Faith has been playing tennis a couple of years now mostly as a hobby even though she is an amazing player and has won three championships. Sh has a nice place to live in a good apartment building that she finds good enough for her needs. The rooms are not that big and her bedroom is too small for her liking plus a kitchen that was made for just one or maybe two people to work in. She works for a landscaping company when she is not playing tennis and loves working outdoors. One day she was looking in a cottage magazine where she saw lots of nice cottages. Some small and some big enough for a large family. She got to thinking that it would be nice to have a cottage to get away and relax but it would have to be a cottage with at least a big livingroom area and big bedroom. She decided to go to a realators place and see what there was out there. She headed down town to a place she saw an ad for in the newspaper that said cottage season is upon us and we have a large variety of cottages. When she got there a woman was sitting at a desk working on a computer. She walked up to her and said hi. Well hello dear. My name is Paige. How can I help you. My name is Faith and I am looking to buy a cottage if there is one that meets my needs. My you look like that tennis girl I see on TV, anyways we have a lot of different styles, said Paige. What kind of cottage would meet your needs? Well I live in a fairly nice appartment but the rooms are too small. I prefere big rooms with little clutter, said Faith. So how many rooms are you thinking? asked Paige. Well a livingroom and one bedroom plus a kitchen and bathroom, said Faith. The bathroom doesn't have to be big though. I will buy a vanity for putting on makeup and doing my hair. Hmm, I might have something for you but it is kinda pricey. It is brand new, just finished being built a week ago. It is however an open concept cottage. Open concept, what does that mean? asked Faith. Well it is one very big room with a marble divider in the middle of it that has a fireplace built into it. One side of the divider can be used as a living area and the other side you can set up a bed and dressers plus that vanity you mentioned. So no kitchen or bathroom? asked Faith. Well yes there is a kitchen and a medium sized bathroom of coarse. The kitchen is through a door on the east wall that also leads to the bathroom, said Paige. Okay that sounds really nice, said Faith. How much is it? Well once the grounds are finished, that they haven't started yet. And it sits on two acres of land just ten minutes from Westside Beach you are looking at four hundred and fourty thousand dollars. Wow that is expensive for a cottage, said Faith. Well it is more that a cottage Faith. It is an open concept cottage on prime land, said Paige. I have two computer generated pictures of it if you would like to see them.

Yes I would at least like to see what it looks like, said Faith. Okay come around behind the desk and I will load the file for you, said Paige. Faith got behind the desk and waited for the file to load. Okay here we are. First have a look at what the grounds will look like once they do it, said Paige. She brought up the outside images. Okay there are a lot of them so here lets see the front area first, said Paige. Now see it is very beautiful with lots of grass, gardens and even a fountain. Yes that is very nice, said Paige. Now here is the backyard. More gardens and grass plus some fruit trees. looks like apples and oranges from this image, said Paige. That would be nice too. I love friut, said Faith. Can we skip the outside and look inside the cottage please. Yep sure can, said Paige. Okay main room, kitchen and bathroom. Which do you want to see first? Main room please, said Paige. I thought so, said Paige. There you go. Now as you can see the room is unfurnished right now. I am in the process of adding furniture for display purposes only but just got a bed and a couch with coffee table in there so far. Now if I use the mouse I can pan the screen so you can see the firplace. There we go, a very nice full fireplace. This place is perfect, said Faith. Just the place I would love to own. Paige then showed Faith the kitchen and the bathroom which were both bigger than what she had now.

So you said the outside grounds haven't been started yet, said Faith. No, work outside is not to be started until next week, said Paige. To me that looks like a lot of expensive landscaping. I work for a landscaping company and I have a good idea what all that work costs. Well yes, it is very expensive, said Paige. Almost half the cost of the entire package. Well if I was to take care of the landscaping which I can do over time and with some help with the boys at work. Could I get the package cheeper. Hmm, I suppose so, said Paige. Let be do some number crunching and see what it would cost as is. Paige went to work on the computer seeing what she could come up with. Wow, did expect that, said Paige. What? asked Faith. Well it seems the outside is worth more than the cottage. If you take the cottage on just three quarter of an acre with no work being done on it, that will lower the price conciderably. So how much? asked Faith. It is the cottage I am mostly interested in. Well you have to take the reduced land but you are looking at two hundred and tweny thousand dollars. That is two hundred thousand dollars cheeper. Wow that is more like it, said Faith. A bit more than I was planning on investing but maybe workable. Let me call my bank and see if they will approve the loan if I add my down payment to the cost. Okay, good luck, said Paige. Paige got on the phone and talked to the loan officer about the place and all the facts plus info that Paige told her about the place. 

Faith was on the phone for about fifteen minutes then she smlied and said goodbye. So what did they say? asked Paige. Well after I told him that the place was brand new and where it was located he said that I was getting an amazing deal for any place that close to Westside Beach. Supposedly very rich and famous people have cottages and property in this area. He wanted to loan me the complete amount but that would make my payments too high with my apartment rent also so when I gave him my down payment it became within my budget. So you are appoved then, said Paige. Yes but not until I see the place in person. He dosn't trust computer renders of property. So can we go see it now? asked Faith. Sure can, said Paige. Just let me get a girl to take my place at the front desk and we are off. Faith followed Paige in her car and in thirty minutes they reached the property. So as you can see the grounds need a lot of work, said Paige. Not really, said Faith. The land is fairly flat and just covered in wild flowers and weeds. We can fix that and put down grass seed in one day. The cottage on the outside looks perfect and lots of big windows. Yes that is why it was offered on a bigger property seeing it would be easy to see inside. Oh I'll figure something out, said Fath. Lets go inside. Paige opened the front door and they went in the cottage. Wow it is huge in here, said Faith. Yep lots of room to move around and add things to it, said Paige. Like I said not much in it yet. 

