It was September 25th. The day Jim had waited three months for. The ring was sitting in his pocket, and his hands were anxious to pull it out. He had spoken with Phyllis the day before about plans of a 'proposal party'. She had agreed to come to work an hour early the next day to meet with Jim about this evening's events. They were sitting in the conference room at eight a.m. on a perfect, Thursday morning.
"Okay," Jim said with a breath, "I told you loosely about what's going to happen tonight…do you…understand?" Phyllis smiled.
"Oh Jim," she replied, "I think it's wonderful."
"I do too, Phyllis," Jim said with a half – smile, "I do too. Now, Pam is set to arrive at eleven a.m. today so," he opened his journal and took out his pen, "that means that at eleven – thirty, the Ferris wheel should arrive. Then, there's the matter of –"
"Jim," Phyllis said with concern, "I don't think I can make this happen again." Jim could see the fear in her eyes.
"Phyllis," he said with comfort, "You don't have to do all of it. I will help you, trust me, it'll be O.K."
"Okay, Jim." She replied with a new found determination. "We'll do this."
--
It was nine – thirty a.m. at the Dunder Mifflin offices. Already, the food stands had arrived and were sitting idly in the warehouse. It was hidden, so if Pam went down there she wouldn't see them. Everyone was already at their desk, and Pam had just called to confirm she was arriving promptly at eleven. Jim was at his desk, calling the Ferris wheel company and the rent – a – moon – bounce place. He had finished calling Darryl to inform him his band will be needed again tonight, and had placed the phone on its deck. Jim stood up and cleared his throat,
"Okay, can I have everyone's attention, please?" Michael peeked his head out of his office. Dwight looked up in suspicion. All eyes were on Jim.
"Um, I don't know how to say this, but before I do; I have to know you guys won't say anything?" Silence, "What I mean by that is…you guys can keep a secret?" Jim looked around the office. A few heads nodded.
"Kelly, do you promise not to say anything?" Jim looked over at reception. Kelly crossed her heart and put her finger to her lips.
"Good, now I need everyone to go to the conference room."
"Okay, no you're not going in there," Dwight stood up and was blocking the conference room. "Jim, what are you doing?!" he frantically whispered.
"Dwight, you have to trust me, okay?" Dwight was a brick wall. "Please?" Something in Jim's facial expression must've set off an alarm in Dwight's mind, so he stepped aside and slowly but surely, the conference room filled up.
"Alrighty, it seems like we have everyone here…" Jim mocked doing a head count.
"Right, well as you know Pam is coming back from New York today at eleven." A few heads nodded, "Well…I've actually been trying to do something for a while now, and I think tonight…well, I just need to do this. And when I tried doing it the first time, I was interrupted by another…proposal." He said the last party quietly. However, it was loud enough to make Angela and Dwight look at each other sympathetically.
"What I'm going to do tonight," Jim continued, "is to ask Pam…to uh, marry me." He couldn't help but smile. He took the velvet box out of his pocket and opened it up. He proudly showed everyone in the conference room. Jim never felt more proud to work at Dunder Mifflin than this very moment. Every face in the conference room lit up. Some people gasped, some people said "congratulations", and even Angela was smiling ear to ear in delight. Michael saw this opportunity, and took it. He slowly began clapping his hands together, and Dwight eagerly followed. A few others joined the slow clap before Jim motioned for them to be silent. They followed his directions.
"Now, like I said, when I first wanted to propose," He tired hard not to look at Andy, "was at Toby's goodbye party but that changed…" Andy pumped his fist in the air, completely oblivious to the point Jim was trying to make. Once again, Angela and Dwight exchanged sympathetic apologies. Phyllis noticed and giggled a little.
"However, with the help of Phyllis," he nodded in Phyllis' direction, "I think I can pull off another Toby goodbye party."
"Without Toby though, right?" Michael desperately asked
"Yes." Michael took a sigh of relief and Holly smiled from across the room.
"Um, I think I should be okay as far as party planning goes but I might need Phyllis' and Angela's help. Now…I had this idea that maybe, we could all be exactly like we were the night Toby left? So if everyone can sit in the same place that'd be great."
The meeting went on for another hour and a half before finally an agreement was made, and not a moment too soon.
Because when everyone had cleared out of the conference room, it was eleven a.m. The phone rang and Kelly answered.
"Dunder Mifflin, this is Kelly…." She was on the phone for about five seconds before hanging up. She squealed when the phone hit the dock.
"Guys…" she announced, "SHE'S HERE!!"