I want to pull away when the dream dies. The pain sets in and I don't cry. I only feel gravity and I wonder why.

- Nelly Furtado

Pam waved goodbye to her daughter from the car and pulled away, leaving the house that she once shared with Jim far behind in her rearview mirror. It had been her decision to ask for a divorce and her decision to leave the house. It had been his parents' house before it was theirs, and it wouldn't be fair for her to take it from him. Maybe if he had cheated or they'd ended bitterly, things would be different. However, their split had been surprisingly amicable. They had simply stopped loving each other, and Pam refused to settle for anything other than a loving marriage.

She still tried to figure out how they ended up there. Their courtship had been long and fulfilling, built upon years of friendship and then true romance. Pam still cared about Jim, both as a friend and as the father of her child. He was a good man and an even better dad. He never failed Pam, not once, and he had bestowed that same gracious patience on their daughter. Having Cici to focus on made the divorce easier to deal with in some regards, but a wave of depression had easily convinced Pam that she could use some help.

Her mother had gone through something similar when she had split from Pam's father. While her father had been more outspoken about the growing pains of divorce, Pam's mother had embraced her wild streak after the split. It wasn't until after she had ended things with Michael that reality set in, and she had learned what it was like to be truly single for the first time in forty years. Having seen that, Pam knew that she needed to seek some kind of counseling when she started to show some of the same symptoms as her mother.

That's what leads Pam to park her car in the parking lot of the Methodist Church on Linden Ave, just a few blocks from Cici's primary school and next to her favorite yogurt shop. They have the support group in the basement, a handful of people too poor or too ashamed to take their problems to the confines of a professional office. Some of them just want support, to know that there is someone who feels like they do. Others are there by court order, trying to get counseling so that they can settle arbitration on a nasty split.

She is surprised to see him there, sitting quietly in the front row with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hands. There is a noticeable white band where his wedding ring used to be, a sure-tell sign of a recent divorce. Holly was back in Denver still, living with her mother while she figured out what to do next. When the latest acting manager had been transferred to Nashua, the company heads had invited Michael back to retake the reins at Dunder Mifflin – Scranton. It had been surprisingly nice to see Michael's face around the office again and even nicer to see it now.

"Hey, Michael," she greeted him softly as she slipped into the chair next to him, electing to forego coffee for the bottle of water she had stowed in her oversized tote bag. He smiled sadly at her and nodded before draining the rest of his coffee. He was quieter than he used to be, a pale imitation of the vivacious leader that had cheered not-so-quietly for her and Jim once upon a time.

Holly had broken his heart when she cheated. It had been the near the end of her dad's life, and Holly had grown undeniably close to his lead doctor. It was the last thing anyone expected, but when Toby suddenly announced one day that Michael would be returning to the office the next week, they all started to theorize about what happened. The story eventually came out in bits and pieces, mostly when he'd had too many drinks at Poor Richard's. This was a new venue for him, a place to tell his stories. Pam had never seen him at the church before. It should be interesting.

Just as he was about to finally say something to her, an older woman she recognized as the usual facilitator clapped her hands and asked everyone to take her seats. For the next forty-five minutes, they each told their sad stories. An older man who was new to the group talked about how his successful wife got tired of him staying at home, even though they'd decided together years ago that he would be a stay-at-home father. Another woman talked about her husband had left her for a younger woman. Pam talked about falling out of love with her supposed soulmate, while Michael finally told his story in its entirity. She'd never heard about him actually catching Holly and the doctor in the act.

When they finally broke for their usual mid-session coffee break, Pam wasn't surprised to see Michael head outside. The first time was always strange and somewhat stressful for the newcomers. She hadn't even spoken the first two weeks. "Hey again," she greeted him as she sat down next to him on the stoop. This time he looked over and smiled a little more happily. "You did good in there, sharing like that."

"Yeah, well, there's that," he allowed before looking up at Pam. "Sorry, I know I'm a little weird. I just never thought I'd be here, not with Holly. With Jan, sure, we were a wreck. I still loved her, but there was no way that was going to last. Holly and I were soulmates. She was the first person to really understand me, you know?"

Pam thought about Jim and those precious years when she was still with Roy. His friendship had meant everything to her, and when they finally got things right, she never thought that there would be anything that tore them apart. "I do," she confirmed. "Jim was my best friend. I miss that more than I miss anything else."

Michael nodded knowingly. "That comfort of just having someone, it's irreplacable," he agreed. For a man that had spent most of his life alone, it was sad to see him lose someone that meant everything to him. "How are you doing, Pam? I know that things have been a little tense, but you seem to be holding up pretty well. How about Cici?"

Pam smiled at the mention of her daughter. "She doesn't really understand what is going on, just that she gets to decorate a whole new bedroom. Jim does a really good job of making sure that he is around for her. We have made her our first priority just like before," she told him. "And me...well, this helps. I miss him. It's hard not to miss him, but it's the way things need to be for now."

"That's all you can do sometimes, one day at a time. One foot in front of another, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Just then, the facilitator appeared to wave everyone back into the room. "Well, we should get back in there, huh?" Michael asked, nodding toward the church. "I'll see you in there."

Pam followed Michael back into the church and took her seat. Week after week, she kept coming back there to tell her story and then to hear his. It helped her more than she could ever say, and eventually, it wasn't so hard to see Jim happy when she picked up or dropped off Cici. She was glad for him. More than anything, it just helped knowing that she had Michael to understand. It was nice to finally have someone in her corner.