She didn’t know what it was about Ted, but whenever he was around, it was as though all her troubles had melted away. His mere presence filled her with a warm certainty that everything was right with the world. As they continued to kiss, Olivia felt as though his lips were making her lighter than air. Just as she wished that this moment would last forever, she was jolted from their magical embrace by an angry explosion erupting through the trees behind them. Turning sharply to see what the commotion was, Olivia saw her father striding towards them, his face blood-red with rage. She squealed in alarm and jumped to her feet. ‘Go, Ted!’ she ordered, but Ted was reluctant to leave her on her own with her father in such a furious temper, so he half turned to face the other man, his hands held up placatingly. Fearing her father’s response, Olivia grabbed Ted by the hand and pulled him out of the garden, and they ran as fast as their legs could carry them, not stopping until they had reached the corner of Livingston Drive.

Panting, Olivia looked at Ted before bursting into laughter.

‘It’s not funny, Toff,’ said Ted, fighting for breath, but then he, too, started to laugh.

When they had both finally calmed down, Ted pulled a rueful face. ‘I’m certain he didn’t get a good look at me, but I daresay that won’t make any difference to how he treats you when you go home.’

Olivia shrugged. ‘Not a lot I can do about it now. The way I see it, I may as well get hung for a sheep …’

Ted raised an eyebrow. ‘Do you want to come back to mine for a bit?’

Olivia glanced in the direction of Aigburth Drive. ‘Well, I certainly don’t want to go back there until he’s had a chance to calm down, so we may as well,’ she bit her lip, ‘only I’d rather you didn’t mention any of this to your father.’

Ted nodded. ‘Don’t worry, I don’t intend to. He’d only give us a lecture on how he’d warned us that something like this might happen.’ Taking her hand in his, he gave it a reassuring little shake. ‘If we’re lucky he might’ve gone fishing with his mates.’

When Olivia returned home later that evening, her father was waiting for her in the library. He had demanded she tell him the name of the boy, but Olivia had refused, so he had proceeded to call her all manner of names, none of them nice, before sending her to her room and forbidding her from seeing the boy again.

Olivia blanched at his last words. ‘But he’s my only friend!’ she wailed.

Her father eyed her testily. ‘I’m not blind. I could see him slobbering all over you, so you’re a damned sight more than friends!’