At six o'clock, Pam emerged from the bedroom wearing a dress that made Jim regret not coming to California sooner. It was a strapless black and cream V-neck with a satin cream-colored ribbon tied around the waist.

Jim rubbed the back of his neck and tried not to stare.

"Does this look okay?" she asked as she put her earrings in. "It's a nice place, so I don't want to look like a bum."

"You definitely lack any and all bum qualities," Jim said. "You look really beautiful. I'm the bum if anyone is."

"You look beautiful, too," Pam said with a grin. She slipped on a pair of black high heels. "Very GQ, I promise. Now, let's go. We can't waste time stroking your precious male ego. Maddie is a very punctual person."

Jim gestured for Pam to lead the way and followed her out of the house. When they reached Maddie's front door, Jim let out a breath. It felt like the day of his senior prom when his date ushered him around to various relatives' homes. He could only hope that Maddie didn't hate him as much as his prom date's grandmother had.

Pam knocked on the door before slowly pushing it open. She poked her head in and yelled out for Maddie. The older woman came from the kitchen, zipping her purse as she made her way to the door.

"Where is he? Where is he?" Maddie said excitedly.

Pam laughed and pushed open the door so Maddie could see Jim.

Maddie stopped and gave Jim a once over. "So, the infamous Jim! My, you're a handsome boy. If I was 10 years younger, you'd have a real problem on your hands."

Maddie wasn't exactly what Jim had been expecting. She was shorter than Pam and in great shape for someone who claimed to be 78. Her hair was perfectly done and her pink toenails perfectly complimented the cardigan she was wearing. Pam had used the word 'spirited' to describe her and Jim could see that radiating in her smile.

"Nice to meet you," Jim said with a smile. He reached out to shake Maddie's hand.

"Oh, and such a grip," Maddie exclaimed. She stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind her. She winked at Pam. "They sure know how to make 'em in Pennsylvania."

"I could get used to all these compliments," Jim said and held a hand over his heart.

Pam placed her hand on Jim's forearm and shook her head. "Look what you've done, Maddie. I can practically see his head swelling before my very eyes."

Maddie looked from Jim's smiling face to Pam's shining eyes and shook her head slowly. She sighed and said quietly, "Oh, Pam."

Pam blushed and crossed her arms over her chest. She cleared her throat, hoping that Maddie would save any embarrassing observations for later. "Well, we should probably get going. Don't want to miss our reservation."

Dinner had gone exceptionally well, ending with Maddie declaring Jim her long lost son. Maddie loved hearing Jim and Pam's stories about Scranton, especially Michael and Dwight, who she was convinced couldn't possibly be real. Maddie told stories of her own, mostly about Hollywood because she knew how much Pam loved those, but she also decided to tell a new story: how she met her husband Henry.

"It was a few days after the Korean war ended," she told them, "and I was working in a diner in Los Angeles as a waitress, because even back then that's what you did when you were calling yourself an actress. It had been a real hell of a day and there was only fifteen minutes left in my shift. I just wanted to go home and relax, and what do you think happened? A bus full of returning soldiers pulls up and they all start piling out. I naturally tried to sneak out the back door, but the fry cook caught me and ratted me out - the bastard. I was stuck there for hours taking care of those guys. Now, I didn't mind really - they all deserved a lot more than the awful food in that joint. I wasn't allowed to leave until all of them were gone and it got to be midnight and there was one of them left, just sitting at the counter drinking coffee, and I couldn't leave until he shoved off."

Maddie paused to call the waiter over and order three pieces of the blueberry cheesecake.

When the waiter left, she continued, "Anyway, I wasn't too pleased as you can imagine. I went over and sweet as pie asked him, 'Hey, fella, I'm trying to clock out. You mind leaving?' He said no! I was getting huffy at this point and I demanded to know why and his exact words to me were 'Well, I've been sitting here all day trying to think of a nice way to ask you out to dinner and haven't come up with anything yet.'"

"Did you go out that night?" Pam asked.

"Sure as hell didn't," Maddie said with a laugh. "I told him I wasn't interested and he left. I thought that was that, but it turned out he was a local boy. He came to that diner almost every day just to talk to me. After a month, I decided he was pretty sweet and all, so I gave him a chance. Well, we got married two years later and George was born soon after that. Persistence pays off. I had a nice little life going on for a while there."

"What happened?" Jim asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Vietnam," Maddie answered. "I told him not to go, but do you think he listened? They sent him over in late '64 and in mid-'65 he came back in a box."

Maddie took a sip of wine. "I tried dating after, but... well, there's no going back once you've found the one."