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, pulling 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.