In the Chili's parking lot, Michael and Jan are seeing off Christian.
"See ya!" says Michael.
"Bye! Thanks," says Jan.
As Christian leaves, Michael says, "We did it. We nailed it. Come here," and leans in for a hug. Jan takes a step backwards, and Michael is left hanging in midair for a moment.
(---
"Jan and I are going through a rocky point in our relationship. I am in the acceptance phase...uh, or maybe the bargaining phase, and she is in the denial phase. And the anger phase."
---)
"No, Michael, you didn't do anything. You were completely unprepared for this meeting, and you weren't even paying attention for half of it!"
"Well, there were two of us, Jan, so I really only needed to pay attention to half."
She stares at him and then sighs. "Michael, I don't understand how you think you can get by like this. Your branch is already in enough trouble as it is, and if this deal had fallen apart, frankly, I would have been seriously worried."
"You would have been worried about me?" He raises an eyebrow.
"No, Michael, if I were in your position, I would be seriously worried that Alan and the board wouldn't hesitate to shut this branch down. Not to mention how this would reflect on me." Jan starts walking towards her car.
"Geez, Jan, calm down." He lowers his voice. "This is a special place for us, remember? You wouldn't want to ruin that, would you?"
Jan looks at the camera. "Special place? I...I don't know what you're talking about."
"Come on, you remember. A late night meeting...two lonely salesmen--uh, people..."
In the background, Dwight is trying to sneak by without being seen by dashing between parked cars, while Karen is just walking along the same route.
Jan sighs. "I thought I've made it clear that I won't be discussing this with you again."
"Fine, fine. I'm sorry, okay? I am deeply, truly sorry." Pause. "How about a celebratory drink?"
Jan opens her car door, and Dwight almost runs into it. He stumbles to the ground. Jan looks at him for a moment, sighs and shakes her head, and then turns back to Michael.
"No."
She's about to get into her car when Michael stops her once more. "Wait, Jan, just one more question." Dwight gets up and hurries over to his car and beckons for Karen to hurry up.
Jan sighs. "What is it?"
"Is that a new shirt?"
Karen is getting into Dwight's car. Jan pauses. "Goodbye, Michael," she says. She gets into her car and slams the door. Her tires screech a bit as she backs up. Then she speeds out of the parking lot. Dwight and Karen leave soon after.
----------
At the office, Jim and Pam are replacing their borrowed items to the clothing box when Roy comes in. Jim quickly finishes putting his things away and heads back to his desk. Pam is still wearing the boa when Roy walks up to her and leans in for a kiss, which she readily gives.
"Hey, I missed you at our lunch date today," he says.
She had obviously forgotten about it until this very moment. "Oh, I'm sorry! I, uh, I forgot to tell you that, uh, Michael insisted that I go with him to this lunch meeting of his at Chili's." Pause. "He and Dwight will be back any second."
"It's okay, Pam, I'll forgive you...this time." They both smile and kiss again. "Hey, some of the guys are going to Poor Richard's after work. Do you want to come?"
"Um, no, you go ahead."
"Okay, thanks." He kisses her again, and then hands her some keys. "I'll be home for dinner, I promise."
"Okay." She closes her eyes and smiles as he kisses her on the cheek. When she opens her eyes, she sees Jim quickly look away and get up towards the kitchen. She stops smiling as Roy walks out, and then she puts the boa back in the box.
Dwight and Karen walk in. Karen looks distinctly less enthused than she did earlier. "All right, well, uh, I guess I'll be going," she says. Pause. "I, uh, had a good time. Maybe we'll...well, here's my business card." She hands it to him.
He takes it. "Here, let me give you mine." He takes out his wallet to retrieve one, but finds he doesn't have any. "F. Wait right here. I have some in my desk."
As he's walking over to his desk, Karen asks, "Um, isn't your desk in there?" She points to Michael's office.
"Uh, yes, of course it is. I was just, uh..." He goes in and shuts the door. The blinds are still shut.
A couple minutes pass and he doesn't come out. Karen glances at her watch. She turns to Pam. Angela, whose head is sticking up behind Pam's desk, ducks down. "Where's the ladies' room?" Karen asks.
"It's right through that door." She points to the kitchen.
"Thanks. Tell Michael I'll be right back." Pam nods, and Karen heads to the bathroom. Angela gets up moments later and follows her.
