Pam and Jim sat once again in the small waiting room outside Camryn's office, tensions running high. When Pam's name was called, she retreated to the familiar office silently.
"You alright, Pam?" She asked. "You seem a little tense."
"It's been a rough weekend," Pam said, shaking her head.
"Why is that?" Camryn pressed.
"My parents are separating, and I'm just really kind of confused about the whole thing." Pam admitted.
"And why is that?"
Pam wondered if Camryn knew how to say anything other than "Why is that?" but answered her question anyway. "Well, I don't know. I came from a good, loving, Christian family. I didn't come from the kind of family that believed in divorce, and then when my parents were telling me about it, my dad said that talking to Jim this weekend confirmed that he wanted to separate from my mom, and now I'm just wondering what the hell Jim said, and how long he and I are going to be married before he says it to me…" Pam vented.
"Did you ask your father what Jim said?"
"Well, no…" Pam realized.
"Why don't you call him?"
"Right now?"
"Absolutely. I can't really help you deal with a problem, if you're not 100% sure what the problem is."
"Fair enough," Pam agreed, finding her cell phone in her purse, and calling her father.
"Hello?"
"Hey, dad?" Pam asked shakily.
"Hey, Princess. What's up?"
"Um, when we were eating dinner on Sunday, you said that talking to Jim confirmed that you wanted to separate from Mom, and just...What did he say to you?" She asked.
"Oh, Pam, that boy is so in love with you. You hold on to him tight. He talked about how much happier you made him just by coming into a room, and God, Pam, the way that boy looks at you. He looks at you like you put the stars in the sky. He literally said that marrying you was a miracle from God. He said that he's never doubted that you're who he wants to marry, and sweetheart, your mom and I never had that. Hold on to that," he reiterated.
"Okay. Thanks, Dad."
"Anytime, squirt. Love you."
"Love you too," Pam said, hanging up the phone.
"I take it that went well," Camryn said, seeing the grin that had spread on Pam's face.
"Yeah." She sighed pleasantly.
"So how do you feel about the whole situation now?" Camryn asked.
"Well, I guess… When you're a kid, you assume your parents are soul mates. Mine just weren't and that's okay. But, just like I did, my kids are going to assume their parents are soulmates. They're going to be right about that."
After the rest of their session, Pam went back to Jim feeling much more content. Jim, seeing this change in her demeanor, relaxed a bit in his chair before standing up. Before even saying anything, Pam stood on her tiptoes to kiss Jim quickly.
Clasping her hand in his, Jim spoke when Pam broke the kiss. "You know, I'm totally not complaining, but you kissing me after therapy definitely happens a lot."
"Oh, can it, you." Pam said, hitting him playfully as they left the building.
"So, you ready to plan a kick-ass wedding?" Jim asked as they buckled into the car.
"Ugh," Pam groaned. She totally looked forward to marrying Jim, but she helped her sister plan her wedding, and it was nothing if not stressful.
"That's the spirit!" Jim said excitedly, causing Pam to laugh.
"Where do we even start?" She asked.
"Okay, well we start with a proposal. Did we do that yet?" Jim asked, pretending to be confused.
"Come on, Jim. You had one job." Pam bantered
"Damnit. I'll get on that. The second thing is to pick a location."
"Any thoughts?" Pam asked.
"Doesn't matter to me, as long as you're happy," Jim said, joking tone aside.
"Alright," Pam said, overwhelmed by options. "I don't want to go anywhere tropical, because I am not getting sunburnt on my wedding day. I want the area to be pretty, but in a cozy kind of way, not a flashy kind of way."
"So Vegas is definitely out?"
"No, I'm trying to tell you that I want to get married in Vegas." Pam said, her dry sarcasm being picked up by Jim.
"Okay, so, they're not exactly Vegas, but there are a few places around here that we could go that fit your criteria."
"Shoot."
"Well, there's the mountains in New Hampshire and Vermont, Lake Champlain, which I'm pretty sure is also in Vermont, and Niagara Falls."
"Ooh, Niagara Falls would be so pretty."
"
I'll grab the laptop when we get upstairs, do you want to put a frozen pizza in the oven?" Jim said, pulling into the carpark of their apartment.
"Sure," she said, getting out of the car and heading up to the apartment, allowing Jim to unlock the door. "You know, I should probably have a key to the apartment." She stated as she went to the freezer and found a pizza.
"We can make a copy after work some day this week," Jim said after re-emerging from his room with his laptop and sitting on the couch.
"Pam, come look at pictures of this church at Niagara Falls," Jim smiled, taking her away from the pizza.
After assuring the oven was preheated, Pam put the pizza in and joined Jim on the couch, folding her legs in. "It's gorgeous," Pam said, looking on with him as he scrolled through the photos of the inside of the church, which had high ceilings, which, like the floor, were made of a light oak. A series of elegant-looking rafters crisscrossed the ceiling, and light from the many stained glass windows painted the floor. "Can I see the outside?" She asked.
"Absolutely," Jim said, looking at her and smiling. She was so precious when she was happy.
The exterior of the building was made of round stones which had been piled on top of each other and cemented together. A tall chimney emerged from the back corner, making the place even more quaint.
"It's perfect." Pam said, almost breathless.
"Should I book it?" Jim asked.
"Oh God, we have to decide on a wedding date if you're going to book it, don't we?"
"Not necessarily. We can put a down payment on the venue and set a date later."
"Let's do that, then." Pam said, leaving Jim to take care of the forms and whatnot as she fetched the pizza from the oven, as the timer had gone off.
"One piece or two?" She called to him.
"One is good," he called back.
"Well," He said, coming into the kitchen to help Pam with the pizza. "We're officially getting married at Niagara Falls."