.

You bet

.

For a long while they sat like this, the silence in the room only disturbed by paper rustling and Barbara's coughs and sniffles. Eventually a loud grumble was heard. Tommy's head went up.

"A bit hungry, are we?" He winked. Then he threw the ballpen across his papers, shut the laptop and suggested to get some dinner. "There's nothing planned for today so we are all free to plunder the fridge whenever we want."

"That'd be great." After carefully placing her bookmark between the pages Barbara closed the book with a thud.

Tommy pointed with his chin to the papers and got up from his chair, stretching his bones. "I'm done with this anyway."

"What is it?" Barbara asked and immediately blushed. "Oh, umm, I'm not wanting to appear nosy, I just-"

He only smiled broadly. "Dull paperwork on a wonderful topic. Forms and applications my dear mother left for me to deal with as the Lord of the estate. She was the one- Kitchen?" Her loud stomach had interrupted him again.

Barbara nodded and Tommy led the way before he went on. "Mother had rescued two horses from their doom on a rotten farm a few miles north of Nanrunnel. Being here for half a year now they have blossomed and have become healthy again. You'll like them, they're ridiculous. I've been tempted to call them Laurel and Hardy although they're actually Dotsy and Cormoran."

"You mean they're so ridiculous they would fit me?"

Barbara raised her eyebrows but her winking eyes told him she was not really mad about his insinuation so he joined her laugh. "Oh, you know what I mean. They're not normal horses, they're-"

"So you think I'm not normal? Sir?" She still grinned because she simply enjoyed pushing him deeper into his self-digged hole.

They entered the kitchen when Tommy mock-annoyed groaned. "You're all but normal but in a very wonderful special way, Barbara." he sincerely said but quickly turned away his softened face and dived his head into the open fridge. "And so are they. Dotsy is the tiniest Shettie girl I've ever seen, and Cormoran a huge shire horse stallion who is very, very shy and cautious. Unlike Dotsy who has a waggish sense of humour. Both are inseparable. Scrambled eggs on toast? And a cup of tea?"

"Yeah, I'll put the kettle on."

The kitchen was the room Barbara was the most familiar with.

After their minimalistic dinner they met with his siblings and their partners and Glenn in the living room in front of the TV. They were giving some travel report from the Arctic Zone but when the narrator mentioned Father Christmas no one was really following anymore.

It started with Barbara wordlessly showing Tommy a picture of night shift desk officer Paul with his false beard that made them both snicker so hard that the others demanded to see the picture. When her phone was handed around they all talked animatedly about their Christmas parties. Peter and Natasha had been on a big party in Plymouth on Christmas Eve and Martin still had to run businesses on the oil platform where they celebrated with video conferences from home. Judith was more than glad that he would at least be able to attend the New Year's Eve party at Howenstow and a few more spare days afterwards. Barbara told them about the little booze-in at the office. It made Peter give a snide remark clearly all against his brother. They argued a bit while Glenn was eager to hear more about the oil platform from Martin.

Meanwhile Judith and Barbara had a nice conversation about Christmas morning and all the presents and wonderful moments. Judith showed pictures on her own mobile - the fully lit tree, all the decorations that still were there, the burning fire, the christmas stockings and all the presents, Trevor being the kid he was, Glenn turning into the kid he still partly was when both steered their new remote control toy cars through the grand hall, the big dinner event and shots from all the ridiculous jumpers. Even Tommy had a dark green knitted jumper on, on its front a Highland cattle with a red and white cap on the horns.

Barbara had to laugh so hard that it earned her a bad fit of coughing. Tommy put a blanket around her shoulders and briefly stroked her back soothing the coughs.

"Mother had entire fun presenting us those jumpers from aunt Edith." he grinned and rolled his eyes. "She's not only knitting socks, you know."

Barbara nodded and secretly cuddled her back a bit closer into Tommy's side. He did not seem to notice, she checked it with a quicke glance to the side. But while she scrolled through more pictures on the phone he had kept his arms in her back, almost around her shoulders.

On Boxing Day Simon and Deborah had dropped by and there also were guests she did not know. "Seems you've really had that beehive you've mentioned." Barbara croaked.

Tommy groaned. "Well, yes, indeed. Oh, that's Annabel, Sam's youngest daughter. I'm godfather to her son Michael."

"Aha?" Barbara was surprised when she looked at the picture of the very young woman.

"Sad story." Tommy whispered with his nose in her hair. "I'll tell you later."

