One more hour. One more hour and then school would be out and winter break would begin. One more hour and he and Pam would have two entire weeks to be together without sneaking around or holding anything back.
To say he was excited was an understatement, but he also felt a twinge of nervousness. For the past five years, his family had spent three days over Christmas at their family cabin in the Poconos. This year, he desperately wanted to invite Pam but he wasn’t sure how or when to do that and if she would be against spending three days with his family. Even though the Halperts lived just outside of Scranton, Pam still hadn’t met them. Most of Jim and Pam’s time away from school was spent making up for the time they couldn’t be together during the week and if he was being selfishly honest, he wasn’t quite ready to share Pam with anyone else yet, even his family.
But his mom and sister had been pestering him ever since he told them both about Pam, and they were dying to meet her. He was certain they would love her, because how could they not? He just wanted to make sure the timing was right.
The bell rang and his final class of the day practically sprinted out of his classroom to start their winter break. He rushed himself to clean and pack up his things to leave, the idea of spending days on end uninterrupted with Pam as his propelling force. Sometime during his last class period he had made the definitive decision to ask Pam that night if she would like to spend Christmas with his family.
He put his coat on and slung his bag over his head and onto his shoulder, then walked across the hall to the art room. Pam had her back turned to him as she washed paint brushes at the sink. He leaned his head against the doorframe and took a moment to simply watch her. It amazed him how much he loved her. How something as simple as her mannerisms and movements sent a warmth through him.
“I’m heading out, Beesly,” he said, trying not to startle her.
She jumped anyway. It was something he found so endearing, how she always got so lost in her own thoughts that she became such an easy scare. He chuckled as she picked up the paintbrushes she just dropped in the sink.
“Okay. I’ll, uh, see you later?’ she asked him with a smile.
“Definitely. Have a good break,” he said with an extremely overexaggerated wink that was met with a smile and an eye roll.
But he really did hope it would be a good break.
******
Around 5:30 that night, Jim heard a knock on his door, followed by the familiar creak of the hinges opening. He loved that she felt comfortable enough to just walk into his apartment instead of waiting for him to answer it. He met her in the entryway and gave her a tight hug and soft kiss. She had a brown paper bag in her hand.
“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to it.
She held it close to her chest and raised her eyebrows. “You’ll find out later.”
“Rude.”
“You won’t be saying that once you know what it is,” she called over her shoulder as she walked past him into the living room.
He joined her on the couch and she shimmied her way under his arm to rest her head on his shoulder. “Where’s Mark?” she asked.
Mark was Jim’s roommate that he had gone to college with. They were in the same teaching program and ended up getting hired in the same school district after graduation. Mark taught history at the Jr. High near their apartment, so it worked perfectly to room together and split the rent.
“Oh, he already went home to Chicago for the break. Left like an hour ago.”
She turned her face up and buried it in his neck. “Oh, did he, now?” she murmured against the stubble on lower jaw, throwing her leg over his lap. He laughed and kissed her forehead.
“There’s plenty of time for that later, Beesly. I actually wanted to ask you something, though.”
Pam sat up, and crossed her legs up underneath her on the couch. She pushed her hair behind her ears and looked at him. “Yeah?”
“So...my family has a cabin in the Poconos. For the past few years we have spent a few days over Christmas there…”
“Please tell me you want me to come,” she interjected.
He laughed, taken aback. “Well, I mean, if you want--”
“I want to,” she grinned.
Still a little shocked, he smiled. “Okay, then. We usually head up on the 23rd. Does that work?”
She kissed him. “Sounds perfect. My parents are actually going to Europe over Christmas and Penny is spending the holiday with her fiance’s family. I was going to ask you tonight if you would keep me company this year, and the Poconos sound much better than my condo.”
He couldn’t stop smiling. That was a much simpler conversation than he had planned, but now that he knew she was coming to the cabin, he wondered why he ever thought she wouldn’t. She fit so perfectly in every other aspect of his life, so why would this be any different?
