Goodnight Steve McQueen Read Online Free PDF

and she’s always got something to eat waiting in the oven when I get home. I know, freaky, and the only thing that gives it away is that Alison can’t cook. I mean, she’s brilliant at almost everything else but somehow she’s utterly incapable of following a recipe. When I cook, I follow the recipe like it’s a mathematical formula; when Alison cooks, she’s always convinced the recipe could do with a little improving.
    “Well,” I say, taking a butcher’s at the pile of steaming grey matter in the saucepan, ‘that looks… er, lovely, but I thought I’d just grab a burger on the way.”
    “On the way where?”
    “Rehearsals. I’m supposed to be meeting Vince and Matty at seven.”
    “Oh…” she says, digging at the rice with the back of her spoon.
    “What? .. . You thought I wasn’t going, didn’t you?”
    “Well, I just thought
    “That’s it, isn’t it? You thought I wasn’t going to go any more.”
    “No, that’s not it at—’ j&
    “That’s why you’re being so nice to me, isn’t it, all this cooking and cleaning and… you thought you only had to utter the words and I’d dump the music straight away, just like that, that I wouldn’t even want to give it another chance.”
    “No, Danny, that’s not—’
    “I mean, I haven’t even had a chance to tell Matty and Vince what you said yet, I haven’t—’
    “Listen to me. It’s not like that, I wasn’t expecting you to give up overnight, I just thought that since I’m leaving for Bruges on Monday you might want us to spend a few evenings together. I just wanted to spend some extra time with you before I go.”
    I feel so guilty I have two and a half helpings of the turkey mince chilli.
    “I spoke to my brother today,” she says, spooning the last of the chilli on to my plate.
    “Did you?” I say, picking a piece of gizzard out of my teeth. “How did he seem?”
    “Fine. You know, he seems pretty settled in his new flat. I think he’s a bit worried about me going away, though.”
    “Yeah, well, that’s no problem, I’ve got loads of free time, I don’t mind checking in on him while you’re away.”
    “Would you?”
    “Yeah, of course. As long as he promises to let me win a chess game once in a while.”
    “No chance,” she says, grinning at me. “You can’t even beat Sheila.”
    “Yeah, well, that’s as maybe, but I’m learning, aren’t I? And I killed Matty at draughts in the pub yesterday. He didn’t stand a chance.”
    “Thanks, Danny,” she says, reaching over and giving me a kiss, “I’d really appreciate it. I know Rufus would love to see you.”
    Alison brings out a Marks and Spencer’s raspberry trifle and I attempt to capitalise on my newly won brownie points by telling her all about my conversation with Sheila.
    “I told Sheila about you today,” I say dividing the trifle into two (fairly) even pieces. “I told her that you’d given me an ultimatum.”
    “Oh my God, you didn’t. What did she say?”
    “She said I ought to wait until I got to be her age then I’d know what was what.”
    “Did she say what she thought you should do?”
    “Well, urn… not really … I think she thought you were being a bit unreasonable… with the whole six-months thing.”
    “Danny, we talked about it. I just don’t want this thing dragging on.”
    “So that’s it, then. If I don’t sort myself out by Christmas you’re going to leave me?”
    “No, of course I’m not, I told you, I just want us to have made some decisions by then, that’s all.”
    I don’t know why I’m pushing her like this. She’s already explained herself a hundred thousand times and she looks like she’s starting to get upset again so I say:
    “Sheila said something else about you as well.”
    “Really? What did she say?”
    “She said you sounded like quite a young lady.”
    “Hey, have you seen this?” she says, handing me an article from the North London Herald. “The local health authority have stopped offering