The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 13

MyStarScope Taurus: Life is like a buffet right now. Dive in.

Daisy arrived at Matt’s house shortly after nine and took a few moments to compose herself. She wasn’t sure what was making her more nervous right now: beginning a huge project like Granary House, or the thought of being around Matt again.

She’d taken extra care with her outfit, and had got an early hair appointment, so that her normally wild tresses now lay in soft waves around her face.

Matt answered the door in jeans and a T-shirt. “Come in.” He smiled. “You’re right on time. I was just about to have breakfast. I made pancakes.”

They’d been his party piece – her favourite had been the wafer-thin ones with Nutella.

“I’ve made a stack of them. And I’ve sugar and lemon, or Nutella, if you prefer.”

So he’d remembered! So what, Daisy? It’s chocolate spread – loads of people like the stuff! She hoped this wasn’t the buffet her horoscope had predicted.

“Actually, I’ll just have a coffee.”

“They’ll go to waste if you don’t help – ” Matt stopped as the doorbell rang. “That might be your workmen.”

“Probably.”

He left to answer the door.

Daisy sighed. The last thing she needed were constant reminders of what she and Matt used to love to do, or the food they loved to eat together. She owed it to herself to remember exactly how it had been with Matt – not just the good stuff. Because, obviously, there had been bad stuff too. She couldn’t think of any right now apart from how things had ended, but it was bound to come back to her.

Daisy heard Kenny’s familiar gravelly voice in the hall. She was helping herself to a coffee as they came into the kitchen.

“I’ll have one of those too, if it’s going.” Kenny pulled his small, black beanie down over his head, and scratched at his chin.

Daisy poured another cup. “Splash of milk and two sugars, right?”

“Yup. I’ve two lads coming this morning, but I can make a start. I’ve had a look at your plans.” He took the mug from her and turned to Matt. “Are you thinking of reopening this place as a B&B?”

“God, no!” Matt laughed.

“Well, you can always change your mind. Now, I’ve ordered a big support beam so we can knock through this wall into the conservatory. Are we keeping the glass roof?”

Daisy nodded.

“We’ll mind it, so.” Kenny looked around. “We can start stripping out the old units. I’ll leave everything outside until the skip arrives.”

Matt ran a hand across the back of his neck. “I’ll take some breakfast into the guest wing, Daisy. Call me if you need me.”

“What’s his story?” Kenny said, after Matt left.

Daisy spoke carefully, conscious of not wanting to give away anything personal. “He was living in the States, and he came back and bought this place.”

“Has he a partner or family joining him?”

“ Er , no.”

Kenny scratched his head. “Beats me why he’d want to buy this huge old place and live here by himself, but I’m happy to take his money. How are your mam and dad doing? You been home to see them recently?”

“Yeah, last weekend. And the one before.” Daisy smiled. Kenny’s wife had known her parents’ nearest neighbours in Oranmore, which was how he’d been recommended to her. “Dad’s just built a new coop for their chickens, and Mum –” she stopped, remembering the nude self-portrait, “is, er , still painting.”

“Oh, I found these, wait till I show you now.” Kenny took out his phone, and turned the screen so she could scroll through a dozen black-and-white landscape photos. “I transferred them to my phone – they were the last ones herself took.”

“They’re beautiful, Kenny.” He rarely spoke about his late wife, so on the rare occasion he shared something Daisy gave him her full attention.

“They are.” Kenny nodded vigorously, but looked relieved when the doorbell rang again.

“That’s probably the fellah who’ll be stripping all this out with me this morning.”

He left to answer the door, and returned with a solidly built man in his mid-twenties, who sported a man-bun and a tattoo that curved up around his neck.

The newcomer looked Daisy up and down, and gave a broad grin. “Heyya, love. Nice place!”

Kenny shot him a glare. “Alec, this is Daisy Devlin, the interior architect for this job.”

Alec seemed even more amused. “Interior architect? Fair fucks.” He turned to Kenny. “Where do I start?”

“We’re starting with those old kitchen cabinets. Don’t touch the Aga or the table.”

From the hall came the sound of a woman’s voice, and then Matt’s laughter.

