She drove into work fine that day, just fine. No incidences with oncoming traffic as she had joked, and no squirrel or bird casualties. Everything with the trip was fine. Everything with Jim was fine.

She was still a little early for work, hoping that she would be the first one there to congratulate Jim after the meeting, and also secretly hoping to avoid anyone from work asking her why she only took one car. Oscar would think they got into a fight, and that Pam made Jim walk to work or something. She didn't want people thinking there was anything going on between them. Everything was fine.

She settled into her desk, pulling her coat over the side of her chair and taking out her water bottle for the day. She walked to the bathroom, but really only so she could pass the conference room and give Jim a little smile and a 'thumbs up'. She noticed he was sitting with his back facing the rest of the office, and her head hung a little as she continued onwards to the bathroom. This is stupid, she thought. Why am I sad about what seat he chose?

When she came back from the bathroom, the meeting had already let out and Jim was already in his office. She was about to walk in when his phone rang, and he put up his pointer finger to her, signaling "1 second". She felt awkward standing there, unsure if she should wait outside her husband's office while he was on the phone, or go back to her desk until her husband was ready for her. She felt a voice in the back of her head, probably the voice of her college professor of Women and Society, saying that a woman who waits on her husband is weak. But this wasn't like that at all, she thought. Mrs. Efkin was referring to women who wait on their husbands. She was just waiting for her husband.

She must have stood there for a while, debating her role as a woman and a wife, because she hadn't gotten a chance to decide whether to wait for Jim or sit down before he called her in.

"Hey, Jim," she said, somewhat sheepishly.

"Please. Call me Mr. Halpert," he winked at her.

"Oh, Mr. Halpert," she said, playing into his joke. "I meant to tell you the other day, if you were looking, I know this great 50+ singles bar. It even has a shuffleboard court. Maybe you can find a Mrs. Halpert"

"Wow, sounds great Pam! But Mrs. Halpert isn't a fan of shuffleboard. Do they have a watercolor station?"

"Yes. Right next to the Bingo Room."

They both started laughing. She felt comfortable again, joking around with each other so informally. He reached over for her hand and held it, fingers laced with hers. He lifted his own hand up, and directed her to come closer to him. She got up and walked around his desk, standing next to him now.

"Okay, close your eyes," he said to her.

"I don't know if I want to…" she said, laughing and complying anyway.

She heard his fingers typing on a keyboard and the clicks of his mouse.

"Okay, open them!"

She looked at his computer screen, adorned with pictures of Saab marketing. In the center, her eyes were drawn to a silver SUV type car, with a description of each feature he had hand selected for her.

"Oh my god."

"I hope you're not insulted that I got the built in GPS. But you know how I feel about you driving with just a print out of MapQuest directions. Plus now you won't have to call me if you get lost!"

Was he annoyed that she called him when she was lost? She loved to here the comfort of his voice when she didn't know where she was going—on the road and in life.

She remained silent, her mouth pursing into a small "o"

"Well…do you like it?"

"Did you buy it?"

"Yeah. You don't like it?"

"It's amazing. I just wish you consulted me before you sold the Altima."

"I'm not selling the Altima."

"What? How can we afford this?"

"Pam, we don't have to worry about affording things anymore. You don't like it, do you."

"I said it was amazing. I'm just shocked is all."

Jim hoped that it was the good kind of shocked.

"We're going to pick it up from the dealership after work tomorrow. Then you can be driving it by the weekend! I thought it would be great family car for when the baby comes. It has child proof windows and locks and tinted screens so the sun doesn't hurt their eyes."

Pam admired how much thought he had put into it, picking out every last detail down to the trim. But she wondered how much he really enjoyed his solo commute in to work, enough so to make him want to do it more often. She was saddened by the fact that they wouldn't do everything together now, that this car was going to make them both more independent. She knew that was supposed to be a good thing, but she was going to miss how they couldn't do things without each other.

"Can we still drive to work together each day?"

"Of course," Jim looked at her, wondering why she would even ask such a thing.

"Well then… I love it!" She squealed. She did love it, it was a dream car. She just didn't love what might come from it.

"I haven't even told you the best part," he said.

"What could be better?" she asked, even though she already knew that a lot of things about this car situation could be better, like maybe if Jim had asked before he just did something like this. It reminded her of when he bought their house. He was always trying to surprise her, and she admitted it was really sweet, but she wished he included her on these types of big decisions.

"I got satellite radio so we can listen to Howard Stern," he told her. "I know how much you've missed him since he went to satellite. We can listen every morning now."

She looked at him lovingly, happy to know that her husband remembered these little nuances about her. She bent down to give him a kiss, and told him she loved him.

"Hey now," he said, "No sexual harassment in the work place."

"Sorry Mr. Halpert," she said, in a mocking tone. "I won't do it again."

"Oh but you will. Tonight."