begging and…” she fluttered her hand as she searched for the word. “Ah!” She said excitedly, “Finagling! Which is a stupid word, by the way, but I was promised it.” She crossed her arms in expectation.
They had stopped in front of her door. “You forgot whining.” Jim reminded her helpfully, then bit his lip at her agreed, “Yeah, I want that too”. He shook his head and made an unconvinced sound as he rocked on his feet. “Hmm, I don’t know, Pam. You’re a lot of work.”
“Your lines are fabulous,” she said in amazement. “You must beat women off with a stick.” She dug out her keys but dropped them with a ‘clink’.
“Here.” He bent over to pick them up and his phone fell out of his pocket to clatter on the ground.
There was silence for a moment before he scooped both items off the ground. “Hah,” Jim said feebly, looking at the phone. “Look at that.” He stuck it back in his pocket.
Pam’s mouth was slightly open as she stared at him, her finger pointed at his pocket. “Is that what you meant by ‘finagling’?” She asked weakly. At his bashful shrug she asked, “Did you do the tire, too?” smiling at him widely.
He put his hands up and laughed. “That was all you, Pam.” He shoved his hands back in his pockets. “But…I do have a tire iron.”
He watched her worriedly as she bit her lip and her eyes glistened, then had to quickly take his hands out of his pockets to catch her as she launched herself at his chest.
“I missed you so much,” she said in a waterlogged voice against his chest as his arms wrapped around her.
He held on tight, his own eyes burning as he laid his head on top of hers. “I know, me too.” He rubbed his cheek against her hair as he squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m sorry,” he said raggedly, thinking of all the time they’d wasted.
Pam pulled back to look up at his face. Her face glistened with tears and her nose was all red. She’d never looked so beautiful. He wiped a tear away with his thumb. “Me, too.” She said softly, thinking of all the years past. They stood for a moment looking at each other before Jim bent down.
As their foreheads touched, eyes closing, his other hand swept gently up her back to clasp the back of her neck, while the other remained on her face, sweeping across her cheek again despite the absence of tears.
“Will you go out with me tomorrow?” he whispered, the words hitting her lips as gentle puffs of air.
She couldn’t open her eyes, she realized. They were too heavy. And something seemed to be wrong with her neck, as if the warmth of Jim’s hand had laid waste to all her support muscles. She hung onto his coat as her knees started to go, too. “Yes. But, you didn’t whine,” she pointed out in a whisper.
The hand on the back of her neck gave a slight squeeze in reprimand as his other slid around to cup her jaw. “I’ll try that next time.” He murmured and covered her mouth with his.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim walks Pam home.
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Chapter End Notes:
Next: Jim walks back to his car and Pam sinks against the door.
