Wilderness Borne

by Mikayla Gabby-Green

  It didn’t take long before he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

  ***

  Daphne woke up to the smell of coffee and the sound of the shower.

  She cracked her eye open, looking at her coffee maker that was running and seeing the door to the shower was closed.

  She stretched like a cat, a demure smile on her face as she thought about last night.

  She found a sheet over her and let out a sigh. She knew that it couldn’t last. Already she was moving too fast and she had so much she needed to do. The problem was that it felt so good; she wanted to stay but she knew that it wasn’t possible.

  Her eyes caught on that notebook as she fell into thought, thinking about her ideas, her plan that seemed to unravel in her head.

  It was risky. There was no guarantee that she would get any business or that it would work, but she was willing to try.

  To follow those dreams, she would have to rely on herself. She hadn’t relied on anyone else up to this point and she wouldn’t have the time for a relationship.

  These thoughts made that smile on her face fade.

  The shower turned off. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and got up, moving to the coffee machine to make herself a cup.

  It wasn’t long until James came out of the shower with a towel. “Hope you don’t mind me using your towel.”

  “No worries.” She smiled as he moved closer, his skin still damp as he pushed her up against the counter.

  She looked up into his eyes, feeling the strength returning to his lower body as her body tingled once again from last night.

  James looked at her, clearly wanting another kiss, but he pulled back and started gathering his clothes.

  “You going to get Julia?” Daphne asked.

  “Yeah,” James said, looking ot her to gauge her reaction.

  “Do you want to meet her, it’s okay if you don’t want to,” James said, Daphne could almost see the vulnerability in his eyes.

  She felt torn as she forced a smile.

  “Yeah sure,” She said feeling guilty inside as another party of her mind had made a decision. She didn’t want to get suckled into this thing, whatever this thing was, she just wanted some fun, she didn’t want a relationship, or a kid, it was too sudden, too scary.

  She thought she would be okay, but seeing James, she just didn’t want to break this little fantasy that they had going on.

  Internally she was already planning out how to escape, to try and save her self from it all.

  “Sorry, it’s a long drive, so I’m going to grab her and the boys from their camp. They’ve got the next two days off,” James said, a loving smile on his face.

  “All right, I’ll be off, but I’ll see you later.” He pulled his shirt on and stood. He pulled her to him with one arm, giving her a slow kiss as one of his fingers sneaked around back, parting her lower lips slightly, making her step back in shock as her gaze turned heated.

  He winked and with that, he was out the door, heading up to the cabin.

  Daphne walked to her couch and sat down, looking at the notebook on her table. She could see out of her blinds as he got in his truck and drove away. She looked over her own notes and the ideas there.

  Thoughts flittered through her mind before she finally came to a decision. It wasn’t an easy one.

  She put down the coffee and cleaned up her camper.

  Chapter Return

  “How are you!” James smiled as Julia ran up to him with a smile.

  He got on a knee and hugged her as the two brothers, Adrian and Kyle, badgered each other.

  “I had so much fun! I can’t wait to come back next week!” she said excitedly, practically bouncing.

  “Make any new friends?” he asked them all.

  “I made tons! There was Lucy, Beckie, Sally! We all went to play with arts and crafts and I made something for you, Dad!” She quickly pulled out a crudely made dream catcher.

  “It looks amazing. Do you know what dream catchers are for?” James asked.

  The boys were starting to get more physical as they complained at each other.

  “Come on, you two. Calm it down. I’ll even put the windows down and we can go fishing later if you behave,” James said.

  “Okay, Uncle James,” Kyle said, smiling happily with a gap in his teeth where his adult teeth were coming in.

  Adrian even brightened up a bit but kept his pouting face on.

  Julia frowned at the two, which seemed to be better than any threat or treat James could come up with as he opened up the truck.

  “A dream catcher is meant to take away your bad dreams and give you good ones,” Julia said, as if nothing had happened.

  “Oh?” James said.

  “That’s what Miss Leoulle said!”

  “Well, I’ve never had a dream catcher before,” James said, praising her as everyone got up into the truck. James checked their seat belts as Julia told him all about her week.

  He listened in and asked her questions, smiling at how eager and excited she was by it all.

  He hooked up a video for the boys on the screens in the back. They quickly settled in. He had long ago learned how to keep them controlled for a few hours.

  He got into the truck and drove away, heading away from the camp and talking to Julia the entire time.

  James smiled at her, wondering what Daphne would think of the little tyke. His smile only widened, thinking of how Julia would undoubtedly get Daphne to do what she wanted.

  He was also apprehensive, not knowing how the two of them would be together, but he hoped for the best.

  ***

  Daphne finished pulling out the connections and checked on the fifth wheel, seeing that it was attached to her truck.

  She looked out over the bay. Hesitation appeared but she quickly pushed it down. She pulled on her sunglasses. Checking the last of the blocks were away and everything was set, she got up into the truck and started it up.

