"Mrs. Fuller, a friend of mine,owns apartments just opposite my clinic. I can ask her if she has any vacant apartments",Joshua said and I was relieved that there was some hope at least.
Joshua was kind enough to accommodate us but I wanted to find an apartment and get out of his hair, the sooner the better.
"That'd be mighty generous of you Josh",Aurora replied. After we were done with the dinner, I told Gabby, "Gabby, come help me in the kitchen to do the dishes".
"Sure, after all, Joshua has been kind enough to cook up scrumptious meal for us,its only fair we do the cleaning, right Dr. Williams?",she winked at Joshua and I had nothing to add to her childish antics.Joshua simply smiled in reply.
But Aurora spoke up,"Leave that to the two of us,you should rest Issy". "I have been doing nothing but rest so let me at least help with doing the dishes",I said and quickly went to the sink before any of them could refute.
At the kitchen, I lowered my voice and asked Gabby,"Is yours and Aurora's jobs somewhere nearby here as well?".
"Its not that far from here,just next block,why?",she asked probably unaware of the concern in my voice.
"Gabby, I don't want to inconvenience the two of you, just for my sake. I want us to live together yes,but I don't want the both of you to suffer for my cause. We'll find a place which suits all three of us",I said firmly.
"Then listen, Ms. Isadora Miller, we are completely fine with staying somewhere around here,and we aren't inconveniencing anyone",came the voice of Aurora from behind us.
I looked at these two girls, my very best friends who I loved from the core of my heart. "I could give you a hug right now, but its all soapy",I said teary eyed."Damn my pregnancy hormones making them eyes tear up",I said,and they both laughed out.
We finished cleaning the dishes and the two of them went to their own rooms, while I decided to take a stroll in the garden.
I wasn't surprised to see Joshua in the garden, but what he was doing was what surprised me. He was actually weeding in the garden and I squated beside him and helped him weed. The light wasn't bright but it was still lit enough for us to clean up the weed.
"No wonder its so well maintained",I spoke after sometime. He smiled his nonchalant smile. He truly was a hardworking man I perused.
After we were done weeding, we went ahead and washed our hands."Its a nice therapy for me. When I'm stressed out or just disturbed, gardening helps",he said and I nodded in agreement.
"Its getting late now, you need to go and rest Issy",he said and I obliged. "Goodnight Joshua, thank you for everything",I said. "Issy, you need to stop saying thank you all the time. I think we are way past that formality right?",he smiled and I smiled back helplessly.
"Goodnight Issy. Rest well",he said. I went to my room, freshened up and laid down to rest. I didn't even realize my tiredness but as soon as I laid my head on my pillow, I fell asleep and into deep slumber.
When I woke up the next morning, it was already 8:00 am. I groaned as my stomach growled and quickly freshened up and went to the kitchen to fix something for breakfast.
Seeing that Gabby and Aurora had already taken care of preparing the breakfast for all, I sat down and said,"Wow, you two, the pancakes look yum" as I gobbled down the pancakes with milk and munched on the berries and nuts. "That's the only decent thing we could come up with",Gabby shrugged and I heard a chuckle coming from behind me.
Joshua stood there in his tees and jeans, with his ruffled hair,looking like the ever handsome male that he was. I felt a tingling sensation in my stomach and brushed it off as quickly as it came. Was it my pregnancy hormones that was doing weird things to my body now?
"Smells good enough",he smiled and told Gabby,apparently he had heard Gabby say that it was the only decent thing she and Aurora could come up with, and sat down to join us for breakfast.
"Since I don't have to go to the clinic this week,I'll help you guys with your house hunting",he said looking at me, and I blushed furiously.
Pregnancy hormones be damned. I just couldn't figure out why I was now behaving like a teenager in front of her crush.Thank God for my long hair covering my ears, else he would have noticed my ears going red along with my face I assumed.
'He's just talking to you Issy',I told myself and tried to come up with a polite way to decline his offer and not impose on him much more than we already had.
But as soon as I tried to speak, Gabby beat me to it saying,"Why, thank you Dr. Williams. You're just the angel dropped by the heavens for us". She gave him her best smile and turned to me,"Isn't that so Issy?"
I didn't find Gabby and her not so subtle hints amusing, so I replied,"Joshua, you don't have to trouble yourself with all these. I mean,you've already done so much for us and we don't want to take your time off of your much deserved vacation,for coming on a house hunting trip with us".
"But Issy, he knows Mrs. Fuller, who might have a vacant apartment",Gabby sighed and pouted like a kid whose favourite sweet was taken away from her. "She's got a point",Aurora said and I couldn't help but agree,but I still didn't want to trouble Joshua.
He chuckled and replied,"You girls are amusing",and he turned to me and said,"Its no trouble for me. Its just house hunting,how much more taxing can it get. Besides, like Gabby said, I know Mrs. Fuller".
"Well,if its okay with you, why would I say no to that", I added and it was decided that we would all go together and find us our own place to live.