Wisteria Cottage

Hickory Dickory Dock

I didn't sleep much last night, even after wearing myself out a little bit biking, so I gave up on staring at the ceiling and decided to do my run a little earlier than usual. After seeing the swimming area, complete with a swinging rope that Finn swore was fun and I agreed to try sometime, he'd climbed back into the cart behind my bike and let me peddle home. I only almost killed us once which I think is pretty good considering I've never ridden before. On the way home he received a call and that put an end to our fun. When I'd gotten us as close to the house as I could before hopping off, he grabbed his bike, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and then told me he'd had a great time. It was sweet, really, but I'd hoped he would come in.

I had a lot of energy to burn this morning and pushed 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 Finn 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!"

"Jack's not picking up" Finn 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 Finn 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 heard any of that. "You're working already?" I ask Finn.

"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 Finn does. I look down at my running clothes, then at Finn 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 Finn, 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."

"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 Finn has to count 18 flats of assorted of thyme. The grumpy man comes back and stares at us, arms crossed, for the last few plants but eventually we get through it, Finn 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 Finn! I know you.." and then he sees me and I can read his thoughts clearly. He doesn't want to spill Finn'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 Finn's dyslexia. "I'll grab the invoice. Can you check for me?"

"It's done" Finn 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." Two huge pairs of draft horses 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 Finn."

"He was probably gonna—-"

I don't mind staying and I'm certainly not gonna walk past either end of those horses. "No problem." I read while Finn 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 Finn could do it if I decided to give it a try. No, I needed to stop. Running shorts hide NOTHING.

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

Finn 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 in the ground."

Stupid crush check. Yep, still there. "I uh, have lots of food. Wanna come over for dinner?"

"Wondered what you were gonna do with a whole watermelon. Sure. What time?"

"Whenever you're free." Look at me, being all relaxed. There's something in the water here, perhaps. Or maybe I'm high from all the flowers. Finn looks like he feels bad about leaving so I take off up the hill slowly, warming my muscles back up.