>Traveller dude threatens a teenager who had been too aggressive in pursuit of also-then-teenage-Clare and compares Clare's sex appeal to "being a kitten that doesn't know the sharpness of its claws" or smth,

I don't remember that part, but I remember the rest of what you mentioned.

Clair's "bestfriend" and Gomez were a constant presence in their lives (they even had kids - three if I remember correctly). Gomez actually referred Henry to a fertility specialist doctor after he and Clare were going through so many miscarriages. In a way, he was a "male friend" of Henry's.