The story ends in a way unexpected. Rather than the typical, guy and girl happily ever after, it ends in a way neither extremely depressing nor terribly happy. The last scene starts right after the lights went out (because Tom chose not to pay the bill). "Shakespeare probably wrote a poem on that light bill, Mrs. Wingfield... Maybe the poem will win a ten-dollar prize", Jim says (page 68) shortly after candles are lit. Quipster, he is, with a sharp tongue hidden with knives. Showing negativity towards his friend from the warehouse.
This scene is really about discovering who Jim really is and further defining Laura through their conversation. Likely popular in high school due to his ability to sing and his self-confidence (and well defined sense of self, whether real or false) that tend to draw in youth. It really comes out in the way he speaks to Laura within this scene. Alone in the living room, the two beginning to talk about each other's lives. "You know what I judge to be the trouble with you? Inferiority complex! Know what that is?...Now I've never made a regular study of it, but I have a friend who says I can analyze people better than doctors that make a profession of it." (page 80-1). He spends the majority of the chapter telling Laura what he believes and that she should believe similarly. While not necessarily bad, it does show Jim's character as high on who he is and how right his opinions are.
Page 88 is the climax of the story, all the build-up for this moment, when Jim kisses Laura, showing the possibility of Laura not being an old maid, but wait! "Stumblejohn...Stumblejohn! I shouldn't have done that -- that was way off the beam. You don't smoke, do you?" John yells afterwards. He reveals his engagement to another women. Something he didn't mention at work because he was worried about what they would call him... about getting married. "The cat's not out of the bag at the warehouse yet. You know how they are. They call you Romeo and stuff like that."(page 93) ROMEO!! Rather than tell anyone that he is marrying the love of his life, he would rather keep his appearance and reputation at the warehouse.
As for the ending, after Jim leaves, Tom walks out, continuing his life without a home or family. He wanders the world but with a hole created by the absence of Laura. Amanda speaks to Laura of what we know not, but knowing that it somehow managed to make Laura smile.
-Mark Todd
PS. The word I was looking for previously to describe Jim was self-righteous.
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