Now the fireplace is in the center of the room and in my opinion I put the bed facing it just in case you wanted a fire going when you are in bed, said Paige. But this place is so versitile that you can switch things around with the couch facing the fireplace and the bed anywhere else you please to put it. Yes a fire is always nice to have going at night, said Faith. I do see what you mean though. This place has so many posibilities. Also the divider is made of marble that will hold the heat for a long time and if you noticed all the window sills are marble also, said Paige. The floor is made of oak wood so very strong and scratch resistant.

The two of them walked over to where the bed was sitting. Faith saw it was a very big bed compared to what she was used to. That is one big ass bed, said Faith. Well it is a super king size bed, said Paige. A big room deserves a big bed. Besides you are very close to the beach so you will probably entertaining guests if you know what I mean. I sure do, said Faith. How much does a bed that big cost? Tell you what, said Paige. I will throw in the bed and pillows plus the couch and table with the deal. That way you will have three less things to buy. Wow thanks, said Faith. Now you might want to invests in some curtains around this area but they will have to be custom made, said Paige. Ya maybe, I will have to think about that some, said Faith. The windows here are huge and double paned for strength and insulation. You should put something in front of them like hanging plants so that birds don't keep banging into them. Why would they do that? asked Faith. Well they can't see the glass until it is too late and when it is raining they will think this is a good place to stay dry, said Paige.

They walked over to the other side of this very large room and had a look at the couch and table. Well it is nothing fancy, said Paige but it is comfortable and long enough tho lay down on. The table is kinda nice though. Ya it is perfect, said Faith. So can I get TV and internet access here? Most certainly, said Paige. Granada Anywhere has the best packages and bundles anywhere in North America. Get the medium bundle like me. You get a ton of TV stations including the Playboy, Hustler and Penthouse stations and unlimited internet. It is only fourty five dollars a mounth. That is a good deal, said Faith. Now all that is left is the kitchen and the bathroom to check out but I am sure they will meet your needs, said Paige. They both went to the door on the east wall where the bed was against and checked out the kitchen first that was even bigger than what the computer render showed plus the bathroom had a nice tub with shower, modern toilet and a big sink with a good size mirror that opened up as a cabinet. That was all Faith needed to see so they headed back to the office to fill out some papers then headed out to her bank.

In three days the bank came through with the morgage for the cottage. Faith just had to sign a bunch of paper work then the loan officer said he would take care of everything else for her. Faith was super happy and told some of the guys at work about her new cottage and what needed to be done outside and they were more than happy to help out so long as she bought the beer. In two days they had the property all cleaned up and seeded with grass. Faith made one garden with flowers and English Lavander plants. Then she worked on the inside some. Just a bit at a time she figured. First was the vanity then a couple of plants. She used plates and stuff from her apartment for the kitchen and put down a couple of carpets in the bathroom. She sat down on the couch and looked around wondering what she should work on next when a knock came at the door. I wonder who that could be, she thought. Hardly anyone knows I am here.

Faith got up and answered the door and saw a very pretty blonde girl standing there with a big bottle of wine in her hand. Welcome neighbor, said the blonde girl. Faith thought that the girl looked familar but couldn't place her from where. Hello, said Faith. How did you know I was here? Are you kidding, said the blonde girl. This place has huge windows. I saw you working away in here. Oh ya right, said Faith. So are you going to invite me in? I am dying to see what it looks like in this big cottage. Yes of coarse, said Faith and let her walk in. Wow this place is huge, said the blonde. Even bigger than my place next door. Same idea though with the open concept thing happening. Well I just started getting furniture for it so it is very empty right now, said Faith. There is never a rush when it is about furnishing a cottage, said the blonde girl. It comes with time. So I brought the champagne, have you got glasses for it? Yes, have a seat on the couch and I will be right back, said Faith.

The blonde girl took off her sandals and left them by the divider then sat down on the couch and put the bottle on the coffee table. Faith came back with two glasses then put them beside the bottle and sat beside the blonde. Now this is what I call open concept, said the blonde girl. No walls just this divider that looks like pure marble. You could hold a dance in here. Faith smiled but still couldn't remember where she had seen her from. So dear what is your name? asked the blonde. Faith is my name. So you like my new place? Yes very much. So what is behind this wall? asked the blonde. Oh not much yet, said Faith. Just my bed and vanity plus the fireplace. Nice, a fireplace too, said the blonde. Vanities are very important to me. You have to have a good one in order to stay looking your best. Yes I suppose so, said Faith. I just use it to put on makeup and do stuff to my hair like these braids. The blonde girl looked at Faith's braids then noticed that Faith had a bit of a worried look on her face. Is there something bothering you Faith? asked the blonde girl. You look a bit concerned or something. No not really neighbor, said Faith. The blonde smiled. You don't know my name, do you. This is so refreashing to finally meet someone that doesn't know who I am by just looking at me. Well you do look a bit familar to me but can't place where I have seen you before, said Faith. The blonde smiled. My name is Startlight. Faith went blank for a second then her eyes opened very wide.