Snapshots II
Turning the pages in the albums in her mind, she comes upon more memories. As she had become more relaxed, less defensive, less wary, due in part to her boss's fond acceptance, she had been able to make a few friends at the Met. She could always count on Winston, but now there were two women, sergeants like herself. They went to an occasional film, dinner now and then, and she had agreed to let them take her shopping. Not quite the ordeal she remembered, she was able to buy a few new outfits, clothes that fit her and that looked, she thought, nice. She dumped her ratty old green coat, and when she saw herself in her new, fitted, brown coat, she couldn't help feeling pleased. Once or twice, her friends teased her about her relationship with Lynley but she was able to deflect their interest with a barbed retort or two. She thought ruefully about her efforts to meet a man she might like. The men that the dating site sent her were all disasters, only to leave her more helplessly in love with her boss. She did enjoy the fact that he seemed jealous, though at first she was furious, thinking he was like the dog in the manger – he didn't want her, but he didn't want her to have another man in her life. But she decided to enjoy that small acknowledgement of his attachment to her.
Cornwall presented her with memories, some painful. Twice, her visits to his family home ended with disasters. The dinner party to celebrate Lynley and Helen's engagement was such a tense, miserable affair, with his brother's anger and accusations, Lynley's rage at his mother for inviting her friend and lover, Dr. Trenarrow, and three murders. That had at least brought him and his mother a new closeness. The high point, some years later, was her two-week visit to the wellness center, where she was indulged and pampered and taught aikido. She felt good about herself, and about Lady Asherton's invitation to spend a few days at the family pile. ("It's a house!" she remembered Lynley's admonishment.) And Tommy (she had taken to using his name in her fantasies) being welcoming to her, inviting her to help with the case he had taken on. She decidedly did not like his obvious attraction to the woman who had reinvented herself, using her money, her looks and her manners to pass herself off as "Lady" Keach. Neither did his mother. She wanted her son to reconcile with Helen, to be happy in his marriage, not to look for another woman. Barbara could live with that; she basically wanted the same for him, to be happy. The second nicest thing to come out of that visit was meeting Judith, Tommy's sister, who told Barbara she was one of the family, and they too met occasionally for dinner in London. She loved getting Judith to tell stories about Tommy as a boy, sometimes with an actual photo, which she longed to pilfer and keep as her own.