  Slowly, she drove down the rough gravel road, away from the bay. She felt as if she were leaving behind something important.

  It was just a summer romance. It would fade with time. It was just a summer fling. He has a daughter and probably an ex-wife. You just lost your job. If you want to build this idea you have, it’s going to take work. If you were to try to go out with him, it wouldn’t be fair.

  That was what she convinced of herself as she looked over the bay one more time, feeling as if it was the right thing, even if she wanted to stretch it out for a few more days. He had left a deep impression on her that would be hard to resist.

  “Call Reggie,” she said to the voice-activated system.

  The call started ringing, until a man’s voice answered on the other end.

  “Enjoying your summer vacation? It’s strange, you being up this early,” Reggie teased.

  There was another man’s voice in the background.

  “You know, you didn’t have to quit when I quit,” Daphne said.

  “Are you dumb? The only reason I was there was for you, girl. I ain’t letting none of those greasy old men get my talents after the way they treated you,” Reggie said, making his stance firm.

  “Well, how would you like to start something new?” Daphne said.

  “You know I don’t swing that way, hun.” Daphne could hear the smile in his voice.

  “A job, Reggie—a job. And not the kind that you gave the man in the background last night.”

  “Oh, someone’s got their fire back,” Reggie said, clearly looking for rumors and gossip.

  “I want to start up my own firm—target the start-ups, the things that are growing. I want to focus on environment regulations and law, take us out of the whole corporate law shit,” Daphne said.

  “I do like me some trees, and lumberjacks,” Reggie said.

  “I’m on my way back. I’m not sure how it will go, but you’re the first person I called.”

  “Daphne, you’re a dear.” Reggie sounded genuinely touched. “He
ll, I’m in! I know that there’ll be people lining up at your door the day we start. What do you need from me?”

  “First, let’s get a contract sorted out between us. I want you to use your contacts. We’re going to need enough staff to get us up and running. An office to work out of, maybe one of those co-working spaces, offer our services to reduce the cost possibly?”

  “All right. When will you be back?”

  “I’m on the road right now. I’m dropping off the camper—shouldn’t be longer than four days,” Daphne said.

  “Okay, I’ll start looking into things here. I won’t put the word out until everything is up and running.”

  “Thanks, Reg,” Daphne said, feeling a lot better after talking to her secretary. “Thanks for everything.”

  “We’re a team and you’re the captain. I’ll follow you anywhere, girl. Just remember to help a brother out when you’re going to the club next. I need to find me something new.”

  “Talk to you later, Reggie.” Daphne laughed him off, closing the call.

  Her mind turned to James once again before she turned on her playlist and focused on driving.

  ***

  James drove down the gravel road. All of the kids were getting excited now that they were getting close to the cottage.

  James smiled as they came out from under the trees, seeing the bay and the cabin. James’s smile froze and his stomach dropped as he looked where Daphne’s camper was.

  He took a second and third glance, as if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

  It was like a stone in his gut as he looked at where the camper had been.

  He forced his eyes on the cabin as he beeped his horn.

  Paul, who had been around back, came out. Cathy opened the door as he parked the truck.

  The kids were released, charging out of the truck, and raced off. Julia ran up to Cathy, while the two boys shot off toward the water.

  Paul shook his head, yelling after them. “Nice to see you, too, Adrian, Kyle!”

  James walked over to Paul, whose smile faded as he took a deep breath. He didn’t say anything, just clapped James on the shoulder, confirming his thoughts and what he was seeing.

  Just like that, she had gathered her camper and run off.

  He looked at Julia and smiled, letting out a sigh. Out of everything he had accomplished, his greatest achievement was Julia. She might be a pain at times, but he saw himself as a lucky man to have a daughter as amazing as her.

  He was hurt at Daphne running away, he knew he would be for some time, but he could use other things to dull it.

  Cathy sent Julia off into the house as she walked over to Paul and James.

  “I’m going to check the boys don’t drown each other,” Paul said, heading off.

  “Good luck.” James headed over to Cathy.

  “James…” Her sympathy was clear.

  “It’s okay, Cath. It was fun while it lasted. At least she went now, instead of meeting Julia and then disappearing.”

  Cathy held back her words and hugged him before letting him go.

  James’s eyes moved to where the camper had been again before he headed up to the cabin with Cathy beside him.

  Chapter Growing Pains

  Daphne looked out of her office at the snow starting to come down. She had started just a few months ago, as soon as she returned to Toronto. With Reggie’s help, she had created Thomas and Santiago LLC.

  They had rapidly built their base, bringing professional expertise to start-ups. They even got on retainer for a few of the more promising start-ups that were growing. In the start-up world, things grew rapidly. Daphne had been swamped with work but she took it all on. After all, the more she worked, the greater her results.

  She looked at that snow as it started to fall down below. Summer and autumn had come and gone; winter was upon them.

