Pam stammered and looked at him, still dumbfounded. Jim still looked on expectantly, though as each second went by his heart snuck down a little further towards his toes.

"Y… yes. Yes. Yes yes yes yes!" she said, her voice becoming louder with each yes. "Oh my god, Jim, yes… I've been waiting since the day you came back from the corporate interview to ask me this! Oh Jim…" she babbled, while laughing and crying at the same time.

"Then here," he said, with a tear of his own trailing down his face. He took the ring, a simple, understated ring with three small diamonds that made the half-carat princess cut diamond in the center seem all the larger and shinier, and gently took Pam's hand. He slipped the ring onto her finger. Pam then pulled him to his feet and threw her arms around him, crying, whispering to him her love over and over again. The restaurant erupted into an impromptu applause with a whistle here ant there when Pam kissed him.

They slowly made their way down the city streets, Pam hanging from Jim's elbow, holding him tightly as if there was a possibility that he would blow away if she let go. They took in the place that had not long before been a dead end, a place of disappointment and heartache, that was now brought to new life now that they had one another's eyes to see the world in a new way. Meandering through the businesses and houses of the downtown, they chatted and also enjoyed the silent company of someone so dear.

They passed an old Victorian-style home on a corner; well-kept, with lovingly painted scrolling, a turreted upstairs window, and a terrace off of a back bedroom. Pam stopped to make sure she saw it correctly.

"What is it?" Jim asked when she stopped and turned abruptly.

"Did I ever tell you," she murmured, staring up at the beautiful home, "that I've always wanted to have a house with a terrace off of the upper bedroom?"

"No, you never have," he mused, looking up at the house along with her. "I didn't think we had anything like that in Scranton."

"I didn't think so either," she crossed her arms in front of her, as if feeling a chill despite the warm summer night. "When I told Roy that I wanted a house with a terrace someday, he told me that they don't have those in Scranton and I shouldn't want stupid things like that. It was like anything that wasn't his idea was stupid," she added bitterly.

"He just didn't get it, you know?" Jim told her, "I guess some guys just never grow beyond seeing their own needs. You know, if I'm ever being an insensitive prick like that you have my complete permission to hurt me physically, or at least tell me what an asshole I am."

"I don't think you'll ever be like him. Honestly," she said with a half smile already on her face, "I think the only thing you and he have in common is the fact that you both have penises. I'm really not sure you're even the same species."

Jim laughed. "Good to know. Definitely good to know," he said somewhat uncomfortably. "But if this place ever goes on the market, let's take a look at it."

"With our salaries? Really…"

"Well, I said we'd look; maybe they'll feel like a charity case," he smiled down at her, giving her his arm to continue walking.

Jim noticed after a few minutes that Pam seemed more quiet than before, that she was pensive for some reason. "Something on your mind?" he queried.

"Um… no," she started, then shook her head, "Well yeah. Roy called me again after I left work today. He was almost incoherent – I don't know if I told you, but I'm pretty sure he's on drugs. He's sounded strung out the last couple of times he called and left messages, and today he let something slip about owing his dealer money. Anyway… he started getting really insistent that he and I should see each other again. I told him again that it wasn't possible, and he got mad, then he started crying. He's such a mess. Then I said that I don't want to hear from him again unless he's off the drugs and is settled with the fact that we're not ever getting back together." She sighed.

"I never should have thought that we could be friends after all this. I wish I had just cut it all off when I broke up with him. Why do I do dumb stuff like this?"

"You were with him a long time. It's gotta be hard to just cut all ties like that," Jim replied, reserved. They approached the car and he opened the passenger door for her.

"I'm sorry, Jim. I didn't think about how this would make you feel when I let him keep talking to me. I'm just a sucker like that sometimes. But, I'm still worried about him. I never wanted him to have to be miserable; I just wanted to not be with him. I hope he gets some help. I called his best friend and his brother after that last call. They said that they've been trying to get him clean again, but he won't listen." She stopped, looking out of the car window at the neon reflecting off of other cars and shop windows. "I'm gonna change my phone number tomorrow. It's not good for me."

Jim nodded, rubbing her shoulder with his free hand.

"I'm sorry, Jim," she said again.

"Don't be. Just try to cheer up and be my happy Pam again."

She looked down at her new ring. She remembered how gaudy the ring Roy had given her; how he had asked her in the parking lot after a hockey game, half-drunk; how it didn't even fit. How he pawned the thing off two weeks after she gave it back. She looked back up at Jim as he was looking over to the side to parallel park on the street near her apartment. Jim was so thoughtful, forgiving, kind. She knew he was what she had been waiting for when she had dreamed of a husband when she was a girl. That made her smile, and resolve to never look back again.

"I'll be happy as long as I have you," she told him.