“Yes, please.”
Only then did Mary’s eyes travel over to where they sat. She spotted Conlan first. “Hi Mr. O’Leary. Did you save some soup for me?”
“Always, love,” he winked.
Mary beamed, and Aidan couldn’t look away. She was even prettier than he remembered. Bundled up in a white winter coat edged with faux fur, her nose and cheeks were pink with cold.
“Hi Mary,” he said, offering her a tentative smile.
“Hi Aidan.” She was clearly surprised to see him, her brown eyes opening wide. “You two know each other?”
“Aye, that we do,” Conlan answered. “Aidan here is - ”
“ – a friend of the family,” Aidan interrupted, easing smoothly out of the booth and standing up before Conlan could finish. Aidan didn’t want Mary to know that he owned the Goddess. He liked the idea that she didn’t know, and still treated him like he was worth something. As long as she remained oblivious to his wealth and status, then he didn’t have to worry about her liking him for the wrong reasons. He didn’t think Mary was the gold-digging type, but he’d been disappointed enough times to be overly cautious.
Conlan narrowed his eyes slightly, but said nothing else. There was a moment or two of awkward silence, then the waitress came out with a large Styrofoam container. “Here you go, Mary.”
“Thanks, Amy.” Mary accepted the soup. “Well,” she said, turning to Aidan almost shyly, “it was nice to see you again, Aidan. Bye, Mr. O’Leary.”
Mary was at the cash register when Conlan turned to Aidan. “She doesn’t know who ye are?”
Aidan shook his head, though he was still watching Mary. “And I’d like to keep it that way for a while, Daideo.”
Conlan thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Alright then, lad. I suppose ye have yer reasons. I’ll leave it to ye. But I will no’ see the lass hurt, ye understand?”
“Yeah. Thanks, Daideo.”
“Hey, Mary, wait up.” Aidan jogged out of the diner to catch up. He noticed she was walking away from the parking lot, not toward it. She stopped and turned around. “Can I give you a ride?”
“Thanks, but I don’t live very far from here.”
“Oh.” He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, disappointed. He had hoped she would have forgiven him by now, or would at least be willing to give him a second chance, but it appeared not.
“But you could walk me home, if you’d like,” she said, surprising him.
His mood brightened considerably. “I’d like that.”
They walked side by side, away from the diner. The sidewalk was clear for the most part, but there were enough icy patches to warrant caution. Aidan kept his hands at the ready. If she slipped, he would catch her. Unfortunately, Mary was annoyingly sure-footed.
“So. What brings you back to Birch Falls?” she asked.
Aidan had thought up a dozen different answers to that question during his seek-and-search, but opted for honesty. “You, actually.”
Mary paused mid-step and turned those big brown eyes on him. “Me?”
“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about everything you did, and what a jerk I was. I wanted to apologize, and maybe make it up to you.”
She started walking again. “You weren’t a jerk, Aidan. You made a mistake, that’s all. And there’s nothing to make up.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that,” he said. Sensing that continuing on this line might put a premature end to their time together, Aidan changed topics.
“You’re a regular at O’Leary’s, huh?”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “Every Monday, at least. The soup du jour is potato, and it’s awesome. I stop on my way home from work.”
“Where do you work?”
“The flower shop up the street.”
Aidan remembered driving by that place. He’d thought more than once about ordering flowers for Mary in there. Now he realized if he’d just followed his initial instincts to do so he might have saved himself a lot of time and aggravation. Of course, his logical side argued, ordering flowers for someone was pointless when he had no idea where to send them.
“You sell flowers?”
“Yeah,” she admitted. “Sell them, arrange them, grow them. I have a green thumb, I guess.”
Recalling the multitude of plants she had in her kitchen, he had no trouble believing that. An idea suddenly occurred to him – he could ask Mary to help him pick out some plants for his office and condo. It would give him an excuse to see her again.
“That is definitely a skill I’m lacking,” he told her. “My place could use something to brighten it up. Maybe you could offer a few suggestions?”