Pull Read Free Page B

he’d used to do. He was the
reason Danny got into the world of bar work. Every weekend, he
would be made to work in the family pub back home. It was the hub
of their little town and his dad had been larger than life itself
but nowadays, he rarely set foot outside more than once a week.
Danny had fully embraced the hectic, cosmopolitan lifestyle the
capital offered but, as soon as he stepped over the threshold to
his dad’s flat, he was just Danny. A small town boy with nothing
behind him and nothing to look forward to.
    ‘When’s this young lady of yours coming?’ his
grandpa asked and Danny blinked. It was the first thing he’d said
for hours.
    ‘I don’t have a lady, Grandpa. Remember?’
    ‘Oh, yes. That’s right.’ His grandpa nodded. ‘But
why not? Sure, when I was your age I was already married with three
boys. Even your Da was married by your age.’
    ‘I know, but things are different these days.’
    ‘You still need to find yourself a woman. Settle
down, raise a family.’ His grandpa leaned on the arm of the sofa
and beckoned at Danny to come closer. ‘Are you...you know. One of
those homosexuals?’
    Danny laughed. ‘No, grandpa. I’m not a
homosexual.’
    ‘Well at least tell me you’re cleaning your pipes
regularly?’
    ‘Grandpa!’ Danny groaned. ‘Really?’
    ‘What? Are you a man or aren’t you? Once a day keeps
the doctor away. How else do you think I’ve lived this long.’
    Danny laughed again, shaking his head. It was
becoming a real juggling act with his grandpa. His Alzheimer’s was
getting worse and his lucid moments were getting fewer and further
between, marred by ever prolonged periods of forgetting who, where
or even when he was. But then there were times like this when he
reverted back to the Grandpa Gerry he remembered – outspoken and
full of bare-faced cheek. Danny looked at him as he slipped back
into his vacant expression and stared past the television. The
moment was gone as quickly as it had come. His phone vibrated in
his pocket and he quickly took it out, grateful for the
distraction. Thinking about his grandpa’s deteriorating health was
something he couldn’t deal with, not today.
    - Soooooo. I was thinking. Maybe we could meet up
for a drink or something and do this face to face?
    Danny smiled. He was going to ask her the same thing
but he liked that she’d beaten him to it. She seemed like the type
of woman who could give him the thrill of the chase and give as
good as she got - exactly his type.
    - Sounds great to me. When are you free?
     
    - Well, I’ve a flight out in a few days so it’s
pretty hectic, but I could do tomorrow?
    Like his grandpa said, he had to settle down sooner
or later and Danny couldn’t agree more. If nothing else, meeting up
with Claire would be fun, something to brighten his mood after
today. The idea of spending another Christmas like this one made
him feel sick to his stomach. He didn’t want to end up an old man,
alone in a flat when everyone else celebrated with friends and
family.
    Next year, things would be different.
     

 
Six
     
    As was tradition, the West End heaved on Boxing Day
with shoppers fighting their way through the sales with sharpened
elbows and at six in the evening, the streets were still bustling
with gleeful shoppers. Claire stood on the pavement, hunching her
shoulders against the blistering cold. The Christmas streetlights
shone overhead, stretching from lamppost to lamppost, adding to the
magical air that London seemed to lend itself to every
December.
    She looked up as a group of people approached and
her heart leapt to her throat until she saw that Danny wasn’t among
them. Of course he wasn’t, she was half an hour early. She was the
one to ask him to meet but nerves had kicked in, so much so that
her family kept asking what was wrong with her. She’d asked herself
the same question, too. It hadn’t been an issue when she’d met up
with Paolo in Sydney, or Will in Dubai. Why should this be