”“You hid that from me?” Tanya asked, upset with Frank now.He shook his head. “No, Darling, Let me explain. She had to grow into her own perso.... You let Alicia grow with the freedom she needed to explore her sexuality, but you were smothering Katie. All I did was give her the space she needed to grow…”“I wasn’t smothering her!” Tanya insisted, standing up, now. “I was… I was protecting her! And you stopped that! And now – Now, look at her! She hires herself out to be killed for a living! What. I think I love him. Anyway, I’m on the Pill and we always use a condom.” “Is he the only one?” “Yes, mother. What do you think I am?” She sighed, gave me a funny look I’d never seen before, then to my surprise she hugged me. “I think you’re a normal, beautiful girl. I’m surprised you held out as long as you did.” I hugged her back, but I couldn’t figure her out. First, when I started to date one guy a bit seriously, off they sent me to Catholic girls’ school to preserve my virginity. Then when. I was support for a rock band that had three hits, played Wembley then vanished into obscurity. Their sound system was rubbish. You get echoes in a stadium and my last phrase was coming back to me as I sang the next. The group got confused and at one point I was singing with no accompaniment. What a night that was. Never again!"I went to the bar and ordered some drinks, we sat down in the rather over-large club chairs and toasted each other. "Have you been busy since we met?" I asked Cate."So,. You trying to tell me you study together?" Sure we do. We've been cramming all weekend for next week's exams. More coming too." You said you'd just been swimming." Gotta get some exercise, too. Can't work all the time. Saul and I, we did about a hundred laps, some weights, some sprints. Alex just sort of hung out. He's not much of a swimmer." Don't you have any fun?" Hey, good work and good exercise is fun, if you've got good people with you." No, I mean, going out. Movies. Getting drunk with.