ANA Reborn by Carl Facciponte - HTML preview
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Chapter 39
brilliant New York State sun rose over the A greening hills of Kingston. The scent of the pines surrounding 'The Stables' floated into their room through the screens, carried in on the melody of birds singing to greet the morning.
Rhett opened his eyes and looked tenderly at Ana, just stirring from her sleep mode.
"Good morning, Hon," He said softly as he arose on one elbow and kissed her forehead.
Ana smiled, entwined her arms, and stretched them to their fullest over her head. "Hi, babe," she murmured. "Did you sleep well?"
Rhett Laughed. "That was a funny one.
Although, I don't know why sleeping is so pleasant. We really don't need to do it at all."
Ana smiled at Rhett invitingly and did a full-body arching stretch as she lay there, her red 303
curls spilling over the pillow. "Maybe it's because waking up together is so pleasant."
"My gosh, how I love you," he whispered as he admired her length and began to gently kiss her full body. Then, half to himself, "Mmm, your skin is so warm. I just love you."
Ana wrapped her arms around Rhett and drew him in tightly. "It's too early to get out of bed for the next couple of hours or so, isn't it?"
she sighed, wrapping her legs around him.
...
After their shower, Rhett said, "You know, I'd like to look at a property for us about four hours away this morning in Vermont. It would make a great home and base of operations."
"Are we checking out today?" Ana asked.
Rhett nodded. "We may as well. There is a nice cabin in the woods on a small lake I saw online. It's currently unrented. We could check it out and grab it for a month or so if you like it."
"Sounds like a plan."
Time on the four-hour trip was passed by discussing short and long-range plans, in 304
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addition to Rhett updating Ana on his ideas to earn a living, now that the salary from AI Concepts, Inc. had stopped.
"You know, Ana, we saved about seventy-five thousand dollars between us from our AI paychecks since our animation. They needed a cover to make it seem to the IRS as if we were regular employees who were paid well enough to afford our apartment overlooking Central Park.
Including Lance’s stash, we have about one hundred thousand dollars to start off with."
Ana rocked her head in agreement. "Not bad, Sweet Thing.”
"Cabin or house first?" Rhett asked.
"Hmm, let me see. I really want to see the cabin first, but being alone in the woods with you next to a lake, no one within earshot... do you think we would ever leave today to see the house?" She turned toward him and put her hand on his thigh.
"You are absolutely correct, my lovely lady.
House first it is."
"Did you make arrangements with the realtor and whoever is renting the cabin?"
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"Yup. I did that through our internal satellite connection to the internet as we were driving.
We're all set on both accounts. The realtor will be there at two o'clock. The cabin guy said the door would be unlocked and to make ourselves at home. He'll come by tomorrow to see how we are doing and sign us in."
Ana said, "You have to love the way small towns work as opposed to NYC. Can you imagine anyone in NY telling a tenant the door will be left open and to just make yourself comfortable with no signatures or money changing hands? I'm going to love this place."
"I'm glad to hear that. We may be in the cabin for a little while."
"Why is that?" she asked.
"The house is pretty pricey, especially for the area. We need to have a sizable down payment to seem legit. It'll take a little time to earn it with day-trading without raising suspicion. I may have to do something sneaky to get it done."
The stare Ana gave Rhett was indecipherable to him. "What?!" he said, throwing his hands up.
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"Just keep your hands on the wheel, big guy.
What exactly do you plan on doing that's sneaky?"
"Oh, nothing much, and it would only be for a short time. You know how they set us up with fake credentials, including family history and school certificates?"
"Yes," Ana answered warily.
"Well, it's no great shakes for us to do the same thing. We can even do it better. Go nano-gel abilities! If I set up four other aliases, we could make money five times as fast."
"Okay. Then what happens to the people you created? Are you going to keep them going forever?"
"Nope. After we have enough to initiate our plan, they can close their accounts, pay their taxes, move out of the country, and never be heard from again. How does that sound to you?"
"Rhett, sometimes you scare me. But that also gets me a little excited. Can we keep the house tour short and get to the cabin?"
"Oh no! Am I rubbing off on you?"
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"Let's discuss that in the cabin."
"Stop it, Ana. Let's check out the house."
"By the way, my handsome day trader, how much is this house going to set us back?"
"The asking price is just under two and a half million."
Ana coughed. "How much again?"
"Don't worry about it. We can make enough to pay for it. I would hold off for a while with the transaction, but I really don't want someone to swoop in and buy it out from under us. It's a perfect house for us."