In the kitchen, Jim has been caught up in a conversation with Kelly. "...and sometimes, he just doesn't return any of my calls. And I don't know if that's just because he's busy, or he doesn't check his voicemail, or what. Should I ask him about it? Because if there's something wrong with his phone, then like, I shouldn't be--"
Jim turns to see Toby walk in. "Hey, Toby. What's up?"
"Not too much, how about you?"
"Well, Kelly was just telling me about...well, why don't you explain?"
Kelly turns to Toby. "Okay, well so the other day I was supposed to meet Ryan..."
Jim looks relieved and goes to get a cup of coffee when Karen walks in. She gives him a brief smile and then heads into the bathroom. Moments later, Angela also comes in and enters the bathroom. Jim takes a sip of his coffee and is about to leave the kitchen when he hears Angela yelling indistinctly from inside the bathroom. After a short while, Angela emerges as if nothing is wrong. Jim watches her as she heads out of the kitchen. He turns briefly to glance at door to the women's bathroom.
(---
"Oh, um, there wasn't any toilet paper."
---)
He heads over to reception and beckons for Pam to lean in closer. "Hey, so has Angela seemed kind of stressed to you lately?"
"No, why?"
"Well, I was just in the kitchen, and--"
Pam looks over to the kitchen door, and Jim turns as well. Karen walks out looking rather harried, walking briskly towards reception. "Did Michael come out yet?" she asks Pam. Pam shakes her head. "Well, just tell him that I had to run."
She walks quickly over to the door, but she gets there just as Michael is coming in, and she almost bumps into him.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he says. He holds open the door for her. "Heading out?"
"Yeah." Pause. "Oh, and about what happened in the parking lot--"
"Oh, don't worry about that. Jan's a good boss, but she can get a little emotional at times, so... I try to be professional, but sometimes..."
She nods. "I understand. I used to have this boss who--"
Dwight rushes out of Michael's office and approaches Karen. "Hey, I couldn't find any business cards, so I just made some." He takes out from his pocket a large stack of handcut slips of paper, each of which have written on them Michael's contact information in marker. He hands one to her.
She takes it. "Gee, uh, thanks." She looks at it for a moment. "Well, it was nice..." She turns to see Angela peeking up from behind Pam's desk, staring menacingly at her. "...uh, I really have to go." She turns to Michael. "It was nice to meet you."
"Likewise," he says. She leaves.
Dwight holds out the stack of homemade business cards to Michael. "Do you want these?" Michael looks at them briefly, sighs, and then heads into his office. Dwight goes back to his desk and starts whiting each of them out.
Jim turns to Pam. He looks like he's about to ask her something, but then he stops. She notices, and asks, "What?"
"Oh...nothing."
"Come on."
"I was just going to ask if today was the first time you've stood someone up for a date."
"Well I figured, when's the next time I'm going to see Michael and Dwight make fools out of themselves?" She smiles.
"And such a convincing excuse! Are you sure you haven't done this before?"
"Well, I couldn't tell him I..." She stops. She looks up at him and her smile fades.
Pause. "Well, I'm honored that you chose me."
"As you should be! Though I guess you didn't mind being there either..."
She looks as if she's hinting at something. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, never mind..." She turns away.
"No, wait, what?"
She hesitates and then says, "Just you and Lindsay seemed to be getting along pretty well."
"We're friends."
"Apparently." She sounds a bit more like Angela than she would have liked.
"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" He sounds a bit upset.
"Never mind, I shouldn't have said anything."
"No, Pam, what is it?"
She sighs. "Okay, it's just that you two were flirting all during lunch, and it was making me feel uncomfortable, that's all." She tries to swivel her chair away, but he continues.
"Wait, I wasn't flirting, I was just being friendly."
"Well I sure can't tell the difference." She immediately regrets saying that.
Pause. "Well, what about you and Roy? Every time I turn around these days, you two are making out."
"We're engaged."
"Apparently." They just look at each other for a moment, and then he says, "I've got some work to do," and heads back to his desk.
She calls out after him. "Jim, wait! Jim!" But he doesn't turn around, and she gives up.
----------
At the end of the day, Michael is about to leave when Pam stops him. "Michael."
"Yeah?"
"You're supposed to drop off these boxes remember?" She indicates the boxes for the charity drive.
He sighs. "All right. How did I get roped into this?" She doesn't answer. "Well, could you give me a hand?"
"Sure."
"All right, just grab that box," he says, pointing to the clothing box. He picks up the food box and carries it out the door while Pam picks up the clothing box.
As she's shifting her grip, Jim is leaving. "Hey, you got that?"
"Yeah, it's not too heavy."
