Chapter 2 Ellis
ELLIS
I pulled out of the Quik-Fuel parking lot with a full thermos and a head full of thoughts I probably shouldn't be having about the sweet kid who worked the graveyard shift.
Adam’s eyes seemed gloomy, and he'd been fidgeting with everything on the counter like he couldn't sit still.
I wanted to ask if he was okay, but that felt like overstepping.
We weren't friends. I was just a customer at the gas station he worked at, and we saw each other every morning when I was on my way to work.
I had no right to be in his business. And yet, there were so many things I wanted to know about him.
For the past few months, I’d looked forward to those five minutes with him each day more than I should and usually found an excuse to swing by on the weekends too because he was almost always there. That kid seemed to work seven days a week, so it was no wonder he was tired.
I turned onto the highway and took a long drink of my coffee. It was fine but not the reason I couldn’t wait to pick it up every morning.
I was half done with it when I reached my first job site.
The residential property was in the nicer part of town.
The Hendersons wanted their backyard transformed into a native plant sanctuary, which was exactly the kind of project I loved.
It was good money and I got to be creative, which wasn’t always the case.
As much as I loved spending my days outside instead of stuck in an office, mowing and trimming and whacking all day wasn’t always as exciting as it sounded.
But today was going to be a fun day of planning, sketching, and spending someone else’s money with a bit of planting thrown in there. All things I loved to do.
I backed my truck into the driveway and started unloading equipment. Shovels, rakes, bags of soil amendments, and some flats of ground cover I'd picked up from the nursery yesterday. Some physical work was what I needed.
Losing myself in the rhythm of digging and arranging allowed my mind to go quiet while my body did what it knew how to do.
Even though my mind kept drifting back to Adam.
I started working the soil for the existing section that just needed to be cleaned up.
I layered the dirt with compost and sand to improve drainage close to the house.
They had clay soil, so it compacted and held water in a way that could be very good or very bad for landscapes.
But plants could be picky, so I worked section by section to make sure the bed was perfect before I put anything in the ground.
As I worked, I kept picturing the way Adam had looked at me when I said he shouldn't be working alone. Those big eyes were wide with surprise by my concern, then he looked away like he didn't know what to do with it.
Or me.
I wanted to push him for answers or even just some conversation, but I worried he might get spooked if I came on too strong.
He was sweet and gentle and needed to be handled with kid gloves. And I meant that literally. I didn’t know much about Adam, but I knew he was special, and if the time were ever right to really get to know him outside of work, I would jump at the chance.
Until then, I had to survive on the cute moments we shared every morning. Like the way he fidgeted with his keys when he was nervous, seeking comfort in repetitive actions while he cast shy glances my way. And the smiles that lit up his whole face when I walked in the door.
When other people were there, he was more reserved. He moved in a carefully choreographed way as if he were trying to take up less space. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it.
Whatever reason behind it, every move he made was captivating. I couldn’t take my eyes off the boy, and some instinct inside me just wanted to take care of him.
I slammed the shovel into the ground harder than necessary and focused on my work. It wasn't the right time to be thinking about what-ifs. I had a job to do, and the Hendersons were paying good money for it to be done right.
After those garden beds were done, I pulled out my design sketches and laid them on the tailgate of my truck so I could double-check the next stage I needed to focus on.
Native grasses were going across the back fence line for height and movement.
We planned to put some black-eyed Susans and coneflowers in the middle of the yard for color, with low-growing sedums and wild strawberries in the front to fill in the gaps.
It was gonna look amazing.
At ten, Mrs. Henderson came out with a glass of lemonade. She was a friendly woman in her sixties, and the kind of client who actually cared about what I was doing and the thought process behind every plant and placement.
"It's really coming together, Ellis." She handed me the glass and dragged her fingers through the grass. "I love how the colors and textures play off each other."
"That's the goal." I drank half the lemonade in one go. "Native plants are supposed to look like they belong here. No formal rows or forced symmetry. You can just let them do their thing."
“That’s my kind of garden.” She smiled and then headed back inside. I finished the lemonade and got back to work. There was something satisfying about taking a flat piece of dirt and turning it into something alive and unique and beautiful.
By noon, I was done with the ground work for the day and needed to take some measurements for the lumber store. The pergola needed to go in before I could place the medicinal succulents she wanted to surround it.
I took a break in the shade of my truck and inhaled the simple turkey-and-cheese sandwich I'd packed for lunch.
Just as I finished up, my phone buzzed with two new job requests that had come in through the website.
One wanted a consultation for a commercial property downtown and the other needed help with a dying oak that was threatening to fall on their garage.
I responded to both and set up appointments for later in the week.
That was the part of being my own boss that I liked.
Having a flexible schedule and a good variety of work was worth the sunburns and sore back I dealt with more often than not.
The paperwork wasn’t fun, and I had to deal with difficult clients sometimes, but it beat the hell out of working for someone who kept all the money and did none of the sweating.
I was heading home at the end of the day, ready for a hot shower and to prop up my feet when my phone rang from an unknown number. I almost let it go to voicemail, but clients had access to my mobile, so ignoring calls just meant having to listen to voice mail and call back later.
Hoping it wasn’t a telemarketer, I sighed and answered. "Deep Roots Landscaping, this is Ellis."
