Gabby liked Vincent even more when he wasn’t trying to impress her, when he wasn’t trying to act older than he was and more knowing. Inside, she knew he was as bewildered as she was about the feelings they had for each other. She had never felt like this before in her life. Never had she felt a pull from the gut like she did when she saw him walking towards her. It was almost primitive, and she instinctively knew that this was real love, not kids playing about at grown-up feelings and emotions. As young as they were, they were both completely sure that they were destined to be together. It wasn’t something they had ever really discussed – it just was.

Vincent was dressed well – he always dressed like a man. At weekends he was suited and booted; like all his contemporaries he knew the value of a decent bit of clobber. She tried to dress for him now with longer skirts, tailored jackets, decent high heels. One good thing about it all was her mother had stopped frowning at her these days, believing it was her good taste that had made her daughter opt for more conservative clothing. Good job she didn’t know it was because she wanted to look older, more sophisticated, more adult and that meant not looking like Madonna or Cyndi Lauper. It meant looking like a grown woman should look. Clean, fresh and well appointed. She had read that in a magazine and it had become her mantra.

As Vincent O’Casey spotted Gabby sitting in the Golden Egg waiting for him, his heart soared with love and, he admitted, a great deal of lust. But this was Jonny P’s niece and he was ever aware of that. This was also the daughter of Cynthia Tailor, a legend in her own lunchtime, and he was acutely aware of that too.

That aside, he loved this girl with all his being. At seventeen, and Gabby not yet fourteen, he knew he was playing with fire. But she was like a woman, a woman beyond her years, for all her schoolgirl chatter and smoking. She knew instinctively what he needed and she provided it for him. He knew that was rare in a couple and that what they had was special.