Kenny tugged on his beanie. “Sounds like the new electrician’s here. She’ll be looking over the place, although we probably won’t need her just yet.”

Matt came back into the kitchen with a young woman with dyed-black, curly hair. She sported a variety of piercings, black eye make-up and black lipstick, which lent her a distinctly gothic look. She looked about seventeen, Daisy thought, a bit nervously.

“Hey, Kenny!” The young woman nodded to the others.

“Niamh, this is Daisy Devlin, the interior architect,” Kenny said.

Daisy smiled warmly at her.

Niamh returned her smile and flicked an interested look at Alec. “Who are you?”

“Alec is one of my carpenters,” Kenny said.

Alec gave a snort of laughter. “I suddenly feel very old.”

Niamh gave him a hard stare, before turning back to Kenny. “I’m gonna see how much basic work I’ll have to do, but I’m guessing you’ve got plans, yeah?”

He gave a brief nod. “Go ahead.”

“I can show you around,” Matt offered.

Niamh beamed up at him. “Lead the way.”

“Will you be around for a while, Daisy?” Kenny said after they’d left, and Alec had started stripping out the kitchen units.

She nodded. “I’ve measurements to take, and I want to get some orders in. Listen, there’s been a bit of a complication – Matt’s signed a deal with a music promoter to put on a series of summer concerts in the grounds. They’ll kick off at the start of June, so I’ve landscapers starting their work in a few days. It shouldn’t interfere with your work, though.”

Kenny ran a hand across his stubble beard. “You hoping we all get finished by then?”

“Do you think you can?” Daisy raised an eyebrow.

He looked around. “Nothing like a challenge.”

“I thought I’d take refuge up here for a while – there’s a lot going on downstairs.” Matt appeared at the door of the master bedroom as Daisy was taking measurements down the centre of the room.

“Oh, hi. All good?” She straightened up.

Matt pulled a face. “Niamh and Alec seem to be having some sort of disagreement about something, so I thought I’d stay out of the way.”

“What?” She rolled her eyes. “Kenny’s around, he’ll sort them if he needs to. Alec is new to the crew. Sometimes guys have a hard time working with women.”

He nodded and walked over to the window.

She let her gaze wander to the single photo in the room, displayed on the marble mantelpiece above the large Georgian fireplace.

It was of Matt with a young woman in ski jackets and goggles, posing in front of a snow-covered mountain. The woman was smiling, her hand up as if to pull back the long blonde hair that was being blown across her face, partially obscuring it from the camera.

“I noticed that photo earlier.” Daisy folded her arms. “She’s pretty.”

“An ex-girlfriend.” Matt smiled and ran a hand across the back of his neck. “I know what you’re thinking: it’s weird that I have photos of my ex on display. But I like that picture, and it would be weirder to cut her out. Anyway, I’ve found if you try to shove the past away, it has a habit of catching up with you.”

He looked at her longer than necessary, and Daisy slid a hand self-consciously over the pulse at her neck.

“Right. Uh , so ...” She looked around the room. “Yes, I’d like to put a statement half-wall right here, with a walk-in wardrobe behind it.” She paused as a loud crash reverberated through the house. “Sounds like the last of your kitchen.”

“No going back now.” He grinned. “Although I’m finding it hard to visualise the end result.”

She laughed. “You mean you didn’t do ‘modern rustic’ or the pared-back ‘Georgian elegance with maximalist accent module’ when you were in college?”

He grinned. “It was clearly a failing of my IT course.”

“I finished a house last year,” she said, thinking. “It’s quirky, all different-height ceilings and hidden rooms. But I used a lot of maximalist accents in the redesign, and I’m pretty sure the owners wouldn’t mind giving you a tour.”

“And you’d come with me?”

“Of course.”

This would be no different to anything she’d done for previous clients. “I’ll arrange for us to see it. Um , before I forget, do you know what time of the day you were born?” She opened the notes file on her phone.

“What?” He looked amused. “Why?”

“It’s a feng-shui thing.” She hoped she sounded convincing.

“I’ve no idea. All I know is that I was eight days late. Mam never let me forget.”

“That’ll help.” She put it in her phone.

“Is that stuff actually useful?” He was smiling at her.

She beamed. “Invaluable.”