Wisteria Cottage

Hickory Dickory Dock

*** You know me and names, I change them.  Finn is now Lyam because we had a Finn in Wreckless.  I will go back and change these sometime.  Maybe.

** Carter **

I didn't sleep much last night, even after wearing myself out a little bit biking and helping sleep along with some wine, so I give up on staring at the ceiling and decide to do my run a little earlier than usual.

I have a lot of energy to burn this morning and push myself a little too hard so when the dock comes into view, I decide to slow down enough to get a look at the ferries. These aren't the passenger ferries, they don't seem to run super early; instead this is all cargo and a few workers who hitched a ride. There are a group of ladies in Rose Hotel uniforms coming up the walk, and then I notice Lyam down in the loading zone surrounded by plants. He takes a clipboard from, no, no, some dude is shoving a clipboard at him and yelling. I look around for Cowboy Jack but don't see him. I honestly consider not putting my nose in where it doesn't belong for about half a second but nope, the cop in me wins out. I head down.

"It's all there" the man says, loudly. "If you won't sign for it, get someone down here who will! The other company never leaves me hanging!"

"Jack's not picking up" Lyam replies slowly. "He's probably on his way though. I called Alyssa but she can't get down here for about 20 minutes."

"The ferry will be gone by then!" the cragged man hollers. "What's the use of you if you can't do anything?"

I've never seen Lyam with anything other than a smile on his face. Unbelievably, he now seems more sad than angry. "I'm here to help sort."

"Hey" I say, waving. I am absolutely pretending that I didn't hear any of that. "You're working already?" I ask Lyam.

"I seem to be the only one, unfortunately. Jordan can't make it and Jack is... I don't know. He's never late."

The dude in overalls older than me says "Can you sign for this?" He thrusts the clipboard towards me while his other hand sort of waves at the stacks of plants. "I got places to be. It's all here."

I take the clipboard just so he'll stop waving it in people's faces. I apparently have a lot less patience than my happy gardener does. I look down at my running clothes, then at Lyam in his 'Skye Landscaping' shirt. I'm about to sign this paper with 'up yours' and see if the dude notices. "Give us a minute" I tell the man who seems more than willing to huff back towards the boat. "What's going on?" I ask Lyam, whose shoulders have slumped.

"Sorry, this isn't your problem. I just hate that I... I can't sign for it."

"They don't pay you enough for that crap?" I joke, trying to put a smile back on his face.

"No, I mean I could but... um, I'm dyslexic. Severely. Trying to read that" he motioned towards the clipboard, "isn't a good idea and it would probably take me two hours anyway."

He's obviously unhappy that he had to tell me but I have no idea what the big deal is. I also don't know how to help. "What needs to happen? Can I read it to you? I mean, I have no idea what any of this is. What is a vibernum carlesii? I probably butchered that, didn't I? You should have two number threes? This is all Greek to me."

"I think it's mostly Latin" he jokes. "That's the Korean Spice..." It seems to make sense to him and he wanders over to a pallet of bushes. "Two number threes, they're here. But Carter? You don't have to stay, I'm sure someone will show up soon."

"I'm here now." I butcher a few more names, he corrects me on several, and then we get to a few things that I actually recognize. Begonia. Easy. Well, easier. The trademarked ones have the names written in English so they go super fast although poor Luke has to count 18 flats of assorted of thyme. "Supertunia Vista Indigo? I'm not sure this island is ready for SUPERtunias, whatever they are. Maybe just stick to regular tunias?"

Lyam laughs. "They're great petunias. Grow huge and deadhead themselves. I'm a fan. How many?"

I read off about eight different colors and there are shelves and shelves of each. The grumpy man comes back and stares at us, arms crossed, for the last few plants but eventually we get through it, Lyam signs, and the man stomps off.

We both look up as Cowboy Jack comes flying down the lane on his bicycle, practically skidding to a stop. "I'm sorry Lyam! I know you..." and then he sees me and I can read his thoughts clearly. He doesn't want to spill Sunshine's secret although it's not like it should have been one to start with but hey, if he wasn't gonna spread my name around, he won't talk about Lyam's dyslexia. "I'll grab the invoice. Can you check for me?"

"It's done" Lyam answers, smiling. "Carter helped."

Cowboy Jack's eyes get wide, then he smiles and holds out a hand for me to shake. "Thank you. I owe you a coffee." With the angry man gone, it's hard not to focus on the two huge pairs of draft horses that are hooked up to wagons. They've been staring at us for the past half hour but were far enough away that I've been able to mostly ignore them. At a wave from Jack, the jockeys/drivers/whatever give a quick command and the horses pull up one on either side of the plants, hemming us in. Jack passes me a sheet of paper. "Those are for Broadview, just read 'em out for Lyam."

"He was probably gonna—-"

I appreciate Lyam offering to save me but I don't mind staying and I'm certainly not gonna walk past either end of those horses. "No problem." I read while Lyam heaves huge flats of flowers and bushes that must weigh forty or fifty pounds up onto the wagon. I feel a bit guilty but also realize that he does this and much more on a regular basis. I've never been thrown around by a man I was fucking, but I have no doubt that Sunshine could do it if I decided to give it a try. No, I need to stop. Running shorts hide NOTHING.

The wagons are finally loaded and slowly the horses lumber up the steep incline. "Thanks Carter, for the help."

Lyam looks what? Embarrassed? "No problem. Sorry the dude was a jerk. Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of or anything."

"Eh, try getting called stupid all your life and not graduating high school. You'd be ashamed too. Anyway, thanks, really. I'll cook you something as a thank you. I have to get going though, we have a lot to get planted."

Stupid crush check. Yep, still there.