The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 25

American country singer Kayley Lynch flew from Dublin to Cork this morning to meet third cousins John and Noelle Lynch, who run ‘Lynch’s’, Bantry’s popular gastropub. A spokesman for Kayley said that she wouldn’t be drinking, or sampling the pub’s signature ‘Surf ’n’ Turf’, as she is just out of rehab and is also raw vegan. The singer – whose hits include ‘From My Heart’ – arrived in Ireland two days ago for her three-week visit, and is staying in Dublin’s five-star Shelbourne Hotel. Her first Irish performance will be on June 1 at Wicklow’s Granary House, followed by Dublin’s 3 Arena on June 3, before continuing her tour in Galway, Cork and Limerick.

Kayley’s publicist added that ‘Kayley is excited to be here and able to connect with her father’s Irish family’. Her great-great-grandparents emigrated from Cork to New York before eventually settling in Colorado, where she was born and raised.

The singer has been surrounded by controversy since a video of her appearing to verbally abuse former employees went viral. Since then, her US record sales have plummeted, and she’s been forced to cancel her US concerts.

Ireland will be the last stop in her European tour which included Holland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK. The singer is accompanied by a camera crew who are making a documentary of the tour highlights.

Kenny and his crew were busy by the time Daisy arrived at Matt’s place the following day. It had been a relief to leave for work, although she was a bit worried about James, who’d woken with a sore throat and high temperature, and announced he was working from home.

Meanwhile, the family WhatsApp group was buzzing with daily messages from Rosie. The previous evening she’d posted links to different companies in Galway offering marquee hire, so that their parents could decide on the size they wanted, and compare prices. This morning, she’d posted another link to her spreadsheet, with a list of people who could do catering and music. If Rosie didn’t go back to her old job, Daisy figured somebody should just make her Mayor of Galway.

“Morning, Daisy,” Kenny said gruffly as she walked into the kitchen. “Watch the circular saw, love.”

“Thanks.” Daisy stepped neatly over it, and looked around the room. Everything had been stripped out, the wall between the original kitchen and the old conservatory was gone, and the middle of the room was full of scaffolding so that Kenny’s crew could replaster the ceiling. Daisy knew that once the replastering was finished, the new kitchen could go in in a day. But right now, it was a building site.

“Here’s the boss!” From the other side of the room, Alec, clad in tighter jeans than Daisy had ever seen on a building site, gave a mock-salute.

She gave a polite smile. “Hello, Alec.”

“Have you nothing to do?” Kenny said.

Alec cocked one dark eyebrow. “Just being sociable.”

Kenny glared at him for a moment longer, before turning back to Daisy. “There’s something I need to show you in the living room.”

Daisy walked ahead of him, stepping awkwardly around a huge green-and-gold harp in the middle of the room.

“I’m assuming this is Kayley’s?” she said.

Kenny rolled his eyes. “It was in our way so we moved it here. Yer man said it’s a prop, and they need it later.” He closed the door over. “Listen, Daisy, there’s something I should have mentioned about Alec before I brought him on the job.”

“Okay?”

Kenny huffed a sigh. “I took the guy on as part of a prisoner release scheme. It’s his first job since he got out.”

“ What? ” Daisy glanced nervously at the door. No wonder the guy was muscled and tattooed: he’d probably been involved in one of those Dublin gangs, and had spent years in prison with nothing to do except push-ups in his cell. Maybe the tattoos represented members of his gang family, or the hits he’d made, or –

“He got a year for stealing cars, with six months suspended,” Kenny said, interrupting her thoughts.

“Stealing cars?” Daisy echoed, relaxing slightly. “Ah, that’s not so bad.” When Kenny shot her an odd look, she added hurriedly, “I mean, he’s not a murderer.” She gave a weak laugh.

Kenny looked a bit offended. “Lookit, Daisy, I wasn’t sure about taking him on, but he’d no priors, and everyone deserves a second chance. But I thought you should know. And I’ll be keeping a careful eye on him. Especially around Niamh, with her being the only woman on the crew.”

Daisy nodded, trying to process this. “ Um , thanks for letting me know, Kenny. I’m sure it’ll be grand. Anything else?”