This intimate proximity was disturbing. With trembling fingers Barbara swiped forward on the screen. "And that's my boss cuddling with a Teddy bear." Laughing Barbara leaned back and turned her head towards Tommy, watching his broadly smiling face. "I didn't know it was yours when I saw it sitting on the desk in your bedroom."

The distance she had brought between their faces still was too close and the smile he gave her was too tender so Barbara's face went slightly rosy. She should go to bed, she thought, and in the corner of her eyes she saw three heads suddenly had turned. She felt watched and it was not just her imagination.

"Aha? That explains the call from Ann. How come that nobody else knows it's in your bedroom, Tommy?" Martin asked ignoring the withering glare from his wife. Her glare turned into a smirk when Tommy tried to explain the situation.

He had harrumphed before speaking. "Yes, well, I still thought she'd be here tomorrow. When I've learned she'd stay in St Austell I've had so many other things so I didn't call her. Barbara only knows because she was using my bathtub yesterday."

Barbara blushed a bit deeper. Tommy's explanation made it all worse.

"Oh, was she?" Peter pressed on with a naughty grin.

Even Tommy blushed but Barbara fixed her eyes to the picture of Annabel and her baby boy on the smartphone.

"Well, yes, it's a long story. That's Michael." he pointed to the screen. Barbara only nodded silently.

"Well, it's a long evening." Peter said giving Natasha a kiss. "Isn't it."

"M-hm." she mumbled. Her look towards Tommy indicated that she also was eager to hear more details.

"Yes, dear brother, it is." Tommy's fuming eyes shot daggers at the younger Asherton. "But at the moment we are watching those pictures here."

Peter only snorted a laugh but would not dare to prod more. The tension between his brother and Barbara had turned visible.

"That's me with Michael and the polar bear. Ann named it Laska. It's a Laska."

Barbara turned her head again but this time with not as much distance to his as before. They shared a fond smile. Barbara would have kissed him right now, if there weren't so many people around. His eyes were looking so soft she never had seen him looking at her that way but she needed to be sure she was not phantasising it. If only they were alone, she could have tasted his lips, tested if he would approve, tested if maybe he was harbouring some of the feelings she recently had discovered she was having for him. And if it was not so dimly lit in here she would have been able to tell if his ears really were getting darker.

All she could tell was that it was definitely too hot in the room.

"A few moments later he was drooling about a pint of saliva over my good shirt."

Now Glenn snorted into a laugh so Barbara turned away her face. Tommy became angry about himself for not having kissed Barbara, regardless of the family sitting nearby, but turned the moment into something laughable by telling this ridiculous thing. He would not have cared about all the people in here, or what they would think of it, or if they would have approved of it. Partly he also was angry about himself for having this sudden desire. She was his colleague and friend, he could not tell that often enough to his silly brain. Friends do not kiss. Friends are not lovers. He had been given proof of that more than once.

Despite Tommy's dark thoughts Glenn's laughter was infecting and the next few pictures with Tommy and the baby, especially the one where he holds it into the air with a disdainful expression on his face, made all laugh and grin so Tommy and Barbara blended in. There were a few more pictures on the other's mobiles and a short film on Glenn's phone with Peter slipping on a frozen puddle in the back yard. It was a wonderful laughter filled evening during which Tommy and Barbara shared a few more looks longer than necessary before Barbara went to bed sooner than all the others. Despite her nap in the afternoon she was tired because the cold still nagged at her.

"Have you seen their eyes?" Judith whispered to her husband a couple of moments after Tommy and Glenn had left the room too.

Martin gave her a kiss. "They look at each other like you've once looked at me."

"I still do." she mock grumbled.

"Nah. Nowadays you look even more loving. Deeper. Because you've got deeper knowledge about my love for you. And you already know what you will get from me when you look at me that way."

"Shut up." They kissed again. "I bet they will realise it tomorrow at the party. They have to. They can't be that blind!"

"Deal. I guess it will be a few days into the New Year. Two or three tops."

"Too early." Peter obviously had overheard their conversation. He handed them both a drink. "He's too dumb. But Barbara's a smart woman. And yeah, I'll give them no more than ten days. They'll be back in London first, I guess."

"I deep-clean the stables next weekend if they're not kissing at her doorstep right now." Natasha cut in.

"No, never. He's just gone to the kitchen." Peter raised his glass.

"Yes, and he's just returned with a family pack of crackers." Tommy returned. "Who wants what?"

The clueless irritation in his face about Natasha's deep groan and the laughter of the others was priceless.

.

...