The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 21

“Fancy running into you here!”

Daisy spun around at the sound of the familiar voice. “Matt!” She narrowed her eyes. “Did you remember, or ... ?”

Matt grinned. “Of course I remembered.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek, and she breathed in the scent of his subtle aftershave. “For you.” He handed her a small, beautifully wrapped gift, the size of a ring box.

Daisy blinked. “Thank you.”

“I hope you don’t mind me turning up?” He sounded unsure. “Brian invited me.”

“Of course not. I’d no idea they were organising this.”

“Not a clue?” He looked at her.

She shook her head. “Honestly, James just said he was taking me out for my birthday.” Automatically, she found herself anxiously scanning the room for James, guiltily relieved when she couldn’t see him anywhere. When she turned back to Matt, she thought she saw a flash of annoyance on his face, and wished she hadn’t mentioned James. Then he smiled, and she told herself she’d imagined it.

“Open it?”

“Sure.” Daisy felt her face warm as she fumbled with the intricately tied ribbon. “You shouldn’t have got me anything, Matt.” It’s a tiny box, small enough for jewellery. Oh God, he’d bought her jewellery – exactly like James .

“I didn’t.”

“You didn’t?” She looked down at the wrapped box and then back up at him, trying not to appear too confused. Carefully, she tore open the wrapping and opened a small, black-velvet box to reveal a key. “ Haha! If you’ve bought me a car, I’ll have to say no.”

Matt grinned. “It’s a spare key to the house. I thought if I wasn’t there, or if I was busy, you could just let yourself in.”

Why hadn’t she thought of that? It made perfect sense. It was a practical gesture, not a gift at all. She decided not to make any comment about its odd presentation, and smiled brightly at him instead.

“Thank you, it’s such a good idea!”

Scooping it out of the box, she noticed it was attached to a key ring: a tiny photo moulded in hard plastic. “Wow, I’d almost forgotten about this picture!” It was of her and Matt one New Year’s Eve in Trinity College front square. She’d gone home for Christmas, she remembered, but had come up to Dublin that morning, to bring in the new year with Laura, Brian and Matt – her first New Year’s Eve with him.

In the photo she and Matt wore puffa jackets and woolly bobble hats. Their arms were wrapped tightly around each other, their breath almost visible in the ice-cold, night air, their excitement palpable, as they smiled for the camera. It reminded her of the other photo in Matt’s bedroom, and she felt a sudden surge of jealousy that the only photo he had on display in his house, was of him with some other woman. Clearly, she was losing her mind.

“ Um , did you get it especially made?” Was it weird that he’d given her such an intimate photo on a keyring? It was like he was making a point.

Matt looked surprised. “No, I’ve had it a while. I discovered it in the move and I thought you’d like to have it.”

She studied him for a moment, unsure whether he was playing with her. They’d had one each. Hers was just a small framed photo in a box in her parents’ house. The keyring was a nice touch, she supposed. And maybe he viewed it the same way as the photo of him and his ex-girlfriend at some ski resort.

“I saw your folks when I came in,” Matt said. “I’m not sure if they remembered me, though.”

There wasn’t a chance that they hadn’t recognised him; it had only been a few years, and her parents never forgot a face. Still, if her dad had seen him and had decided to ignore him, that was definitely the best-case scenario. Once they didn’t mention anything to James.

Matt frowned at something over Daisy’s shoulder and she spun nervously, dizzy with relief when she saw Laura approaching.

“Hello, Matt.” Laura’s smile seemed frozen to her face.

“Hi, Laura. Good to see you.”

Laura’s expression didn’t change. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Matt gave an easy shrug. “Brian invited me. You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Neither have you, I’ll bet.” Laura flicked her attention to Daisy. “Your mum’s looking for you.”

Daisy peered around the room. “Is she okay?”

“I think one of Rosie’s kids ate too much and got sick, and your mum’s with them.”

“Probably Ben.” Daisy grinned. “I don’t think he’s got an off-button. I’d better go see if she wants any help.” She turned to Matt. “Excuse me.”

He waved her gently away. “Catch you later.”

Laura’s smile turned into a grimace, as she tucked her arm firmly through Daisy’s, and marched her across the room towards the bathrooms. “Not if I see you first,” she muttered.

Daisy waved and mouthed a few hellos to people they passed. “Laura, what are you doing?”

“You know what I’m doing!”

Daisy sighed. “You can’t be rude to Matt like that, you know.”

