“She didn’t want anything to do with him at first, but Cam was persistent when it came to things he wanted. And he decided he wanted Mary pretty early on.”
Andrew frowned a little, wiping his finger along the moisture beading on the ice-cold beer. “He found out she liked flowers, so he gave her one every day. Corny, I know, but effective. He hung around her locker, offered her rides to and home from school. Cam made it clear to everyone that he wanted her, and nobody wanted to get on Cam’s bad side, so we all backed off and made sure he had a clear playing field. Eventually, Mary gave in and went out with him.”
Knowing that there hadn’t been an instant connection - at least on Mary’s side – made Aidan feel slightly better.
“It didn’t take long for them to become a couple. And Mary seemed happy enough. Cam treated her good. He worshipped the ground she walked on, really. I don’t think any of us realized just how much until we graduated. We were a year ahead of Mary, and Cam refused to go away to college without her. He said he’d work for a year to save up some money while she finished school, then they could go together.”
“I don’t think Mary liked that idea too much. Smart as she was, she really had no interest in college. She had a part-time job at a local greenhouse and decided her dream was to have her own someday, to open up a little shop here in town.”
Andrew went silent, absently pulling the crust from his pizza and feeding it to Max.
“What happened?” Aidan prompted. “Did she open up her own place after graduation?”
Andrew looked at him as if he had sprouted horns. “Christ, you are rich, aren’t you? No. Nobody has that kind of capital right out of high school. Cam had been working though, saving what he could. Mary got a full-time job after graduation, and they put everything they could aside.”
“Then Mary’s mom decided she’d had enough of Birch Falls. She’s a piece of work, that one. Decided there weren’t enough eligible men for her tastes, so one day she tells Mary they’re selling the house and moving to Florida.”
“Mary didn’t want to leave. Unlike her mother, she actually liked it here. But Cat Murphy wouldn’t hear of it. I think at that point Mary had just had enough of her mother’s crap. She never actually said so, but I got the impression that Mary was more the adult in that family than Cat was. It was my uncle’s greenhouse she worked at, and we got to be pretty close. Sometimes she’d talk about her dad, and that’s how I learned that she’d been the one taking care of him while he was sick and her mother was out... doing other stuff.” A frown creased Andrew’s brow.
“Cam wasn’t about to let her go, either. The two of them disappeared for a couple of days, and when they came back, they were married. It shocked the shit out of all of us – biggest news to hit Birch Falls in years. Cat was so pissed she just up and left right away, leaving Mary with the mortgage and a shitload of unpaid local tabs. Luckily, Cam’s dad was the manager of the bank that held the mortgage and they worked something out. It wiped out all their savings, though.”
“Then Cam got sick. He came home from their impromptu wedding/honeymoon feeling like crap. A month later he was in chemo.”
“He had cancer?”
“Yeah. It was some nasty stuff, too. All the chemo and radiation took him downhill, fast. They’d burn or cut it out of one spot, only to have it come back in another. He held on longer than anyone thought he would, though. The docs said he wouldn’t last a year. He lasted five. Folks said he just couldn’t bear to leave Mary.”
“And Mary? How did she take it?”
Andrew looked across the table. “Mary might look all soft and fluffy, but she’s the strongest person I know. She took care of Cam without a single complaint, but it was hard on her, you know? She’d never say so, but I think Cam’s passing was a huge relief. She loved him, and took great care of him, but I think if the situation had been different, things might not have played out the way they did.”
Before Aidan could ask what he meant by that, Andrew continued. “After Cam’s death, I ran into Mary at O’Leary’s. We got to talking, and she told me she was still interested in owning a flower shop. As it turned out, I was looking to put my MBA to some real life use, and the rest, as they say, is history. With my flair for business and her magic touch, we created our own little success story.”
“It hasn’t been easy, though. Folks around here still think of her as Cam’s. Been five years, but it’s like Cam’s ghost is keeping everyone away. Then you came along, and I saw a sparkle in Mary’s eyes I haven’t seen in ages, and Christ if it wasn’t good to see. Didn’t last long though. These last couple of weeks she’s looked worse than I’ve ever seen her. What the hell happened?”