Chapter 8

Damen got a few of his friends and they installed an elevator for my grandma. We realized it'd be too much work to add a room downstairs so we came to this solution.
I was shocked that it only took them one day to complete it. They worked quickly together.

I pulled all of the furniture and decorations out of the bathroom and my bedroom. Then I striped the walls from both rooms and the carpet from my bedroom. The new furniture would arrive in three days and I wanted to have the rooms painted and new carpet in my room and tile in the bathroom.

Damen spent alot of time at our house. He helped me with a lot of things. Like cooking, cleaning, and prepping my room and the bathroom. He was my savior no doubt about it. Our relationship grew stronger. I began to feel the first sparks of love. I care about him deeply and I could see he did too about me.
Grandma still wasn't happy about being in a wheelchair. She hated feeling so helpless. I understood why she felt that way. For so many years she used to be the one doing the household duties and cooking. Now she couldn't do much of anything and it bother her deeply.

Damen began working on the plumbing. We were removing the old sink, bathtub, and toilet, and replacing them with newer models. He replaced one item at a time so that we were still able to bathe and use the restroom. It only took him two days to put the new plumping in. I was so proud of his work.

In my spare time I worked on painting the rooms. I found that I actually enjoyed painting. Sure it didn't take much skill to paint a room but from what Damen said I actually had some talent. Maybe when and if I went back to school I'd take a painting class to see just how much skill I really had.

I finally had a decent amount of money saved atleast enough for a down payment. Damen took me to a car lot. A friends brother owned it and he guranteed I'd get the best deal. When we arrived the dealer greated Damen and he explained I was looking for a car. He introduced us. His name was Micheal.
"Nice to meet you Scarlet. Is there anything in particular you are looking for?"
"I want something small. Not too small. Something reliable and safe. This will be my first car ever."
He smiled brightly the way people do when they're trying to sell you something.
"Ok follow me. We have a couple of cars here that would be perfect."

"We have this 4 door Ford Fiesta. Only 25,000 miles. Perfect condition. Previous owner was an elderly lady that hardly drove it. Smoke free. Receipts have been kept for all of the tune-ups."
I like the car. Just wasn't happy about it being white. I've seen how dirty cars can get and the white ones look the worse.

"Here we have a Toyota Prius. We actually just got this car yesterday. It's a very nice one. 20,000 miles. The previous owner was a mother to two. Very safe and reliable. Smoke free. And receipts for the tune-ups."
Damen asked if we could take a looked at the inside of both cars. Micheal handed us the keys and headed inside. "Let me know when you've made up your mind."
I sat in both cars and even turned them on to get a feel of how the car felt. They were both really nice but I was leaning more towards the Toyota. Mainly because it was black but I also like the interior better and it had an awesome stereo system that had a gps built into it. This being my first car I wasn't use to driving around. Hadn't really needed to pay attention to where I was going and it was probable that I would get lost.

We headed inside and sat at Micheal's desk.
"I've decided to go with the Toyota."
"Very good choice. Ok we will need to sign a lot of papers and then I'll get you out of here in your new car."
When he said a lot of papers he meant. There was a stack about an inch high that I had to sign. I was approved for a loan with the deposit I had. I was able to put down ten percent and I guess that was a good thing. Apparently most places required a down payment unless you had really good credit. Being just out of high school I hadn't had time to build credit. This would surely help.
After about an hour of going through paperwork and signing paper after paper I was handed my car keys.
Micheal shook my hand and congradulated me.

For the first time I got to drive myself home. It felt great having a car to myself. Now I didn't have to rely on public transportation or anyone else to get me to and from anywhere I needed to go. It was a great feeling. I felt accomplished.
I still thought about my parents alot but the tears came few and far between. I missed them like crazy and was able to get past the horrible loss. Not exactly get past I don't think anyone ever gets past losing someone close to them, but able to cope. I was distracted with taking care of my grandma and Damen was a nice distraction too. Our relationship seemed to grow stronger with each passing day.
Grandma was doing better. Her therapy wasn't helping and the Doctor ordered her to stay in the wheelchair. He was afraid she would completely lose the function in her legs. It wasn't from the fall she hadn't badly injured them. But it was from her age. Her legs where to unstable to support her.
Apparently she had been having some trouble since before I came to live with her.
I don't know why she didn't tell me. I guess she didn't want me to worry about her after losing my parents. Still I wish I would have known.

After about a weeks worth of work my bedroom and the bathroom were completed. I was pretty proud of my work. Maybe I had a future in home remodeling. I still wasn't a hundred percent sure what I wanted to. But I had decided I was going to go back to college. I had an appointment set up with and advisor. Hopefully I could make up my mind when I spoke to her.