The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 17

MyStarScope Taurus: An old flame rekindles warm feelings – be careful you don’t get burnt.

“Sorry I’m late.” Daisy hurried into the office the following morning, and sat down at her desk to pull off her runners and slip on her pumps.

“Did you cycle in?” Laura wrinkled her nose as she glanced towards the window. “It’s raining.”

“No, I just couldn’t find parking, so I had to walk for a couple of blocks.” Daisy pulled her hair into a ponytail. “Alma’s sick so I offered to do a few things for her this morning. I had to get her an appointment with our GP.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Fionn said.

Daisy sighed. “Bad sore throat. Probably all the bloody singing she does.”

He looked thoughtful. “What star sign is she?”

“No idea. I don’t think her birthday’s until later in the year, though.”

“ Hmm .” Fionn chewed on his lip. “Throat infections are more of a Taurus thing.”

“Which is me,” Daisy muttered.

Laura shook her head. “You know, if your career as interior architect doesn’t take off, Fionn, you could set yourself up as an alternative medical consultant. Diagnose people by their star signs!”

“Still, it could be strep,” Fionn said, ignoring Laura. He swept his fringe across his forehead, and Daisy noticed his fingernails had been painted a deep blue, with tiny stars and moons stencilled on them.

“Fabulous nails,” she said.

Fionn smiled. “Thank you. I remember my sister got strep during her Leaving Cert and spent the whole summer recovering.” He seemed to notice Daisy’s expression, because he added hurriedly, “But I’d say it was because she was stressing over exams, when she should have been resting.”

Daisy took a breath. “God, I just hope it isn’t that with Alma. I’d have to look after her.”

“If you don’t, James will have to,” Laura murmured.

Daisy could feel her chest tightening, and she wondered if Laura had noticed James’ weird reaction when Brian had mentioned Alma.

In spite of James’ obvious early efforts to win Laura around, it seemed that even after five years Laura was still wary of him. What if Laura had been right? What if she was destined to go through life choosing the wrong men? What if –

“Laura, did you say anything to Brian about me working on Granary House?” Daisy tried to sound casual.

“No.” Laura flicked her a sharp look. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t know, or hasn’t guessed, but he hasn’t mentioned anything to me. Why?”

So he couldn’t know. He’d definitely have said something! It was nuts! There was a time she’d quite liked Brian. Then again, there was a time when Laura had liked Matt. She’d told Daisy that she and Matt were a perfect match! But what did anyone know at that age? Daisy had thought the four of them would be friends forever. Then, after Matt had dumped her, Brian had turned on her too. It made her furious to think of it.

“You know that Brian and I don’t spend all our time talking about you and Matt,” Laura said.

Colour flashed to Daisy’s face. “There is no me and Matt. Forget I said anything.”

Laura folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. “You know the weirder thing, babes? That Matt hasn’t mentioned you to Brian.”

Which was exactly what she’d been thinking last night. “How do you know he hasn’t?”

Laura looked closely at her. “I think Matt likes to have his secrets. He always did.”

Laura was right. Matt was still keeping the biggest secret from her – the one she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about all these years.

“Is he in touch with his brother?” Laura sounded thoughtful.

“Yeah, he’s running the family bar in Kilkenny.”

“Charlie? Wasn’t he some hot shot accountant or broker, or something? He was certainly a lot smarter than Matt.”

Daisy bristled. “Maybe Charlie just fancied a change in career. We don’t really talk about personal stuff.”

“Oh-kay.” Laura arched an eyebrow, and Daisy glanced away.

She shouldn’t have even mentioned Matt! Especially after running into him like that. Now that he knew she was keeping him a secret from James, she was nervous at the prospect of seeing him again. Which was crazy, because nothing had actually changed. At the same time, it felt like something significant had shifted.

Alma phoned her halfway through the morning. “The doctor says I have strep throat.” Her voice was barely a whisper on the other end of the phone.

“Shit.” Daisy sighed. “Did she give you an antibiotic?”

“Yes, but I have to take some time off college, so I’ll eat in my room. It’s quite contagious.”

Daisy’s phone extension rang and she motioned for Fionn to answer. “ Er , thanks, Alma. Sorry, must go.” She hung up and looked at Fionn. “It’s strep. Looks like James and I will be doing room service.”

He shot her a look of sympathy. “I’ve Matt Deveraux on the line for you.”

Deep breath, Daisy. She nodded to Fionn and picked up the call, swivelling her chair towards the window.

“Hi, Matt.” She cleared her throat, pressing the back of her hand against her warm cheek.

“Hi, Daisy.” Matt sounded agitated. “Look, Kenny’s run into a problem with the bathrooms. He’s talking about completely rebuilding walls. Could you come and take a look?”

Daisy tried to sound reassuring. “You can’t foresee everything that happens on a job, Matt. What’s the problem?”

“When they took down the plasterboard, they found the wall had been filled with old underwear and socks!”

“You’re joking!” Daisy started to laugh.

“Nope. Your guy has wedged some wood in instead. Look, I don’t want to play hardball, but there’s a bigger picture here and Kenny just isn’t getting it. I told you Kayley Lynch is performing on the first of June? She and her film crew are coming two weeks before that to start filming her in Ireland. And they’ll be using Granary House.”

“I thought it was just the grounds, Matt.”

“Her people want to use the house and gardens to film her composing and rehearsing. They want footage to show on screens during her Irish concerts, or future concerts or something.”

“Matt, there’s no way the place will be ready in two weeks.”

“But the heavy work could, couldn’t it?” Matt said. “Kayley’s people will pay extra to make it happen.”

Daisy hoped that was an understatement.

“We can give it a go.” She opened her phone diary, scrolling through her plans for the day.

Most of it was phone calls or online orders. “I’ll get out to you around lunch and have a chat with Kenny.”

“I promise to feed you,” Matt said.

Daisy could tell he was smiling. Even though she felt a bit manipulated, she found herself smiling in return.

“I’ll see you then.” She hung up and caught Laura’s expression. “What?”

“Just wondering how high you can jump in those shoes.”

Daisy told herself it was no different from anything she’d do for any other client. “Very cute.”