Jim had just pulled the freshly washed Subaru into the driveway when his cell phone chirped indicating a new text message. He put the car in park and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
“Oh boy,” he muttered, when he flipped it open and saw that it was not a text but a picture message.
Pam furrowed her brow. “What is it?” she asked.
Jim quickly got out of the car and shoved the phone back in his pocket. “Nothing,” he told her.
Pam followed him to the front door. “Jim, what is it?” She asked again as he unlocked the door and pushed it open for her to go first.
“I said it was nothing,” Jim said, firmly.
“Why won’t you show me?” Pam asked, almost hurt. He never hid any of his phone calls or texts from her. In fact, if she was closer to his phone than he was, he usually just asked her to read the text to him.
“Pam, don’t worry about,” he said. His suit jacket was already off and slung across a chair in the dining room. Loosening his tie, he made his way to the living room.
“Was it a girl?” She asked. She knew that it was ridiculous before she even said it. She never had any reason to believe that Jim would hide anything from her. The last thing she wanted after the day she had was to fight with Jim, but she had also been feeling extremely hormonal these days.
“What??” Jim asked, on the verge of shouting. “Come on. You’re asking me that? Seriously?”
Pam crossed her arms as she stood in the entryway of the living room. “Well, I just don’t understand what you’re trying to hide from me.”
“I’m not trying to hide anything from you, Pam,” he said. “I was trying to protect you from something you won’t want to see.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and tossed it to her. “But you’re obviously not going to let it go so here…. have at it.” He breezed past her and went upstairs to change his clothes.
She opened the phone and saw the same picture Jim saw a few minutes before. It was a message from Michael and it was a self taken picture of him kissing her mom.
XXXXXX
Jim made his way back downstairs in his sweats and a t-shirt. Pam was nowhere to be found but he could see a thin line of light coming from the garage-turned-studio door and his cell phone was sitting on the kitchen table. He wanted nothing more to go into the garage and drag her to the couch with him so he could hold her and kiss her and tell her that they should just go back to Puerto Rico tonight and forget about their first day back at work. Instead, he figured he should just let her be for awhile. He had learned over the past couple years that when she was upset, it only hurt things to keep pestering her or to try and cheer her up. She would come around eventually and it was usually sooner than later.
Since they hadn’t been grocery shopping since they got back from their honeymoon, he decided to order pizza. It was one thing these days that didn’t turn her stomach and he was planning to work on the downstairs bathroom for awhile. That way he could listen for the door at the same time.
When the pizza got there, he knocked on the studio door and opened it slowly. The only thing he could see were her bare feet sticking out from underneath one of her easels.
“I got pizza,” he said. “If you want to eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” was all she said. He knew she was lying. He knew that she had to be starving but he also knew that she was more stubborn than anything else.
“Okay,” he said, tapping the door and pulling it shut behind him.
XXXXXX
Jim’s back was to Pam as she climbed into bed and scooted close to him. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. Jim covered her arms with his and laced his fingers through hers.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“Did you really think that I got a text message from a girl?” He asked.
“No,” she answered, she answered quietly.
“Don’t you trust me?” He asked.
“I do,” she said. “You know I do.”
“I just didn’t want you to have to see that,” he told her.
“Jim, I need you to hold me,” she said, voice shaking.
He rolled over and his arms were instantly around her, pulling her close to his chest.
“You’re gonna have to just try to let it go,” Jim told her. “You know Michael is like a five year old child. The more upset you get, the more he’s going to pick at you. If you just ignore him, he’s eventually going to just give up.”
“I know,” Pam said, quietly.
Jim rubbed her back gently as they laid there in silence. A few minutes later, Pam spoke.
“I really don’t think Michael’s a bad guy,” she said. “It’s just…. It’s my mom. The thought of my mom dating anyone….”
“I always thought that it would be easier if you were older when your parents got divorced, but now I’m not sure that’s the case,” Jim said.
“Me too,” Pam said. “I guess when you’re older, they talk to you about stuff and it’s almost like you have to choose sides. It sucks.”
Jim kissed her forehead and then tilted her chin so she was looking at him. “I guess it’s a good thing that our kids aren’t going to have to worry about that, huh?”
Pam smiled and nodded.
“I want more than one kid,” she told him, after a minute.
“Well, we’ve always talked about more than one,” he said, not sure where she was going.
“But you’re never gonna get me pregnant after this, are you?”
Jim smiled into her hair. “We can always just lock you up for 9 months,” he joked with her.
“Let’s go back to Puerto Rico,” she said.
“Tonight?” He asked. “I’ll start the car, you pack the bags.”
“I promise to try to tone down the crazy,” she said.
“I know you can’t really help it,” Jim reassured her. “Just as long as you know that I’m always on your side. So, if Michael tells me that he’s dating your mom and I don’t tell you right away, or if he sends me a picture of them kissing and I don’t want you to see it…. It’s just because I’m trying to protect you.”
“You’re a good man, Jim Halpert, but you can’t protect me from everything,” she told him.
“I can try,” he said, hugging her tight. “I just want you to be happy. Always.”
“This makes me happy,” she told him, stroking his cheek with her thumb. “Your arms around me. That ring on your finger. Our baby.” Jim kissed her gently. “You know what would really make me happy though?”
“What?” He asked, his forehead against hers.
“Food,” she said, a smile slowly spreading across her face.
“I knew you were hungry!” Jim laughed. He sat up and pulled her so she was sitting up with him. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go get you some cold pizza.”
Sarah Kiacomesin is the author of 6 other stories.
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