Great and Precious Things

Cam and Xander have lunch with their father. He argues with them about how he must wear oxygen and can’t drive anymore. He claims that he’s fine yet still thinks that Cam is only 13 years old. Despite the “war” that Cam and Xander are fighting legally, they work together to calm their father and remain firm that he needs help. They hired a team of nurses so that someone is always with him.

Cam decides to check on the mines one last time before the contractor comes the next day. When he gets in his Jeep, he takes a call from Willow, who asks him to accompany her to the hot springs.

As Cam and Willow get into the water at the hot springs, he realizes that he’s making a mistake by allowing himself to get close to her—yet he’s overwhelmed by his attraction to her. She talks about how the entire town assumes that they’re dating. She jokingly blames him, but he points out that she took his hand first. They go back and forth, discussing the ways that they’ve gotten close over the month he has been home, each blaming the other.

Willow points out that Cam told her his truth about Sullivan’s death but that she never got a chance to tell him hers. She admits that she was heartbroken by Sullivan’s death but that she also experienced a second emotion: relief that Cam survived. She points out how horrible a person that makes her, but Cam insists that she and Sullivan loved each other. However, she argues that the love she felt for him was never as strong as what she felt for Cam.

Willow then moves toward Cam and asks for permission to kiss him—just as he did in the kitchen. He resists at first, insisting that he isn’t good enough for her. However, he then admits that he’s “only” hers and “always” has been. The two kiss passionately, and Cam can feel that it’s moving toward sex. However, he stops her. He tells her that he wants to take things slow, savoring their time together and finally having a true relationship.

Over the next few weeks, Cam and Willow go on several dates. He comes over to her house one afternoon so that he, Rose, and Willow can go for a picnic and check on the progress of reconstructing the mines. Rose excitedly gives him a new T-shirt that has a giant unicorn on it. He proudly puts it on over his other shirt.

Rose is extremely excited as they go through the newly reinforced tunnels of the mine. Cam gives her a hard hat and a backpack with the mine’s new logo, which Willow designed. Throughout their trip, Willow is hesitant, still recalling the day she fell down a shaft and got lost in the mine as a kid. As they leave the mines, Cam’s cell phone rings. It’s Xander, who tells Cam that their father left with Walt.

When Cam arrives at his father’s house, Arthur is back. He and Walt argue with Xander on the porch. Walt insists that he just did what Arthur asked and took him into town, while Arthur points out that he’s completely lucid today. He then opens up his shirt to show why he went into town: He has a tattoo across his chest that reads “do not resuscitate” (240). Both Cam and Walt support Arthur, dismissing Xander’s anger.

Three weeks later, Cam and Willow go to the opening day of tourist season. As they approach the crowd, Cam hesitates, still uncomfortable with the idea of being with Willow in public. He isn’t concerned about how it will affect him but worries that it will cause too much gossip and criticism for Willow. Despite his feelings, Willow forces him to take her hand as they walk through the crowd. When Cam and Willow reach Charity’s bar, Rose begs Cam to take her around town.

Cam takes Rose to the mine building, where tourists gather to look at the model of the mine. Rose immediately starts talking with Arthur, who is initially confused about who she is. However, as she tells him what she knows about the mine and asks him questions, the two bond. Rose tries to find the mine shaft that Willow fell down as a child, noting how she lost her unicorn pin there, but Arthur tells her that Willow could never remember where it happened.

Leaving Rose with Xander and Arthur, Cam crosses the street to the store. In the back room are supplies for the locals during opening day. He finds a pack of water to take back to Arthur but stops when Oscar calls out to him.

Oscar goads Cam several times about their fight at the bar and Cam’s relationship with Willow. Cam initially ignores him, convincing himself to keep his temper. However, after Oscar makes a comment about Sullivan, Cam snaps. He punches Oscar several times but stops when he hears Willow’s voice. Gid pulls Cam off Oscar, who protests that Cam should be arrested for assault, but Gid ignores him, assuring Cam that Oscar is okay.

Willow takes Cam outside. He insists that she should stay away from him because he’s violent and will never learn to control his temper. In addition, he alludes to the things he did in the war, saying that they would frighten her. However, she insists that she knows who he is beneath his anger. Despite her protests, Cam gives her the keys to his car and then walks away from her.

When Willow returns to the mine building, she talks to Arthur. He comments on how “good” Xander is, and Willow reminds him that Cam is good, too. However, Arthur tells her that Cam brought “balance” to their world. Xander was a happy child, so they expected Cam to be difficult. When he came, his wife fell into a deep depression. Willow realizes that Arthur has always blamed Cam for that, insisting that he’s the “bad” that balances out Xander. However, when Arthur calls her by her mother’s name, she realizes that he’s only partly coherent. She accuses Arthur of ruining Cam to the point that she doesn’t know how to fix him, leaving him overwhelmingly lonely. Arthur simply tells her, “All great and precious things are lonely” (266).

Willow tells Rose that they should return to her mother. Before leaving, she gives Xander several pencils, a few of which have sparkling unicorns. Rose watches Xander from the doorway for a few minutes and then steps outside. She tells Willow that she has a “hypothesis” but can’t share it yet.

On the way back to Charity, they run into Judge Bradley. They haven’t spoken since their confrontation at the diner. She notes that he has a sparkling unicorn on his name badge. When he sees Willow looking at it, he tells her that he encourages Rose to still believe that things “glitter.” As Willow looks at him, she wonders when he stopped looking at things so optimistically—at least with her. She tells him that he should look for the beauty in Cam, and he tells her that he has but doesn’t think there is any.

Willow pauses and considers her father. She realizes that things went too far with Charity and now her relationship with her father is ruined. She wonders if she has passed that point or if she’s just on the edge. She hugs her father, insisting that she loves him—even if she disappoints him. She leaves before he can respond.

Willow takes Cam’s Jeep back to his house. He isn’t there, so she wonders whether she should wait or leave and give him space. She realizes where she saw the quote that Arthur repeated about loneliness. She goes into the library and finds Cam’s copy of East of Eden. In it, she finds the same quote, but Cam didn’t mark it in the book; instead, he highlighted the next line: “Timshel—though mayest” (271). She realizes that Cam believes he can determine his own destiny—despite the person whom people have made him out to be. As she sees him outside working on a greenhouse he’s building, she decides that she’ll fight for him.

As Cam works on the greenhouse, he hears Willow come up behind him. She leaves a scroll of paper on top of his plans and leaves. Cam then unrolls the paper and finds a white rook. It’s the mirror to the black one that he left for her years ago, after she started dating Sullivan and he left for the military. Although they weren’t really speaking at the time—since he was caught up in his jealousy—he left it for her as a way of “telling her silently that no matter what [he]’d said or done over that shitty summer, she could still depend on [him]” (272). Cam is relieved that she still wants to try with him, despite what he said to her at the festival.

Cam goes inside and finds Willow in the library. He tries to speak, but she insists that he listen to her. She tells him that he can pretend like he isn’t good enough for her or that he’s protecting her from the town by not being with her. However, it’s her choice to be with him, and she knows the truth: He’s afraid that she’ll hurt him. He protects himself by insisting that he isn’t good enough, while deep down, he’s afraid that he’ll do something to hurt her or make her leave him, and he’ll be heartbroken. She admits that they both care about the town and want to make it better but acknowledges that they’re also prepared to deal with their judgment and criticism. When she finishes, Cam kisses her. They have sex for the first time.