from the antiques shop for its owner, Guy Cooke noticed that his normally chatty cousin seemed rather preoccupied.
'Is something wrong?' he asked her quietly when they had finished their business discussion and had moved on to talk about family matters and the forthcoming eighteenth birthday of Didi's son, Todd.
'I'm a bit concerned about Annalise,' she admitted worriedly. Annalise was her niece, the eldest child of her brother, whose acrimonious divorce had caused a good deal of discussion within the family four years earlier when it had taken place.
'Paul's eldest?' Guy asked, surprised. 'But Paul was saying only at Christmas how well she was doing at school.'
'Yes, but in the past few weeks she's apparently changed completely, neglecting her school-work, going out and refusing to tell him where she's been or whom she's been with. Paul says that she's either lost in some kind of day-dream or snapping at the boys, so much so that she actually made little Teddy cry the other day when she told him off for forgetting to bring his sports kit home from school. And Paul said he has to speak to her at least half a dozen times on some occasions before he gets any kind of response from her.'
'Sounds like she could be in love,' Guy suggested.
'Yes. That's what Paul's afraid of,' Didi admitted.
Guy gave her a rather wry look. 'Girls of seventeen do fall in love,' he pointed out with a small smile, 'or at least they think they do.'
'Well, yes, but because of her parents' divorce and her own rather serious nature, Annalise isn't perhaps quite as aware as most other girls of her age. In some ways as a little mother to the others, she's very mature, but in other ways—so far as boys go—she's quite naive.
'Paul has tended to be a bit overprotective of them all since the divorce from their mother was a particularly unpleasant one. There had been...
relationships with more than one other man before she eventually left with a lover. As you know, his wife's a Cooke, too, another member of our large family and you also know how old gossip and exaggerated histories tend to be exhumed at times like this. Paul has been determined that his children, and especially Annalise, should remain free of any taint of "carrying the wild Cooke genes".
I have tried to hint gently to him since Annalise started to grow up that there is such a thing as being too protective where boys, sex and relationships are concerned, but you know how prickly Paul can be at times.'
'Yes, a difficult situation, whichever way you look at it. Do we know who it is that Annalise has fallen so deeply in love with or—'
'We do, and it poses a problem. It's a boy called Pete Hunter. Paul is not disposed to think kindly of him because he's the lead singer with a local group that's all the rage at the moment.'
'You mean Salt?' Guy asked, naming the group of five young local boys who all the teenagers raved over.
'Mmm...that's them.' She gave Guy a curious look. 'I'm surprised you know the band's name.
I wouldn't have thought their kind of music was to your taste, Guy.'
'It isn't,' he agreed, 'but Mike, my sister Frances's boy, is a member of the group.'
'Oh, yes, of course he is. So you'll know Pete, then?'
'Sort of. A tall, dark-haired lad with what I personally feel is just a little too much "attitude",'
Guy returned wryly.
'That's the one,' Didi sighed. 'I mean in one way I doubt that Paul needs to be too worried.
Pete is very self-aware and very sure of himself and what he wants from life. I doubt that normally he'd look very hard in Annalise's direction. Not that she isn't attractive, she is, and she's going to be even more so, but right now she's still very much a seventeen-year-old and a young seventeen-year-old at that.
'From what I've heard, the girls Pete normally squires around are rather more streetwise and, dare I say it, bimboish, and if Paul hadn't been silly enough to go storming round to Pete's parents' house and demand that Pete stay away from
'Is something wrong?' he asked her quietly when they had finished their business discussion and had moved on to talk about family matters and the forthcoming eighteenth birthday of Didi's son, Todd.
'I'm a bit concerned about Annalise,' she admitted worriedly. Annalise was her niece, the eldest child of her brother, whose acrimonious divorce had caused a good deal of discussion within the family four years earlier when it had taken place.
'Paul's eldest?' Guy asked, surprised. 'But Paul was saying only at Christmas how well she was doing at school.'
'Yes, but in the past few weeks she's apparently changed completely, neglecting her school-work, going out and refusing to tell him where she's been or whom she's been with. Paul says that she's either lost in some kind of day-dream or snapping at the boys, so much so that she actually made little Teddy cry the other day when she told him off for forgetting to bring his sports kit home from school. And Paul said he has to speak to her at least half a dozen times on some occasions before he gets any kind of response from her.'
'Sounds like she could be in love,' Guy suggested.
'Yes. That's what Paul's afraid of,' Didi admitted.
Guy gave her a rather wry look. 'Girls of seventeen do fall in love,' he pointed out with a small smile, 'or at least they think they do.'
'Well, yes, but because of her parents' divorce and her own rather serious nature, Annalise isn't perhaps quite as aware as most other girls of her age. In some ways as a little mother to the others, she's very mature, but in other ways—so far as boys go—she's quite naive.
'Paul has tended to be a bit overprotective of them all since the divorce from their mother was a particularly unpleasant one. There had been...
relationships with more than one other man before she eventually left with a lover. As you know, his wife's a Cooke, too, another member of our large family and you also know how old gossip and exaggerated histories tend to be exhumed at times like this. Paul has been determined that his children, and especially Annalise, should remain free of any taint of "carrying the wild Cooke genes".
I have tried to hint gently to him since Annalise started to grow up that there is such a thing as being too protective where boys, sex and relationships are concerned, but you know how prickly Paul can be at times.'
'Yes, a difficult situation, whichever way you look at it. Do we know who it is that Annalise has fallen so deeply in love with or—'
'We do, and it poses a problem. It's a boy called Pete Hunter. Paul is not disposed to think kindly of him because he's the lead singer with a local group that's all the rage at the moment.'
'You mean Salt?' Guy asked, naming the group of five young local boys who all the teenagers raved over.
'Mmm...that's them.' She gave Guy a curious look. 'I'm surprised you know the band's name.
I wouldn't have thought their kind of music was to your taste, Guy.'
'It isn't,' he agreed, 'but Mike, my sister Frances's boy, is a member of the group.'
'Oh, yes, of course he is. So you'll know Pete, then?'
'Sort of. A tall, dark-haired lad with what I personally feel is just a little too much "attitude",'
Guy returned wryly.
'That's the one,' Didi sighed. 'I mean in one way I doubt that Paul needs to be too worried.
Pete is very self-aware and very sure of himself and what he wants from life. I doubt that normally he'd look very hard in Annalise's direction. Not that she isn't attractive, she is, and she's going to be even more so, but right now she's still very much a seventeen-year-old and a young seventeen-year-old at that.
'From what I've heard, the girls Pete normally squires around are rather more streetwise and, dare I say it, bimboish, and if Paul hadn't been silly enough to go storming round to Pete's parents' house and demand that Pete stay away from
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