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then." He hurries out.
"Wait, Jim? Jim?" But he's already out the door. She just stands there for a moment, and then she drops the box on the couch and plops down beside it. Her hands idly rummage through the box. She finds the pink boa, pulls it out, and weaves it through her fingers for a moment.
Outside, Michael brushes away some trash from the back seat of his Sebring and then puts in the food box. He looks around for Pam, and a few moments later she comes out of the building carrying the clothing box. She walks over to his car, and he helps her put it in the back seat.
(---
"Why do I give to charity? Simple. The Golden Rule. Do unto others as they do to you. Tit for tat. Not that I look forward to getting any reward for my charity work...well, except a tax deduction. But you know what they say, what goes around comes around, what goes up must come down, so..."
---)
Michael pulls up to the shelter downtown. He gets out of his car and brings the boxes up to the front door in two trips. Then he manages to push them inside. "Hello, is anybody here? I'm dropping off some donations," he calls out.
"Just a second!" he hears from the back.
He waits for a few moments. There aren't too many people around, but he does see a suspicious looking older man wearing a red sweater and sleeping in one of the chairs near the back. He tries to get a closer look, but then a woman comes out to greet him.
"Hi, I'm Karen..." She tilts her head slightly to the side and smiles, and then she laughs. "Wow! Funny I should run into you again today!"
Michael laughs. "Yeah, what are you doing here?"
"Actually I work here."
"Really? That's great!"
"Yeah. The hours are kind of long, but it's such a service to the community..." She looks over at the boxes. "Are these all donations?"
"Yup. I'm running the office charity drive, because, well, it's only a little extra time, and they need this stuff more than we do, right?"
"It's true. Thank you so much!"
"Well, I'm glad to help." Pause. "Do you want me to take these somewhere?"
"Uh, sure, do you mind? Maybe if you could just bring them into this room over here? We'll sort it out later. Here, let me give you a hand."
She reaches down and picks up one of the boxes, and he picks up the other. Then he follows her across the room.
As they're walking, he asks, "So, uh, how was your lunch?"
She hesitates briefly. "Well, um, he's a nice guy I guess, but not really my type, I think..." She looks at him to gauge his response. When she sees him smiling and nodding, she continues. "Let's just say that I wouldn't want him to be my boss. You must put up with a lot sometimes."
He smiles. "You have no idea."
They walk into the other room. "Just set it down anywhere." She places the box on the floor in the corner, and he puts his next to hers. Then she escorts him back to the entrance. "All right, well, thank you again so much! All of your donations will be put to good use, I promise."
"Hey, we're running the drive all week, so maybe I'll see you here again later."
"Great! I'll look forward to seeing you!"
Pause. "And, uh, I don't know, maybe if you want to get dinner some time...like Friday?" He raises his eyebrows questioningly.
She smiles. "All right. Friday then."
"Great. Great! I guess I will see you later this week then."
"I guess so."
"All right, I'd better get going."
"Okay, take care."
"Bye, Karen." He gives her a wave and turns to leave.
"Bye, Dwight."
----------
Jim is sitting alone at the bar in Chili's, nursing a drink. He doesn't notice that across the room, Pam is sitting in a booth, wearing the pink boa and a fedora, watching him. Eventually, she decides to approach him. She makes it just within earshot, but when she sees Lindsay approach him, she ducks behind a post.
"Hey, Jim," Lindsay says. He nods at her. "Can I get you anything?"
"No, I'm good." He sips his drink.
She looks around, and then leans in closer and lowers her voice. "Are you okay?"
He looks at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just been a long day."
"How about a table?"
He turns around briefly and then returns to his drink. "It's full."
She turns to where he was looking. "Hey, how come you always insist on sitting at the same table?"
He shrugs. "Habit, I guess."
She hesitates a moment, and then she asks, "Does it have something to do with Pam?"
He pauses. "Hey, I'm sorry, I sort of just want to be alone for a little while. Is that okay?"
She backs off. "Sure, Jim, no problem. Just let me know if you need anything, all right?"
"Okay." She walks off. He returns to his drink.
Pam is now standing out in the open behind Jim, staring at him. She's frozen there while Jim takes a long sip. Suddenly, she snaps to her senses and quickly looks around. Then she turns back to Jim, who still hasn't noticed her. She once again considers approaching him, but she can't bring herself to do it.
Jim finishes off his drink, places the empty mug lightly on the bar, and sighs. He turns around just in time to see a pink flash disappear out the front door.