Kenny looked relieved. “Well, Niamh’s busy. She doesn’t like the original job done on the electrics and, sure, with all the extra stuff going on, it’s easier to start from scratch.”

“You mean, completely rewiring the whole place?” Daisy folded her arms. “That seems a bit drastic.”

“I have to trust her.” Kenny scratched his head. “I can’t start second-guessing skilled tradespeople, so if she says she needs to redo the electrics –”

“No, I get that.” Daisy nodded. “It’s just that you’ve never worked with her before, have you? And she’s quite young.”

“You were quite young when I started working with you.” Kenny pursed his lips. “You still are, compared with an old fart like me! And I’ve never questioned you.”

God, she’d managed to upset him! “You’re right, sorry, Kenny. So what’s Niamh doing right now?”

Kenny pointed a thumb towards the ceiling. “She’s upstairs talking to yer man. According to himself, the whole place is too dark. So I told him he could have Blackpool Lights once he cleared it with her.”

Daisy suppressed a sigh. That was the first she’d heard that Matt felt the house hadn’t enough light. He’d already agreed to keeping the original windows, which had been retrofitted by the previous owners.

“Excuse me.” She headed upstairs, following the murmur of voices coming from the master bedroom. From inside, she heard Matt’s deep chuckle but, when she went in, the room was empty.

“ Hello? ” Daisy called out.

“Daisy?” Matt appeared from behind the half-wall that faced the door.

“Hi.” For some reason she couldn’t put her finger on, Daisy felt wrong-footed. “Kenny said you and Niamh were –”

Matt turned as Niamh came out from behind the wall.

“Oh, hi, Daisy.” Niamh tucked her hands into the front pockets of her jeans. “I love the walk-in wardrobe, but I was just telling Matt it could do with more lighting.” She flicked Matt a smile.

Daisy tried to imagine how a walk-in wardrobe with sensor lights on every door and slide-out drawer could do with more lighting, but she nodded encouragingly.

“Great. Um , just run everything by me too, yeah?” A movement behind her made her turn.

Alec was at the door. “Niamh? Kenny’s looking for you downstairs. He wants you to finish something before lunch.”

“Tell him I’ll be there in a few,” Niamh said.

Alec smirked. “Tell him yourself, kiddo.” He sauntered off.

There was an awkward silence after he left, and Daisy was acutely aware that Niamh seemed annoyed and embarrassed.

“I’ll catch up with you later, Matt.” Niamh’s smile seemed a bit forced. “I guess I’d better see what Kenny wants.”

“Sorry if I went over your head, Daisy,” Matt said, after Niamh went back downstairs. “I guess she made me realise how dark the house might be in winter.”

Not to mention lonely, Daisy thought, looking around.

“No problem. Just remember there’ll be lots of occasional lighting, and dimmer switches on your wall and ceiling lights. Anything new should be in keeping with the overall design.”

A slow smile spread across Matt’s face, and Daisy felt her own face warm. “What?”

He shook his head. “I was just thinking – there’s nothing more attractive than a woman who knows her stuff, explaining to a man who doesn’t.”

Daisy rolled her eyes, but found herself grinning. “You know that’s inherently a sexist remark, don’t you?”

“Sorry.” His smile widened. “Should have known you’d never let me get away with it.”

Daisy’s face grew warmer. “I need to go talk properly to Niamh.” She looked around. “Maybe you could work up here – it might be quieter.”

“Don’t worry about me.” He smoothed down the curls at his neck. “I can work in the guest wing. Kenny said the kitchen gets worse before it gets better. And don’t forget that Kayley and her crew will be here next Monday.”

Daisy raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I’ll stay out of her way as much as I can. Anyway, she has a reputation for being a bit difficult. Or a lot difficult!”

Matt shrugged. “Everyone deserves a second chance,” he said.

There was that phrase again. Daisy had the impression that he wasn’t just thinking about Kayley. Was he thinking about himself? Or, the two of them? Was he afraid to say anything straight out, perhaps hoping she’d let him know how she felt first? But, for that to happen, she needed to find out what had happened five years ago.

She gave a hesitant smile. “Catch you later.”