The meal finished, Peter was faced with having to take Hardy into the front room whilst Natalie tidied up. Hardy seemed just as reluctant to spend time alone with him as Peter felt and even offered to help Natalie clear the dishes.
"I can manage," she smiled flushed with the success of the dinner, "you two boys should get to know each other a bit better."
Peter couldn't quite suppress the shudder at that thought and out of the corner of his eye he saw the concept had the same effect on his boss. With an air of being led to the gallows Hardy let Peter go ahead of him. Hardy chose the wing chair while Peter sat on the sofa, "can I get you anything?"
Peter offered, trying to remember what the typical host would do.
"No," Hardy said then remembering his manners added, "thank you."
The silence in the room settled like a thick fog. Peter thought about trying to start a conversation about sport, but he really didn't follow any team himself and Hardy didn't seem the football type anyway.
Hardy just sat, staring into space as if he was mentally ticking off the minutes until he could safely, without risk of offending them, get the hell out of there.
Deciding it was time to address the white elephant in the room Peter ventured, "it is interesting how many people say we look alike..."
At first he wasn't sure Hardy had heard him. The other man was still looking off into the distance seemingly lost in his own world.
Finally he blinked slowly and focused his eyes on Peter, "indeed," was all he said.
"Why do you think that is?" Peter nearly stammered, all of a sudden he felt the need to get to the bottom of this once and for all.
"The logical explanation..." Hardy started then Natalie came into the room, cutting him off.
She bore a tray with a tea pot, cups and an assortment of biscuits. "Nothing better after a nice meal than a good cup of tea..." she smiled at them.
If she noticed Peter's grimace at her entrance and the look of relief on Hardy's face, she didn't say anything. Instead she set the tray down, and picked up the pot, "cream? Sugar?" she offered as she poured the tea into one of the cups.
Peter sat back with a barely contained groan of despair. He had been so close to finding out what Hardy knew about their connection, he had almost gotten the closed mouthed man to open up and now... the moment was lost.
He couldn't be angry at Natalie, she was just being a good hostess. But part of him wanted to take out his frustration on someone, something.
Deciding it would be safer for him to step away for a moment until he could get his temper back under control he excused himself and headed to the bathroom. There he turned on the ventilation fan, ran some water in the sink and let the cry of frustration that he had been keeping inside out.
Then taking a few deep breaths he splashed some water on his face, careful not to get any on his shirt front and then turned the taps off. Glancing into the mirror he tried to smile. The mouth went along with the idea but his eyes were still blazing. Blotting the water from his face with a face flannel, he then tried again. This time he looked a bit more convincing. Shutting off the water, and the fan he left the bathroom.
As he stepped into the hallway he heard Natalie's laugh, followed by a deeper more masculine one. Amazed, once again, how Natalie seemed to bring out the best in the usually deeply unpleasant Hardy, Peter felt another pang of jealousy.
He had stolen her from Ripley, a fact he was always painfully aware of, and lived in constant fear that someone would eventually steal her from him. Pushing the fear, that felt like a bird's wings in this chest, Peter plastered on a smile and readied to rejoin them in the living room.