“Give me one good reason why not.” Laura pushed open the door to the ladies’, where Sam and the twins were running up and down, and Daisy’s mother was spritzing some of her homemade lavender perfume and looking perfectly relaxed.

“Daisy!” The twins ran over and threw their arms around her, before racing off again.

Daisy’s mother smiled. “Did you go looking for back-up, Laura?” She laughed. “We would have managed. Still, I didn’t get a proper chance to talk to my birthday girl earlier. Doesn’t she look wonderful this evening? Where did you get your dress, Daisy?”

Daisy smoothed down her flared, poppy-red dress. “It’s from my favourite second-hand place, New Lease. I just put some pockets in.”

Miriam stuck her hands into the pockets of the sparkly blue, kaftan top that she’d teamed with darker, equally sparkly Capri pants. “I put pockets in this too.” She looked closely at Laura’s elegant, knee-skimming dress. “Is that silk? Almost impossible to have pockets in that.” She scrunched up her nose.

“And it would ruin the very sexy line.” Laura winked and Miriam chuckled.

Rosie emerged from the cubicle with Ben. “Here, wash your hands, now.”

Ben turned on the water and caught Daisy’s eye in the mirror. “Mummy says you’re thirty. That’s pretty old.”

“Ben!” Rosie shot him a frazzled look.

Daisy just grinned. “It is, yeah, but I’ve decided not to get any older after this.”

Rosie turned to her mother. “I’ve got this, Mum. Why don’t you all go back to the party?”

Laura looked relieved, and excused herself immediately.

“Dad’s at the bar with Séan, I see,” Daisy said, when she and Miriam went back outside. “I think they’re comparing craft beers.”

“Your dad’ll be singing in another hour.” Miriam sounded unbothered. “Are James’ parents coming, do you know?”

“I don’t think so. Probably not their kind of thing.”

“I thought they were very pleasant any time I met them. Obviously they couldn’t make it.”

Or James didn’t bother inviting them, Daisy thought. Was it bad that all her family and friends were here, but not James’ parents?

“How’s Matt?” Miriam asked.

Daisy tried to read her mother’s expression. “You saw him?”

“As soon as he came in.”

“He mentioned you.” Daisy wrapped her arms around herself. “He didn’t think you and Dad would remember him.”

“Does he think we’re senile?” Miriam tutted. “Listen, Daisy, you’re a grown woman and I know you’ll always do what you think is right for you. But just remember what Matt did! You don’t want to mess with you and James.”

Guilt gnawed at her. She was pleased that James had organised this evening, but it didn’t fix everything between them.

“It’s not like that, Mum, honestly.”

“Does James know that he’s here?”

Her mother and Laura were in league with each other!

“Not exactly. The thing is, Matt moved home and asked me to redesign his house. Actually, he just gave me this.”

She handed the key to Miriam, who turned the keyring over in her hand.

“I have this photo in a box of your old things at home. It was taken on New Year’s Eve, wasn’t it?”

Daisy nodded. Looking at the tiny photo, she could almost taste the cold air and feel the warmth of Matt’s arms around her.

“I remember that Christmas, Daisy,” Miriam said, slowly. “You invited Matt down to stay over the New Year, because he’d no plans to go home, and you wanted to go out with your old school gang. When he wouldn’t come down, you changed your plans and went back to Dublin.”

New Year’s Eve in Galway had always been special, Daisy thought, as she managed a smile. “I wouldn’t hold that against him, Mum, he was very shy back then.”

“Hmm.” Her mother gave her an appraising look. “Is he on his own?”

“Yes, but I’m just redesigning his house! And it just so happens that I never discuss any of my clients with James, so why would I make Matt an exception?”

“You’re not a doctor, Daisy! I don’t think you’d be breaking client privilege. If he finds out that you’ve been working on your ex-boyfriend’s house and you never mentioned it, he’ll wonder what else you’ve been keeping from him.”

“No, he won’t! Anyway, we trust each other.” She trusted James, didn’t she? She wasn’t completely sure she trusted him around Alma. She flashed her best no-need-to-worry smile.

The bathroom door opened and Rosie and her gang came out.

“Rosie, why don’t you get Ben a fizzy drink?” Miriam suggested. “That should settle his stomach.”

“This fellah won’t be having anything more,” Rosie muttered, as she took Ben’s hand and headed back across the room.

After they left, Miriam swept a hand back through her thick, brightly coloured hair.

“I love this band – they’re playing all the best seventies stuff. I’m going to see if your dad wants to dance.” She gave Daisy a hug. “See you later.”