  She thought back to those wild few days with James. She couldn’t help but smile, even if it had a bit of regret in it. She was happy with her business but a part of her thought of what might’ve happened if she had been able to stay. How would their relationship have developed?

  She shook her head. This was not the first time that she had these thoughts. She had gone through the summer and autumn without any guy who made her feel that way, so she’d focused on business.

  “We got it!” Reggie came into her office.

  “We got what?” She looked at Reggie’s excited face.

  He had slicked-back hair, a handsome face, and he looked after himself, with his expensive and stylish suit. “With Wilderness Outreach Incubator, only one of the top three incubators and start-ups in all of Toronto!” Reggie put down his tablet with the email on it.

  “What?” She looked at it. The Wilderness Outreach was a start-up that gained funding as an incubator focused on green initiatives. As they grew and came to have their own capital, they started to back a lot of fights against other companies and groups that were going against environmental regulations.

  The government was stretched thin; having a private organization take them on was a dream, so they helped out with a number of grants as well.

  Now they were one of the biggest corporations that looked to create green and innovative technologies while reducing the amount of environmental malpractice within Canada.

  They had a case that they needed a new legal team to deal with, and there were talks that they wanted to keep this new legal team on retainer indefinitely if they were able to resolve the case.

  Reggie had delved deeper and it wasn’t just a rumor: it was true. They wanted to have access to a legal team around the clock to grow their ability to take on more cases.

  “We got a meeting with them and they sent over the information that they have. I also just got a message that there are four other legal teams that got the same message. It looks like they will be looking at us all. Based on how we perform, we might pull them in as our client!”

  It was a big win for them if they could pull it off.

  “All right, send me the information right now. Let’s pull things together. When do they need it by?”

  Reggie grabbed his tablet. “They want it in two weeks. Sending the documents to you now.” Reggie pressed the Send button on his tablet.

  It popped up on Daphne’s computer. “Okay, I’ll get started on it now.”

  “Order in?” Reggie asked.

  Daphne looked at the time. It was already reaching four o’clock. “Put it on the corporate card.”

  “You got it!” Reggie said with a devilish smile and left the office.

  Daphne moved closer to the monitor and looked over the information there.

  ***

  James was dressed in a striking suit that brought out his eyes and complemented his rugged features. He drove his electric car; he signaled into another lane, having to force his way in through the jammed-up streets.

  He fought through the different streets until he finally reached the school. Its parking lot was filled with cars. He quickly parked and got out of the car.

  He flapped his winter jacket against the cold as he quickly walked toward the school. His breath left smoke as he reached the front door to the school and opened it.

  Julia was talking to her friends also in the after-school program. “Got to go!” she said, noticing her father after a few minutes.

  “Thanks for looking after her,” James said to her teacher, a Miss D’Orsay.

  “It’s no problem at all. Hope you have a good night.” She looked to Julia, who was all bundled up and holding out her hand.

  James grabbed her hand in his. “Ready?”

  “Yes!” Julia said.

  He opened the door and led her outside.

  “It’s snowing!” Julia yelled, seeing the snow coming down.

  “Yes, it is.” James laughed.

  “Do you think I’ll get a snow day tomorrow?” Julia’s eyes went wide.

  “I don’t know, maybe.”

  “Woo-hoo!” She skipped around, p
ulling on her dad’s arm.

  James laughed and got her into the car, making sure that she was safely tucked in. He got into the driver’s seat and they took off, away from the school and back into traffic.

  “Just one day I hope to go through this city without getting stopped every other street by traffic,” James muttered.

  Chapter Class Action with Wilderness Outreach

  Daphne strode through the main doors of the incubator. They owned a renovated older building near the bay.

  Exposed brick, metal, and glass met them as they moved up to the main desk.

  It seemed almost like a campus in the incubator. There were people from start-ups that were located within, other business people coming and going. Meetings were taking place in comfortable chairs, offices, and meeting rooms, or at the two cafeterias. At the main desk, people were guiding new arrivals and passing out information.

  Reggie was a half-step behind her as she made it to the front desk.

  “Hello. How can I help you?” the woman at the desk asked.

  “Hello. I am here for a meeting. My name is Daphne Thomas.” Daphne smiled.

  “Right. Who are you meeting with?” the secretary asked.

  “James Waters,” Daphne said.

  The secretary looked up and examined her closer and then turned back to her screen. A lot of people wanted to see Mister Waters but he had limited time as he was always involved in different projects. He mostly did emails; face-to-face meetings were rare.

  Daphne had found this out from Reggie. She had been focused on the case, letting Reggie gather all the extra information that they might require.

  “I have your appointment here. If you go up to the fifth floor and go to the secretary there, she will be able to guide you to the meeting room.” The secretary smiled as she confirmed the meeting.

  “Thank you.” Daphne walked past, with Reggie taking in the office space. It was comfortable and warm. There was an edible wall with the cafeterias underneath declaring that all of their products were locally sourced.