Chapter 2 Ontario

CHAPTER 2… ONTARIO

It was a bright and sunny day when Kate's flight landed in Ontario. She came out of the airport gates wearing a simple sleeveless white gown, a pair of sandals, and a beach hat to keep the sun at bay. White, fluffy clouds drifted slowly across the clear, blue sky. The weather looked beautiful.

Kate pulled her large suitcase with one hand behind her carefully. In her other hand, she held her phone and dialed a string of numbers. Watson had arranged a cab driver for her before she left LA and it was the driver she was trying to reach now.

After a few rings, the call connected. An elderly man’s voice greeted her from the other side and he asked if she had arrived. She replied that she had and he told her where he was waiting before Kate ended the call and made a beeline to where he had said.

The man helped her put her suitcase in the trunk and started to car to take Kate to the apartment that had been arranged after she signed the contract. According to Watson, the apartment was only a seven minute walk to the company. That way, she wouldn’t be late to work. That was actually very thoughtful of Watson because Kate was almost always late to work. It was either her alarm didn’t ring, or it did at a wrong time: or it rang and she turned it off: or she couldn’t get a cab quickly. Whichever it was, Watson had given her solutions to them. ***

The cab driver’s voice reached Kate and she opened her eyes to see that had come to a stop in front of a one floor bungalow that was rounded by a very short iron fence. Surrounding it were exotic flowers and well groomed trees.

Kate was just about to ask whose house it was because it couldn’t be her temporary home when the driver spoke again.

“Mr. Watson says to drop you off here, ma’am.” He said and shoved his right hand into his pocket to fetch a single key. He stretched his arms for her to take the key but Kate only stared at him with wide eyes. “He also said to give you this.”

Kate broke off her silly trance and grabbed the key from the man and examined it for a while before looking up at him. “Who else lives there?”

“I do not know, madam.” He replied, shaking his head. “I’m sorry.”

Kate nodded with a smile and opened the door to come out of the car. The driver also came out and removed her suitcase from the trunk. He handed it to her with a smile and turned to return to his cab when Kate halted him.

“Wait!” She called and he turned to her. She opened her handbag and pulled out all the cash in it to give to him. It wasn’t much, maybe only a hundred and fifty dollars. She would just find an ATM later.

She handed the money to him. “Here it’s not much, though.”

The man shook his head and smiled. He replied, “All expenses have been covered by Watson, ma’am. Thank you.”

Kate's brows rose. What exactly did Watson stand to gain in all this?

All the same, she shook her head and held out her hand even more. “Take it as a tip. From me.”

“I insist” she added with a little pout.

The driver smiled, amused by her reaction. She seemed very open; he thought and took the money from her.

“Thank you.” He whispered and Kate's smile widened as she waved the man off into his cab.

Once he was gone, she turned to face her apartment –maybe mansion- and sighed.

After a few seconds, she trod forward and let herself past the fence. The pathway from the fence gates to the main doors of the house was decorated with marble stones and she walked on them till the front doors when she inserted the key, turned it, and pushed it open only to freeze at the spot.

Immaculate.

That was the first word that came to Kate's mind when the living room came into her view. The room was sparkling as if it had just being cleaned. The furniture and electronics were covered in pieces of white fabric to keep the dust off them.

Kate took a rasp breath and let it out slowly before walking inside slowly. The door closed behind her with a small bang. As she walked further into the room, she ran her fingers on the covered furniture. She was still overwhelmed and unable to comprehend why someone who go this far to ruin another person’s life.

With a very small shake of head, she dismissed the thoughts and looked around the room. Far behind, there were three single doors. She opened the first one to find a well equipped kitchen.

“Mum would kill to have this,” she muttered, her voice drooping to a husky tone when she thought of her mother. She couldn’t call as her mum might be sleeping. Later, she decided and closed the door to open the one a few meters from it. That one was a large bedroom, painted white from floor to ceiling with a large bed in the middle of the room. In a corner of the bedroom were two doors and she opened to find a bathroom and closet. The third door at the side was a bedroom too.

Kate dropped her suitcase in the bedroom and returned to kitchen. She wanted to get familiar with the house before taking a quick nap. Then later, when the sun was setting, she would take a stroll outside to get familiar with the street *** An hour after she had taken a shower, Amber decided to call Watson. It rang for a few minutes before Watson picked. His voice was cheerily joyed when he spoke.

“Arrived?” he asked and Kate hummed, wondering why he sounded happy.

“Yes, sir,”

“Good!” Watson greeted her with a small laugh. “Get settled in. Tomorrow’s Monday and I expect you to be at the office before eight am, Kate Roosevelt.”

Kate let out an inaudible sigh. “Better than having to come in at seven, sir” she replied with a smirk on her face. “Will do sir. Thank you.”

“Keep me updated.” Watson said and ended the call.

Kate tossed the phone aside before closing her eyes and in a matter of minutes, she had drifted off to sleep.

***** When she woke up, it was almost seven in the evening. Kate showered, changed into a pair of sweatpants and stepped out of the house.

She had promised herself an evening tour of Ontario when she landed and she was going to do just that.

As she strolled along the pedestrian slowly, Kate made sure to keep in mind her way home. It was her first time in Ontario and getting lost was definitely not in her Todo list.

Kate came to stop in front of a restaurant. It looked simple and classy so, she decided to go in.

Taking a seat by the glass window, from where she could see the roads clearly, she relaxed. A waiter came afterwards and she made a simple order for a cup of chocolate coffee as some cakes.

While she was waiting, a young lady approached her table with a polite smile on her face.

"Hi," she greeted warmly, "can I sit here?"

Kate nodded with a smile and watched as the lady made herself comfortable.

"I'm Lara. Lara D" the lady said, introducing herself. "I'm sorry to inconvenience you, I just had a bit of a problem."

K shook her head and replied, "it's okay. I'm Kate, nice to meet you, Lara."

"Can I help you? Your problem?" Kate said, offering to help.

Lara smiled faintly and shook her head. "I just needed a place to lay low for a few minutes. At least until he leaves."

"Who?" Kata requested.

"My boyfriend." Lara replied, "I came out with someone else, his brother. So, I can't let him see us."

Kate's eyes went wide. "Oh, I understand."

They say in silence until the waiter delivered Kate's order. She politely requested for it to be packaged as she had something to do.

It was a lie, she just didn't want to be around the lady. Everything about her screamed trouble and that was the one thing Kate so desperately wanted to avoid.

The waiter got back to the kitchen and packaged the cakes and coffee. A few minutes later, he returned.

Kate paid her bills and made to leave. She turned to Lara with a smile.

"I'd take my leave now"

Lara nodded and pulled out a black and golden card from her purse. She handed it to Kate. "Do reach out to me, thank you"

Kate took a look at the card. Lara Devon, Legal Affairs, it read in block letters. She nodded and turned to leave.

"Hope we meet again." Lara said.

'hopefully not,' Kate thought to herself.

When she arrived at her apartment, she changed into her pajamas, had her cake and crashed on the bed.

The morning was going to be long and very interesting.