"Oh thank god." A woman was on the other line, and she sounded panicked. "This is Sarah from the Quik-Fuel on Route 9. We have a massive wasp situation, and our second shift guy just got stung. Like, really badly. He's having a reaction, and we need this handled before the overnight shift starts."
“Adam?” My heart started racing at the thought he might be hurt.
“What?” She sounded confused and then realized what I meant. “Oh, no. Ronny was working when it happened. Adam comes in later.”
Thank fuck. "I can be there in about thirty minutes." I thought about what I needed for wasps. "Where's the nest?"
"Back corner of the building, under the eaves. Poor guy didn't even see them until they were all over him." She sounded genuinely worried. "He's on his way to urgent care and should be fine, but we can't have customers getting attacked. Corporate is gonna have my ass if someone gets hurt."
And I’d have “corporate’s” ass if Adam got hurt. "Yeah, of course. I'll take care of it. See you soon."
I hung up and continued to my house to get what I needed.
I didn’t have a ladder with me that would reach their roof, and I needed to pick up my bee gear and the soapy concoction I used in these situations.
A wasp nest wasn't my usual job, but they popped up where I least expected them.
My protective suit, heavy-duty spray, and the shop vac for cleanup were probably all I needed for the store.
And the best part of this evening job was that I'd be at the Quik-Fuel when Adam showed up for work.
If things went well, maybe I could find an opportunity to ask him out properly.
Not just small talk over a cup of coffee, but an actual conversation.
Dinner before his shift would be the perfect way to see him on a regular basis, if he was interested.
And if I didn't chicken out like I had every other morning for the past few months.
I finally made it to the gas station by six. Sarah was waiting outside, looking frazzled and exhausted. She looked to be in her thirties, with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and wearing the standard Quik-Fuel polo that I saw on Adam every day.
"You must be Ellis." She shook my hand, and her shoulders dropped like she could finally relax.
Handing over the stress of this situation to a professional had to be a huge relief for her.
"Thank you so much for coming on short notice.
The nest is back here. I've been keeping customers away from that side of the building, but we really need to get this sorted before someone else gets hurt. "
I followed her around back and immediately saw the problem. The nest was wedged into a gap between the roof and an old electrical box, so it was awkward to get to. It was bigger than my head and absolutely crawling with yellow jackets. This wasn't a quick spray-and-go job.
"Yeah, this is gonna take some time." I was already mentally calculating what I needed to do.
"They're overly aggressive this time of year because they're protecting the queen.
I'll need to suit up and hit them at dusk when they're less active.
If I go in now, they'll swarm and someone's definitely getting stung. " Most likely me.
Sarah checked her watch and frowned. "How long are we talking?"
"An hour or so, probably. Once the sun starts going down, I’ll take care of it."
She chewed her lip as she nodded. "Okay. That works. I'll be inside if you need anything. Help yourself to coffee or whatever."
I spent the next hour getting everything ready and watching the wasps move around.
Yellow jackets were aggressive as hell and territorial, which meant the nest was in the worst possible spot, tucked into a corner where I had limited room to work.
One wrong move would just piss them off and make them all attack.
As the sun started to drop, the wasps began to slow down. They were still active, but they were lethargic enough that I felt comfortable getting the job done with minimal pain.
Standing several feet back, I hit them with the first spray of the soapy water that almost instantly took them down.
Then I hit the entrance hole with a concentrated blast and waited for the liquid to work its way through the nest. The wasps that were still active got more aggressive and started buzzing around in confused patterns.
A few hit my face shield as they tried to find a way through, but nothing made it through my gear.
A few minutes later, I went in with a second round. This time, I got the nest itself, coating the paper structure until it was soaked through. The remaining wasps fell, and landed on the ground in a heap. I swept them into an empty paint bucket with more of the mixture and sealed the lid on top.
By eight-thirty, I was able to use a scraper to pry the nest loose from under the eave.
It broke free in several chunks of paper and dead wasps right into the container I'd set up below.
It was disgusting work, but someone had to do it.
Once everything was safely contained, I sealed the container again and then started the cleanup process.
I tried to keep one eye on the employee parking lot to watch out for Adam, but it wasn’t easy to see who was coming and going from where I was working.
Part of me hoped he’d already arrived and would be waiting inside for the good news about the nest being gone, but part of me wanted to sit back and watch him pull in so I could time my announcement to when he would be alone before starting his shift.
I packed the last of my equipment into my truck and headed inside to wash up. My hands were covered in dirt and soapy residue. Sarah was still at the counter when I walked through. “All done out there. You don’t need to worry about stings anymore.”
“Thank you!” She ran both hands into her hair and stood there with her elbows pointed outward. “That was so scary. I didn’t even want to walk to the parking lot until they were gone.”
I grinned and ducked my chin as I continued toward the restroom. “You’re safe now. Is your replacement here yet?”
She glanced at her watch and sighed. “Adam should be here any minute. Thanks again.”
The bathroom was small and cramped, but they kept it clean enough. I scrubbed my hands under hot water and watched the dirt swirl down the drain before splashing my face to clean off the top layer. It had been a long fucking day.
Through the wall, I heard the chime of the front door and some muffled chatting.
Well, it was time. I stalled for another minute to give Sarah time to leave before I took a deep breath and headed for the door.
Time to find out if Adam was interested in seeing me outside of work.