"Let's check it out, then."
The home was in an isolated area south of Royalton. The driveway resembled a small country road winding uphill through an evergreen forest. Ana and Rhett gave soft, simultaneous whistles when they rounded the last curve and came into view of the house.
Before them sat a modern two-story 12,000 square foot home on five acres overlooking miles of forest.
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Rhett turned to Ana. "This is perfect," he said.
"Large enough for our needs, and with no close neighbors to wonder why we get so many deliveries."
Ana smiled and nodded.
The realtor was at the front door as they parked and walked up.
"Hello. I'm Stacy Proctor from Proctor Realty.
You must be the Wests. I'm so glad to meet you,"
she said with a dazzling real-estate smile and a firm handshake.
"Thank you," said Ana. "This is my first foray into Vermont, and I don't know the people here, but you look pretty cosmopolitan for my impression of this area. I hope that's not an insult.
I truly don't mean it to sound that way."
Stacy smiled. "No, not at all. I get that sometimes. I'm based in NYC and have an office in Albany, NY. We were doing an orientation, so like Genghis Khan, I dressed a little better than my troops. Make sense?"
Loud laughs erupted from Ana and Rhett before they could stifle them. "Oh, I'm so very sorry for laughing," Ana said, "But that just rolled 309
out so easily from you. I was really just admiring your outfit. Why not send out one of your people from Albany instead of coming yourself?"
"Well, with a price of $2.5 Million, I feel it's my responsibility to present the property. Shall we go inside and look around?"
The open floor plan provided a view across most of the entire house. "Breathtaking," Ana said. "We'll take it."
If Rhett had been drinking anything, it would have spewed over the entire foyer. "Wait! What?
Shouldn't we at least look over the whole house?"
Stacy raised her hand over her head. "Yes, we need to look at the whole house. Besides, it's the law. I can't sell you a house without you looking at the whole thing."
"Thank you," said Rhett.
The foyer flowed into the family room, in turn flowing into the dining room, which cascaded into a formal parlor. The outside walls of the rooms were almost entirely glass, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the rolling countryside.
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As they walked through the main floor, Rhett asked, "How many bedrooms were there again?"
"There are six bedrooms, each with its own full bath. There are also two powder rooms on the first floor," Stacy repeated from rote. "And a swimming pool out back next to the fireplace."
"This is a wonderful place for entertaining guests," Ana said. "We expect to have a lot of them."
"We haven't seen the basement yet," said Rhett. "Can we do that now?"
Ms. Proctor tilted her head. "The basement?
Sure. No problem. Most of the people looking at this place neglect the basement. I'm happy you want to see it."
Rhett grinned and said, "Well, I've always been handy with my hands."
Rhett!! Where are you going with this?" Ana wifi'd, furrowing her brow to cut him off.
He continued, "When the weather gets cold, I'd like to putter around in my basement shop."
"Oh, do you build things?" asked Julie.
"Something like that," he answered.
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They carefully inspect the basement. Rhett mentioned he liked that it extended under the whole house, giving it ample space for projects.
"The nine-foot ceilings are perfect," he said.
Ana took advantage of the moment. "Now that we've seen the house, can we put in a purchase offer?"
"Proctor Realty would be delighted to have you put in a purchase order. I have the forms in the kitchen. What were you planning for a deposit?"
Rhett thought for a moment. "I need some time to free up some financial responsibilities.
Here's what I propose, fifty thousand dollars as a non-refundable down payment, with the balance due within sixty days. The closing is to be completed upon final payment. How does that sound?"
Stacy gasped. "A non-refundable deposit along with a sixty-day balance due is most unusual. I'll contact the sellers to see how they feel about it, but I think they will agree. When would you like to write a check for your deposit?"
"Tell you what," Rhett said, "I'll write a check right now to show them how sincere we are, but 312
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we need to reduce the price by a quarter-million to make the check non-refundable. The offer is good for 24 hours."
"Wow. Let me talk to them and see what they say, but with a little arm-twisting, I think we can swing it."
Papers were filled in, signed, and a deposit check was written.
Ms. Proctor gathered her papers, shook hands with Ana and Rhett, and said she would be in contact with them within a day.
Ana wrapped her arm around Rhett's and rested her head on his shoulder. "Rhett, we just bought our first home together. That's so exciting!
Can we go to the cabin now? I think I'm overstimulated by everything. Perhaps you could help by putting me to bed and rocking me to sleep?"
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