The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 15

MyStarScope Taurus : You are going through a transitionary period, but today is a good day to find the balance between the life you lead alone and your partnership with someone close.

“So, you get why I wanted you to see Claire’s house?”

Daisy and Matt were sitting at a small table in a café in Sutton the following week, after Daisy’s former client had given them both a tour of her redesigned late-nineteenth-century home.

Claire had hugged Daisy tight as they’d taken their leave.

“I know that award is a big deal in your business, Daisy, and I’m not dismissing it. But look at the bigger picture: you give people the homes of their dreams. What’s more important?”

Now Daisy dunked a small almond biscuit into her coffee and waited to hear what Matt thought.

“It was good to see it,” he said. “There isn’t a single straight wall in that place!”

Daisy laughed. “Yeah, it’s always an extra challenge. But it lends character.”

Matt leaned back in his chair. “I have to admit, it feels different now I have skin in the game. Not that I didn’t enjoy seeing all those showhouses you used to drag me to on a Saturday morning.”

“You must have hated it.” Daisy felt herself blush.

“No, it was fun pretending to be interested buyers.” He raised an eyebrow.

Daisy glanced away and concentrated on blowing needlessly across her coffee. How could she forget? Every time she allowed herself to think about those five years of her life, she’d remember how she’d imagined their future unfolding.

“I’ll bet your own house is stunning,” Matt said.

Daisy latched on to the change of subject. “I like it, but it’s bijou, which is such a great word for tiny, right? I mean, I’d love more space. Who wouldn’t?” She stopped, shrugging away the rest of her thoughts. She and James had saved so hard to buy their home – it felt like a betrayal to talk about it with Matt.

She just wished she wasn’t so annoyed with James right now. After they’d got home the previous night, he’d gone straight to his office. She had gone to bed just after ten, but had woken around midnight to hear James and Alma talking quietly outside the bedroom door. She hadn’t been able to make out what they’d been talking about but, after James had slipped quietly into bed, it had been easier to pretend to be asleep.

“You always had a thing for old houses,” Matt said. “You even liked that dilapidated old redbrick I lived in during college.”

A sudden memory of a big, unmade bed pulled into the middle of a high-ceilinged bedroom flashed into her mind. If she closed her eyes, she could still see those draughty, single-glazed windows, stained, uneven floorboards and boarded-up fireplaces.

God, it was way too warm in here! Maybe she could ask them to leave the door open for a while.

“So, what happens after the house is finished?” she asked. “Have you made any other plans?”

“Not really.” Matt gave a lazy smile, and Daisy’s eyes followed his fingers as they snagged in the curls at his neck. “More hopes, I suppose.”

Was she really sitting here after five years listening to Matt Deveraux discuss his dreams for the future? It was completely surreal.

“I want to meet someone, Daisy. I want to have a family, fill that big house if I can.”

As he held her eyes, she felt her skin prickle with warmth.

Had she been right? Had he come back home to see her?

“So, um , apart from me and Brian, have you seen anyone else since you got back?”

She half-expected him to deflect the question.

“I went down to see the folks.” Matt leaned back in his chair. “They still live in Kilkenny, although Dad’s semi-retired. I saw Charlie too.”

Daisy tried not to look surprised at the mention of Charlie, given how reluctant he’d been to discuss him before.

“He’s running the family pub now.”

“Really?” Daisy tried to remember. “Wasn’t he working for one of the big stockbrokers? You two had planned to go into business together.”

Matt’s lips thinned. “That was the plan.”

Except Matt had gone to the States. So he’d let his brother down too: maybe that was why they’d fallen out. Matt had never admitted to it, but Daisy had the feeling that was what had happened. She took a breath. “Do you ever regret going to the States? Deciding to stay there?”

He gave her a long look. “I did what I thought was best. What about you, Daisy? If we could go back, would you do things differently?”

“Why do you ask?” Was this it, she wondered. Was this his roundabout way of telling her he regretted what he’d done, how he’d treated her? She braced herself for a confession, an explanation, but he simply shrugged.

“No reason. You got everything you wanted, right?”

Daisy bit back a snappy retort. It was partly her fault – she didn’t have the courage to ask him straight out why he’d left. She wondered how long they’d continue to dance around each other.

“I’ve been very lucky with the business.” Nothing like glossing things over.

In the silence that followed, Daisy could feel the atmosphere sour slightly. She couldn’t leave things like this.

“So how is Charlie?”

Matt gave a harsh laugh. “Married, three kids, bought himself a nice little place on the outskirts of Kilkenny city. Charlie always landed on his feet.”

The idea that his brother had decided on a complete career change because Matt had decided to stay in the States didn’t add up. She had a strong feeling that Matt was holding something back. But now wasn’t the time.

And, if she were being honest with herself, she felt rattled by the thought that Matt had recognised some sliding-doors moment in their past too.

She was the first to break eye contact. “I’d better get to the office.”

“Yeah, I need to get some work done too. Thanks for this morning, though, I enjoyed it.”

“My pleasure.” Daisy slid back into professional mode. “I’m glad you got to see a finished project.” She was pretty sure Matt wasn’t referring to Claire’s house. But she was equally sure that neither of them was ready for a deep-dive discussion.

It should be so simple: Matt was her past, James was her present.

But since Matt’s reappearance, her past and present felt like they were on some sort of collision course. And for the first time in five years, she’d no idea what her future looked like.