Pam was so happy to see him there, rose-in-yearbook-in-hand. It was true! It was Jim! She hadn’t been wrong, she hadn’t been hallucinating, she hadn’t broken up a ten-year relationship with Roy over a fantasy of nothing. No, she’d broken up with him because she’d discovered first that he hadn’t been actually supportive over all those years (she’d just thought he was because the support from Jim and Scranton was so strong) and second that the two people who had been giving her support were in fact the same person. The person sitting there in a mall Starbucks looking up hopefully at every woman who went by and then drooping a little more each time one of them wasn’t her. Or whatever he thought she was supposed to be. She still wasn’t sure if he knew like she did. Of course, to be fair, she hadn’t really known like she did now until she saw him, even if she’d been incredibly sure. Sure enough to set up this whole prank-like scenario.

Which wasn’t done yet. Because today was not about Roy. For the first time in ten years, nothing had to be about Roy at all. She had pocketed her ring as soon as she left work, so it wasn’t on her finger anymore. She was meeting WScranton8 (a friend she’d known longer than Roy, after all) for drinks. So she wasn’t technically breaking her promise not to tell anyone from work that they’d broken up. It just happened that her oldest male friend was also her coworker Jim, which of course would come as a total shock to both of them. So tonight was not about Roy; it was finally about Pam, and about what made Pam happy. Which, she now realized, had been Jim—or rather, Scranton—for a long, long time.

But just because she loved him (words she hadn’t really let herself think until now) didn’t mean she didn’t want to have just a little more fun at his expense. After all, pranks were a bedrock of their relationship (another word she hadn’t been in the habit of using but which fit so well). He’d forgive her; if anything, it would convince him all the more that they were meant to be together.

Assuming that was what he thought. But she’d become pretty sure over the years that he did—and since she knew now that she was Normal Chick (or at least that if she wasn’t, he had some very odd ideas about Kelly, Angela, or Meredith), she could be pretty definite on that point. So now it was time to have some fun and let Jim in on her best prank ever.

She caught his eye as she stood in line ordering and did her best not to look like she was expecting him. She came over after getting her drink (tea, of course, even from Starbucks) and walked over to him.

“Mind if I sit down?”

He really was adorable when he stammered.

“Um, well, I’m supposed to be meeting…”

“Yes, your internet friend, I remember. So, where is this electronic paragon? I really want to meet the woman who so interests Jim Halpert that he won’t have dinner with me.”

“I said I’d make it up to you. I’m just…it’s not like that, but I don’t want to miss her.”

“Oh that’s right, you don’t know what she looks like. So how is she supposed to tell it’s you?” She looked down and pretended to be surprised by the book on the table. “Oh my god, Halpert, you went with the old rose-in-a-book method? Is that “Oh that’s right, you don’t know what she looks like. So how is she supposed to tell it’s you?” She looked down and pretended to be surprised by the book on the table. “Oh my god, Halpert, you went with the old rose-in-a-book method? Is that your yearbook? Let me guess, she’s supposed to have a rose on too, and the two of you will know each other because of the roses. That’s just adorable. Was it your idea or hers?”

“…Hers.”

“Aw, you two are so sweet. And what’s she going to think, Halpert, when she can’t find your picture in that yearbook?” She pulled his yearbook photo out of her bag. “Should I be giving this back so you can impress your online lady love?”

“Keep it.” His eyes kept darting off her face and towards every woman who walked in. She was sure he hadn’t seen her ring finger yet, and apparently he didn’t really register her hat either. “No returns or exchanges accepted on Secret Santa gifts, you know that.” At that he really smiled at her, a true Jim smile. She returned it full force.

“Thanks, Jim. It means a lot.” She scooted her chair up next to him. “Look, you’re clearly anxious about this. Would it help if I looked with you? Maybe I’ll see a rose you miss, or something.”

“That’s very nice of you, Pam, but…”

“Oh, you’re afraid I’ll scare her away, that if she sees you with someone else she won’t come over. What’s the matter, Halpert, didn’t tell her about me? I’m a little hurt to hear that, I have to say. Didn’t mention her to me, didn’t mention me to her…”

“We’ve mentioned you.”

“And what did you say, Jim, that makes you think she’ll bolt if she sees me here?”

“Nothing bad! We just…talked about you. But she won’t know who you are, and that might…”

“Oh my god, she’ll think I’m Katy, won’t she. She’ll think you brought your girlfriend with you. Unless you told her that you broke up. I guess I’m always the last to know these things.” She smiled at him. “Well, don’t worry, I’ll just move to this table next to you until she comes and keep you company.” She slid over to the next little tabletop, putting their chairs back to back. “Now we can look at our likely candidates and compare notes but no one will suspect a thing.”

