Always Adam

Chapter 33

When I get back from the Keys, Ted asks me to stop over. I drive to Ted and Donna's that evening. It's after eight when I arrive. After spending time telling them about my trip and sharing pictures, I put Olivia to bed per her request. Once settled back in the living room, Ted hands me a folder. I look at him confused. "Open it up," he says. I open the folder and see a two story brick house. I can tell it sits just a couple feet off the road. There is a sidewalk and a small patch of grass before the porch starts. I look up at Ted.

"I put an offer on it." Still confused I wait for him to tell me more. "It's not far from the campus. You can walk to school if you want." I look back down at the house. Four bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen and living room. Laundry room and sunroom. It sounds nice. "I'm still not sure what you are saying." Ted looks at Donna and she explains. "We think this would be a great place for you to own. You can live there while you go to school. It's a beautiful area and very safe. It's a great investment. Arnie agrees. You can sell it when you graduate or you can rent it out. "

"You want me to buy a house," I ask trying to understand what they are saying. Donna laughs. "Yes Carly we want you to buy a house. It's a great investment and we want you to be close to school and in a safe area." I try to process this new information. This could be my house. I could live with Adam and there is room for Nat and Ava also. A smile breaks out on my face. I jump and scare the crap out of Ted. "Yes. Thank you both so much." I know that I would never have been allowed to make this purchase without them. I have some control over some money, but most decisions won't be my own until I turn twenty five. My parents really wanted to protect my future if they weren't here to do it.

Three weeks later we enter the house. I squeal in delight. "I can't believe this is my house," I say holding back the urge to jump up and down. "I think I should have carried you over the threshold," Adam says. "You didn't marry her Adam," Ava says rolling her eyes. "Someday," he says and winks at me. My heart melts as I look at what I hope is my future husband. I jump into his arm and hug myself to him. I've never been so happy in all of my life. "I love you," I tell him as my lips crash down on his.

Adam and I choose our room first. Then I let Nat and Ava fight for the one they want. Nat doesn't plan to move in until Marcus graduates. I think it's sweet how she doesn't want to be apart from him. After we pick our rooms, we head out to pick out some paint. The rooms all have hardwood floors so we decide to just leave them and buy throw rugs. As Adam and I stand looking at paint colors, I can't help but smile. We pick a pale blue for our bedroom and buy white for the rest of the house. Nat chose yellow and Ava a green for their rooms. After we buy everything we need to paint the house, we go home and paint.

We manage to prime the bedroom walls before dark. I lock up and we go back to my apartment and order pizza. We all spend the next several days painting the house. The entire gang came over to help. We had a painting party. Carolos and a few other friends of Adams even came to help. When word got out, we had plenty of people there to help. We were able to move in the following weekend. I was able to use the furniture from the apartment for the house. The house was bigger so what I had made the place look under furnished. I used some of the money I got from turning eighteen to buy a few more things. I put the television from my apartment in our bedroom and bought a nice big television for the living room.

Everyone insisted on paying me some type of rent. We spent an entire night hammering out the details of who was going to pay what and who was going to take care of certain things. We were all satisfied when finished. Nat got a job working near her foster parents place during the week and a weekend job near the house. There were a lot of cute little cafes and shops in walking distance. Ava would be starting school in August. She had a good half hour drive from the house. She got a job at a bakery in the area and was full time. Her plan was to go part time once she started school.