The Right Decision

Margaret McGuire was a recent University of Florida graduate trying to make ends meet when Mark Hollister entered the picture. She wasn’t looking for a boyfriend. In fact, she already had a boyfriend. 

“I was waitressing at the Boston Sail Loft in 1989. I had recently moved to the North End with some college friends after spending the winter in Snowmass, Colorado,"she said. McGuire had taken a few months off after graduation to go west to see snow for the first time.

“Growing up in Florida was a different life, “ said McGuire. Settling in Boston with college roommates,  McGuire was waitressing to pay the bills while she searched for more steady work in her field.

“I started to notice this guy coming into the restaurant frequently. My roommate’s sister had a crush on him so I called her every time he showed up so she would know to come in.” McGuire recalls.

McGuire soon realized Hollister wasn't frequenting the Sail Loft for the food. Confirmation came when he asked McGuire out on a date. It was that night when the calls to her roommate’s sister came to a screeching halt.

McGuire was confused about her own feelings. She hadn’t realized the attention was for her, and when she looked at the scenario, she only became more confused.

“I would say yes, and then I would call and tell him I couldn’t make it, “ McGuire said.

Saying "yes" when she had a boyfriend astounded her. She had always been loyal.  McGuire began questioning herself, her actions and her decisions.

More invitations followed. More offers were accepted, only to be followed by cancellations. Eventually, Hollister asked McGuire whether he should continue pursuing her. McGuire told Hollister about her situation and her involvement. Hollister had a solution. Perhaps, he suggested, they could just be “friends.”

The pair soon began doing things as friends. “I remember seeing his picture in the paper for an Alexander Julian ad, so I called him. We met that night at the Cactus Club for margaritas and had lots of fun…But just as friends,” McGuire said.

The decision to be friends was a good one, but McGuire was falling for Hollister. Hollister, long ago, had fallen for McGuire.

“It got to the point very quickly where I had to make a decision. I knew we were more than friends. I accepted an invitation from him to go to Nantucket. I realized there were things missing in my current relationship or I never would have allowed myself to get involved like this,” McGuire said.

The time on Nantucket allowed the blurry to come into focus. By the time McGuire left the island, she had made a decision.

McGuire was waitressing that night, but before work, she stopped to deliver the news to her boyfriend. When she showed up at the Sail Loft, she broke down.

“I was crying so hard they sent me home,” recalled McGuire.

 McGuire knew her decision was the right decision. But the agony this decision caused, pained her deeply. 

From her apartment in the North End, McGuire phoned Hollister and told him of her decision. The right decision.

“Mark came and picked me up, drove me to Marblehead… and I never left.

Margaret and Mark Hollister are married and live in Marblehead with their four children.