**** Chapter Sixteen - The Abby Interlude ****

We had a conference call with Whittling Wealth Management scheduled up next as the last order of business for the day, this was to cover current project statuses, proposals and new requests on my part. Sonya and I each dialed in, and after thirty minutes of catch-up conversations we all got down to business. David chaired the meeting and ran his team through their paces.

The Real Estate manager led off the show and told me that 70 percent of the bids we’d put in had been accepted and that I was being sent the overall information with comments and recommendations on all parcels to make final decisions. If I closed them all I’d have almost fifty thousand acres of land with multiple homesteads. The numbers were well below our budgeted amounts. Mind you that most of that land was only useful for grazing, hunting, fishing or collecting snow; but it was exactly what I wanted.

Investment review was up next and I got a quick update from various specialists in moving money around the markets; I had a very conservative approach so that wasn’t an exciting update. The legal update followed, and that was the least exciting of all. Once all of the initial financial moves were complete we’d only have a meeting like this for large changes, otherwise I’d just get a quarterly report emailed to me to keep me up to date; this suited me just fine.

The last order of business was new requests from me and I had a doozy. I told them I wanted to buy precious metals, well the investment guys immediately sounded off on how that was a bad idea right now, blathering about this and that.

I let them go on for a moment before I dropped the bomb, “I want $250k of gold and silver and I want to take delivery immediately.”

The uproar was magnificent and I simply sat back to enjoy the show; the show lasted for a pretty good while. I should have made popcorn. Sonya was simply stared at me.

I regretted not making this a video meeting.

David finally got control of the situation on his end and proceeded to explain to me on every aspect of why they thought this was a bad decision; I let him talk until he was finished.

I reminded him that I had always been a little bit of a “prepper” and waved to Sonya to speak up. Sonya did join in going on about some of the things I’d ordered. I finally cut her off.

I made it clear that I just wanted a small fraction of my wealth on hand and safe from hackers and the like; I also explained that I knew how to hide what really amounted to a medium sized bag of coins.

David sighed and resigned to the fact, I was the client, it was my money and I would get my way.

Surprisingly one of the investment team jumped in and pointed out that those coins were a rip-off and I should avoid them. Damn, somebody was paying attention back there.

She opined that she could get me 1 oz. gold and silver nuggets at just over current rates saving me almost 20% over the coins. Give that lady a raise I thought.

My next question was forthright, “When and where can I have them?”

“I’ll email you the information tomorrow when I close the trades and I’ll arrange delivery with Sonya.”

Dang, give that one a raise and a bonus.

We then said our pleasantries and closed the meeting. I had my emergency cash on the way and was feeling a lot better. Sonya however demanded full disclosure, I assured her it was nothing strange and would cover all the details with her in the morning.

Sonya wasn’t backing down so I finally just looked at her and snapped, “Sonya, I’m going to get cleaned up and go out on the town. I need to get away for an evening and have some fun – this has been non-stop for the past few weeks!”

She sat back in her chair taken fully aback by my outburst.

I continued on, “You have family that you really need to talk to and you have a vehicle to go out if you want to do that; you are now officially OFF DUTY!”

With that I turned and went to my tent to grab my on-the-town clothing and get ready to go. It was time to paint this town red.

Believe it or not I had not been out on the town since I hit the lottery. I needed to blow of some steam and this was the time and place. A hot shower, shave, and fresh clothes made a huge difference in how I felt; I was actually excited and ready to go.

I jumped in the truck and headed down to town. I had reserved a room at a historic downtown hotel; it wasn’t elegant but it turned to be clean and neat, something you didn’t always find in high-end hotels. they didn’t have a built-in parking garage but valet parking was included. I dropped my overnight bag in the room, freshened up and headed down to the pub I saw nearby.

I love pubs for a variety of reasons, foremost was the relaxed atmosphere and occasional good food. This place seemed to be part of my rule rather than the exception and I sat down at the bar to start an evening. It was still fairly early so I perused the menu and ordered up small serving shepherd’s pie; I didn’t want a full tummy to end my evening too soon. I sipped a cup of espresso and took in my surroundings. The coffee was very good and the shepherd’s pie was even better.

While I ate I perused online book offerings, I knew I’d was hoping to spend a lot of time off-grid in the future, but the idea of having pre-purchased reference and how-to-books available offline was pretty appealing to me. It seemed like a real consideration so I made a mental note to talk with Sonya about the subject tomorrow. Up til now I’ve always been happier with old school books, but ebooks just seemed to make more sense.

Dinner finished and espresso coursing through my veins I turned to take in my surroundings. The place was starting to fill up with the late evening crowd and it looked like I had picked the right place to be. I turned back to the bartender and ordered a pint of ale and two-fingers of the best bourbon I saw on their shelves. It was time to have fun.

I turned and pushed the bar-chair nearest me further on down the bar leaving a large gap between me and that chair. I then turned slightly towards that chair and started reading on my tablet. I had created a gap that would invite people coming to the bar to order to stand in. The trap was laid.

I surveyed the bar and saw the woman who attracted me most sitting in a group with four other ladies, I couldn’t see a ring and she was beautiful – especially when she laughed. It took a while for the bait to be taken and I simply drank, read and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere while I waited.

Several guys came to the little spot I had created to order drinks, if they spoke to me we merely passed pleasantries and they continued on their way. Next up came one of the ladies from Beautiful’s table, she was nice looking and talkative but wearing a ring – seemed an obvious test to me. I kept my patience and waited it out.

Watching their table out of the corner of my eye I could see them goading Beautiful to come up and eventually she did. It took about an hour, but she was standing next to me and had “accidentally” bumped into me. The dance began.

Her name was Abby, she lived in Flagstaff and worked here downtown. She and her friends were here to celebrate her promotion, happy times everywhere.

I truthfully told her I was from Southern California and that I was in the area to buy a horse.

She reported that she loved horses.

I expounded a bit on Abigail and her qualities.

She stated she’d like to meet this wonderful horse who shared her name.

We talked for at least twenty minutes; her friends didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get their drinks.

Abby went back to her table.

Five minutes later her friend was back to ask me to join them.

I bought a couple of rounds and the conversation and laughter flowed.

A couple of hours later Abby and I were at the table alone and closing time was within view.

We went to my hotel.

It was a very good night.