The Post-It note had been burning a hole in Jim's pocket for nine days.

He took it out every night to look at, to see if there was something hidden in the penmanship, and every night he came up with nothing and thought about throwing it away again. Every morning he put it back in his pocket because Jim Halpert just wasn't a man who could give up on hope.

Last night he had been close to calling. He had the phone in his hand, had dialed all the way to the last digit, but hung up before he could finish. He had been so determined to get over Pam, so why did her visiting Scranton change that? She hadn't come for him. She had probably come to visit family and had spoken to Phyllis as a courtesy and then taken Phyllis up on her invitation to the play as another courtesy. It had nothing to do with him. A woman who was trying to make her marriage work wouldn't fly across the country just for some dope who was carrying the brightest torch for her.

He put the Post-It note on his night stand and hoped he wouldn't be in love in the morning.

Unfortunately, he woke up still in love with Pam Beesly. He sighed and put the Post-It note in his pocket, where it would mingle with lint and spare change for another day.

When he got to the office, he was grateful that Abby seemed to have given up on trying to talk sense into him. She just smiled, gave him his mail and told him to prepare to lose another game of tic-tac-toe.

He went into the kitchen to put his lunch in the refrigerator and make a cup of coffee. While he was waiting for it to brew, Abby came into the room carrying a textbook.

She opened the textbook and set it on the counter. She flipped through the pages and said casually, "So, Pam is back in Scranton for good, huh?"

"What?" Jim asked casually. He eyed the girl warily. She was good - almost too good. He made a mental note to kill her psychology professor. "Where'd you hear that?"

"I spend almost all of my lunch breaks with Kelly and Phyllis," Abby said and looked up from her textbook. "Between the two of them, I know everything that goes on or went on in this office. I'm just wondering - will Pam want her job back?"

"I don't think so," Jim said. "She's moved on."

"Hmm," Abby mumbled. She flipped through more pages in her textbook. "Well, if she's moved on, why would she come back to Scranton, right? And why would she tell Phyllis over lunch that she was going to house-sit for her aunt for the rest of the year? Shouldn't she be in California, doing whatever it is one does when they've moved on? I guess it just seems curious. I mean, if she's not back for this glamorous job... whatever could she be back for?"

"There's probably nothing for you to get excited about," Jim said. "She made it painfully clear in the past that she's not interested in your job."

Abby sighed and turned the page. "You're probably right. She's probably making tons of money selling scrap gold, 'cause Phyllis said she's not wearing her wedding ring anymore."

"Well, that doesn't... I mean, it's just weird," Jim said. He hoped he sounded noncommittal, but he knew that by this point Abby knew him better than that. "She was really committed to that marriage. Just doesn't make sense, is all."

"Sometimes," Abby said and looked up from her textbook, "even things that don't make sense... make sense. I mean, there's a reason for everything, isn't there? Like, freshman year I didn't get into the bio class I wanted and that sucked. The only class that fit into my schedule after that was Psych 101 and it turned out that I loved it. Changed my major because of that class. It was supposed to happen that way, you know? What's that quote? 'Sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together.'"

Jim nodded and went to the door. He stopped and turned around. "Hey, Abby, thanks. That was pretty good, I give you credit... except that the book you're pretending to read is upside down." He smiled to himself and went to Michael's office.

"Slim Jim!" Michael said when Jim entered the office. "What can I do ya for, buddy?"

"Actually, I'm... I'm not feeling so well," Jim said. "I think I'm coming down with something. I thought I'd be okay to come to work, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it through the day."

"Oh, God," Michael said. His face sunk. "Are you okay? Do you need a doctor? I will take you to the hospital. I know a guy. Or I could take care of you, huh? Sit on your couch, nap, eat soup, order some 'za if your tummy can handle it - we'd have a great time."

"No, no... no," Jim replied. "I think what I need is to just go home and go to bed. I'm sure it's just a 24 hour thing. No need for you to come anywhere near my house."

Michael nodded. "Okay, Jim Beam, whatever you say. Take the day off. Feel better."

"Thanks."

Jim left Michael's office and collected his things. He took his jacket off the coat rack and slipped it on.

Abby sat at the reception desk, pretending to be very interested in what was on her computer screen. Jim slapped his hand lightly on the desk and she looked over.

"Hey," he said, "you're good. If you don't get that diploma, it's a crime, okay? A crime."