He chuckled. “You have an answer for everything, Beesly.”

“I do, Jim, I really do. You should really know that about me, I have the answer to all your questions right here.” She grinned. “Now, are you sure that she hasn’t come in yet? When were you supposed to meet this marvel of the world wide web?”

“Yes, I’m sure she hasn’t come in yet. I’d have noticed the rose, and before you sat down I was sitting here alone with the book out, so she’d have noticed it too. And we were supposed to meet at 7pm, but I’ve been here since 6:45.”

“Nice and early. Good choice. OK, well, if you’re sure she hasn’t come in yet, we need to get that book nice and visible.” She slid it further out on the table and plumped the rose so it was in maximum bloom. “And now. What about that one?” She pointed at a redhead by the milk containers.

“No rose.”

“Maybe she is the rose!”

“She said she’d be wearing it.”

“Maybe she’s like that guy from Silence of the Lambs”

“Hannibal Lecter?”

“No, the other one, the skin one. Maybe she’s wearing that body.”

“OK, that’s officially too creepy to be her.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you of all the possibilities. What about that one?” She pointed at the nervous-looking woman who stood in the doorway scanning the crowd.

“Could be…no, she’s found her someone.” Jim and Pam watched as the nervous woman flung her arms around a somewhat portly man who had arisen from the table two over from theirs.

“Unless he’s also coincidentally carrying a yearbook and a rose and she thinks he’s you.”

“I highly doubt that, Beesly, but ten points for creativity. Next.”

“What about the blonde with the macchiato?”

“No rose, not looking around the Starbucks, and holding hands with the brunette next to her. Next!”

They continued in this vein for two hours, eventually interspersing a normal conversation into their constant evaluation of each woman who walked in. Jim found his heart rising inside him as Pam and he sat back to back, just talking. He was almost feeling OK about Morgan standing him up when Pam brought the conversation back around to his yearbook.

“I think I need to sign your yearbook, Jim, don’t you? After all, I like to think we’d have been friends—maybe even best friends—if we’d met in high school, don’t you?”

“I know it, Beesly.”

“So let me see it.”

He handed over the yearbook. She grabbed it, flipped it open to the last page, where there was fortuitously a large blank space left in the middle. She pulled out a fancy pen from her purse and hesitated for a moment.

“You sure you’re OK with this Jim? Last chance to back out.”

“Just sign the book, Beesly.”

She bent over, wrote a short note, signed with a flourish, and handed the book back to him. He glanced down and read:

“To West Scranton’s #8

Thanks for making senior year the best year it could have been, and every year after it even better. Don’t forget about me when you’re famous, and give me a call sometime. I think you know the number.

Pamela Morgan Beesly.”

His jaw dropped. Could this really be true? He’d hoped it was her. He’d wanted it to be her. Whenever their work stories or personal stories had been parallel; when he’d heard her complain about that first date; even today when she’d asked if she could sit down. He’d longed for it to be her for so long that he couldn’t really believe it was possible. Was it really the truth?

He looked up into her smiling eyes and watched her slowly nod.

He could barely find his voice. “But…the rose…”

She took her hat off and shook out her hair, which tumbled down in curls. He so rarely saw it down, it made his breath catch and he almost didn’t look at the hat in her hand. When he saw the embroidered rose he started to grin. She laughed at him.

“Sometimes you’re just not that observant, Halpert.”

“It’s a failing, I admit. I’m clearly going to have to work on it.”

“I’m happy to be your tutor. For instance, you not only missed the rose on my hat, you missed what’s missing from my hand.”

“What’s missing from…” he looked again at her left hand which held the hat. No engagement ring. No Roy.

“Remember when I told you I broke up with my fiancé? That’s still true.”

“And is this…”

“And is this a date? I don’t know, Halpert, what kind of guy makes a date with a girl and doesn’t notice when she shows up and flirts with him for two hours?”

“You call that flirting? You didn’t even tell me who you were!”

“I told you I’d be the one who came over to talk to the weird guy sitting in the Starbucks with his high school yearbook, didn’t I?”

“I suppose you did.”

“And anyway, I was totally flirting with you. Or did I misunderstand what pranks mean in our relationship?”

“You didn’t misunderstand anything.” His eyes were shining. “Now, I have just one question for you, Beesly—or Morgan, if you prefer.”

“Either one. And I told you, Jim, I have the answers to all your questions today.”

“Can I kiss you now?”

It turned out that was a question he knew the answer to already.