They ordered Chinese and turned on It’s a Wonderful Life. Pam mindlessly stole the cashews from his meal, as usual, and he took her broccoli. They finished eating and both kicked their feet up onto the coffee table as Pam rested her head on his chest in familiar fashion. Jim glanced out the living room window to see that the snow they were expecting this weekend had gently begun to fall and he smiled, rubbing small circles on Pam’s shoulder. Simply put, it felt magical. Christmas had always been his favorite time, but this year was sure to be the best one yet.
The movie ended and Jim began cleaning up the takeout boxes and dishes from the coffee table. As he placed their wine glasses in the sink, he felt Pam’s arms tightly wrap around him from behind. He twisted around and placed his hands on either side of her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what?”
She closed her eyes and let out a contented sigh. “For making me so happy.”
He leaned down and grazed his lips against hers. “My pleasure,” he whispered against them with a smile before kissing her gently. She briefly sank into the kiss, but then pushed against his chest and looked up at him.
“I want to show you what’s in the bag I brought but you need to wait five minutes before you come upstairs.”
He pouted. “Fine, I’ll try.”
She scurried off to the entryway, grabbed the bag, and ran up to Jim’s bedroom. Four minutes later (he tried his best) he cracked the door and his mouth dropped open.
On his bed was Pam, dressed in nothing but his argyle sweater. It fell just above her upper thighs and the v-neck dipped halfway down her chest. She eyed him seductively.
“I may have stolen something out of your closet.”
Words, his specialty, were failing him. He couldn't seem to muster anything coherent.
He walked over to the bed and silently crawled over top of her as she laid back against his pillows, her curls perfectly spreading across them.
Searching her eyes, then glancing down, he smiled. “This looks much better on you,” he said, his voice low and husky.
She ran one of her legs up his thigh and wrapped it around him. “This isn’t what was in the bag,” she whispered against his ear. She grabbed his hand and ran it under the sweater until his fingers felt something lacy and a groan escaped from deep in his throat.
“You know,” he breathed, “I have a feeling this would actually look much better off of you.” He ran his other hand underneath the wool fabric.
The sweater hit his bedroom floor.
He was right.
**********
The moonlight peeked through the curtains, glowing softly off the snow outside. Jim stirred as he felt Pam’s arms wrap around his middle and she pressed her lips between his shoulder blades. He rolled over and put his hand on her waist and his forehead against hers, barely able to open his sleepy eyes.
“Hey,” he muttered drowsily. “What are you thinking about?”
She stroked his hair. “I want to tell people about us.”
He opened his eyes wider and searched hers for a second before responding.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
He rubbed his eyes quickly and nodded. “Yeah. We can tell Jan when we get back from break. And then we can tell Kelly Kapoor to ensure everyone finds out the same day,” he smirked.
She chuckled and then her face turned serious again.
“Are you sure?”
He ran his finger along her furrowed brow and kissed her softly. “I am the luckiest person to have you and it’s about time I shouted that from the proverbial rooftops.”
Her face lit up and she pulled him closer. “Just the proverbial ones?”
He shrugged. “Well, it just snowed. Probably kind of slippery up there.”
She let out a small laugh and brought her lips to his again. “Okay, I’ll settle for proverbial.” She stroked his cheek with her hand. “I love you, James Halpert.”
“I love you too.” He dropped his brow in mock confusion. “Wait, what was your name again? P...Patrica? Penelope? I have to know so I can shout it from the rooftops.”
She playfully smacked him and captured his smiling lips with hers and they settled back into each other.
“You know I’m never going to be able to wear that sweater to school anymore, right?” he said, running his fingers through her hair. “Not with the mental picture of you in it.”
She kissed his chest. “Worth it,” she hummed.
“Definitely worth it.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Kind of a filler chapter to get us to the next one, which will probably be a lot longer.
Thank you for all your incredibly kind responses to this little story of mine. It makes me stay up way too late at night writing new chapters after my kids go to bed, but I love you so much for it. :)
Thank you for all your incredibly kind responses to this little story of mine. It makes me stay up way too late at night writing new chapters after my kids go to bed, but I love you so much for it. :)
Chapter End Notes:
You know I had to bring the sweater back.
