— Shh

—Not yet

—Now You may Speak

This was on the first mug Jim pulled down from the cabinet. A lopsided grin came over his face as he pulled out three more, not paying much attention to what adorned the rest now that the kettle on the stove had gone from a faint rumble to a screaming whistle.

The kettle.

Filled with water.

Water, he thought in disgust.

He couldn’t believe his brother sanctioned the drinking of chocolate water. Growing up, their family always had their hot cocoa made with milk, never water. But the kids insisted, when he made the mistake of posing the question, on cocoa made with water and not milk as he suggested.

He quickly opened two hot chocolate packs with marshmallows, at least Marcie got that right even though the small dehydrated pellets that came in the Swiss Miss were a poor substitution for the Jet-puffed pillows Betsy added when they were young.  He dumped them into two mugs and quickly grabbed the kettle from the stove. At least he and Pam would not be subjected to drinking the offensive chocolate liquid, having coffee themselves.

Vanessa was the first to arrive back in the kitchen, dressed in Snoopy pajamas of course, plopping herself on one of the stools that had been returned to their proper spot in front of the island.

“Uncle Jim,” she said, her tone serious and questioning.

“Yeah Snoop?”

She looked up at her uncle, her eyes bearing into him, dark with the painful curiosity of a child who’d heard more than she could understand at her tender age.

“Did you take Pam away from her husband?”

Jim turned to look at his niece. Had his brother been here he might had thought it was her father making her ask, making her part of one of his stupid pranks. And even without him here, Jim still thought it could be a set up but seeing the earnest look on Vanessa’s face he knew she was asking a legitimate question. When Jim took too long to answer, she went on.

“I remember one-time hearing Grandma telling Daddy how Pam, the girl you liked was getting married. Did she?”

“Did she what?”

“Get married.”

“No, Snoopy she didn’t. If she did then she wouldn’t be here with me.”

“Then did you make them break up?”

This child really did live up to her nickname.

Jim was supposed to be the grownup, the one with the answers but suddenly he felt awkward and unsure under the scrutiny of an 8-year-old who asking some very adult questions. Truth was he did kind of take Pam away. Had he never spoke his piece, she might be married to him now and Jim might be in New York with Karen. But he did, not just because of what he felt for her, but because it pained him to see her with someone who was so wrong for her. He knew Roy didn’t treat her right, didn’t nurture her, didn’t respect her, and mostly, didn’t know what he had in her. But how do you tell that to a child?

“Well Vanessa…”

He called her by her name this time, feeling the conversation getting serious enough to warrant it.

“That’s a really grown-up question, but to give you an answer, I didn’t make Pam not marry her husband. But I did tell her how I felt about her before she got married and let her decide what she wanted to do. I didn’t think the man she was going to marry treated her right. But I would never make her do something she didn’t really want to or keep her from doing something she wanted to. Because I love her. So, I told her that and she let her heart decide. But I was really glad when her heart chose me.”

Just as he finished speaking, Pam and Charlie returned to the kitchen. She’d heard only the tail end of the conversation but knew somehow it was about her. With years of veiled communication between them having formed a glossary of articulative expressions Pam shot him an unspoken, what have I stumbled into? He responded with a silent thank god you’re here, she’s asking questions to which Pam’s eyes answered don’t worry you’re doing just fine while the smile that spread across her lips said, I’m glad my heart chose you, too.

Still, he wasn’t used to having heart to hearts about love with an eight-year-old and he was glad to change the subject and get Vanessa’s mind back onto nighttime snacks instead of broken engagements.

Jim brought the two hot cocoas to the island, while Pam grabbed the other mugs to fill them with the coffee that had just finished brewing. Jim had already found the sugar and the cinnamon and taken the milk from the fridge, having cringed once more to think it was not used to make the hot chocolate.

Setting a Dad, The Man, the Myth, The Legend mug in front of Vanessa, he noticed her expression change again especially as Pam returned to the table with the last two mugs filled with coffee, setting them in front of Jim and herself.  

“That’s my Snoopy mug,” she announced with a bit of sass to her voice. “It’s my special mug, that I always use cause it’s got Snoopy on it.”

Jim even forehead creased as he lifted it to the sky shooting Pam the look usually reserved for the cameras.

“So how about tonight, you use Dad’s mug since I already put coffee into yours for Pam?”

He said it calmly, though Pam could tell there was a bit of frustration in his tone, the quality not too far from how he spoke to Michael but not quite as exasperated as when dealing with Dwight.

“That’s alright. I’ll switch my coffee to a new mug and rinse the Snoopy out so Vanessa can have it. It is hers and I know we all like to drink from our own special mug.”

For a moment it seemed Vanessa was happy to go along with the game of musical mugs, but then she put her hands on the mug in front of her.

“No Uncle Jim. That’s okay, Aunt Pam can have the Snoopy mug.”

With that Jim’s face morphed again, a little surprised smirk directed to Pam which she answered in turn with a little raised eyebrow and subtle smile of her own.

“Thanks, Snoopy. That means a lot because I know how much this mug means to you.”

Vanessa picked up her Dad’s normal mug and took a sip solidifying her decision to keep the mug she was given and let Pam drink from Snoopy.

Licking her lips and reacting with a satisfied ahhh she explained. 

“Well, I let my heart decide and my heart said you should have it.”