The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 37

@Deuxmoi Kayley Lynch spotted at vegetarian restaurant, ‘The Ripe Tomato’ in County Wicklow, Ireland, last night. While it’s no mystery that the singer has abandoned her strict vegan lifestyle, what is a mystery is her dining companion, who managed to avoid the camera lens.

Daisy frowned at the photo of Kayley emerging from the well-known restaurant in Arklow. If that had been last night, she wondered if the band had come over when she’d got back to Granary House, or whether they’d already kicked off the party earlier in the evening.

Maybe she’d show it to Laura, just to give them both something to talk about. Laura seemed tense these days for some reason.

She waited until Fionn had left to get some lunch. “Laura, is everything okay?”

Laura glanced up. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“You’ve been kind of quiet. You’re not worried about the marathon, are you? Because you don’t have to –”

“I’m not worried.” Laura flashed her a tight smile. “How about you, babes? How are things in Daisyland?”

Daisy felt herself weaken. She needed to confide in someone, and Laura had always been her person. Plus, she was nowhere near figuring things out by herself.

“Promise you won’t say I told you so.”

“ You didn’t! ” Laura stared at her.

Daisy felt her face heat. “No! Matt and I just sort of, um , kissed.”

“ I bloody knew it! ” Laura threw a manicured hand in the air. “I knew something like this was going to happen. What did I say?”

“You promised not to say I told you so.’

“I never promised anything!”

Daisy rubbed the tops of her arms. “It happened that night I had to stay at his place. But we didn’t sleep together.”

“Did you want to?”

Daisy tried to read Laura’s expression. For the first time in ages, she saw a flash of her old friend. The one that she could talk to about anything, who wouldn’t judge her no matter what.

“I think I might still have feelings for him.”

Laura gave her a long look. “What sort of feelings? Because I have a very hot doctor who I’m totally in lust with but, apart from the fact that he’s seen all my bits for all the wrong reasons, I wouldn’t have sex with him. So do I need to worry here? Because I don’t know if my acting skills can stretch to pretending to like him again!”

“Feck sake, Laura!” She shouldn’t have said anything.

“Shit!” Laura huffed a sigh. “What were you thinking? Never mind the James factor, we have a strict agency ethics policy.”

“Yes, I know.” Talking about it actually made it seem worse. Daisy expelled a short breath. “It was a mistake, okay? I’m just … confused! I mean, I’d shoved all these feelings for Matt into a little box and closed the lid, so I wouldn’t have to deal with them. And then he came back ...”

“So, do you know how he feels? Do you think he wants to forget about it? Or do you think he wants you back?” She gave a hollow laugh. “I mean, I could be tempted to leave Brian if Granary House was part of the package.”

Despite Laura’s jokey tone, Daisy experienced an uneasy jolt of recognition. She’d spent so much time with Matt in Granary House that she’d unconsciously fantasised about living there. With Matt. She’d allowed her own tastes to influence her design decisions. In a way that she’d never allowed that to happen before. And Matt had let her. In fact, he’d literally let her design the house she’d have designed for herself! It wasn’t so much a sign, as a giant-sized billboard.

She flung down her pencil, and pushed her chair away from the desk.

“He said he originally wanted closure but now he’s not sure what he wants.”

Laura snorted loudly. “Sorry, I just can’t take that seriously, babes. He fucks off on you after five years. And now, he slides back into your life and starts messing you about? What about James? Does he think you’re just going to leave James for him ? Fucker!”

Why did Laura always view the world in black and white? She definitely shouldn’t have said a word.

Laura’s eyes narrowed as the silence lengthened.

“ Are you thinking of leaving James? Daisy?”

“No, I’m not, okay? I don’t think so. I’m just telling you what happened.” She tried to calm her breathing “But I found out why he left.”

An expression Daisy couldn’t read flitted across Laura’s face.

“He thought I’d cheated on him with James.”

“ Fuck! ” Laura turned pale.

“He heard about some party we were at the summer he was in New York.” She hesitated. “Brian told him I’d slept with James at it.”

Laura was silent for a few moments. “Do you believe him?” she said, finally. “I don’t believe that Brian would have tried to hurt you like that. Think about it – we were all friends. And why didn’t Matt just ask you? I mean, it doesn’t matter what happened or what he thought. He could have just asked!”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” Daisy bit her lip hard. “Pride, maybe? He was very hurt.” Had Brian deliberately lied? She understood why Laura didn’t want to believe he’d lie about something like that. But Matt had been adamant.

“You were hurt too, Daisy.” Laura’s phone buzzed, but she ignored it.

“Do you want to check that?”

Laura shook her head. “It’s just a reminder. So what are you going to do now? Because if it was me –”

“I don’t know. To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel.”

Laura looked thoughtful. “Why don’t you let Fionn finish the project? You’ve done the designs, he’d just be overseeing the rest of it. And you could walk him through it.”

“No, no!” Daisy was firm. “Matt is still my client, and Granary House is the best chance I’ve had in years of winning this award. I can’t just hand it over to Fionn, you know that. Anyway, I have to make sure that everything’s finished on time for the concerts.”

“For the record, I think you’re making a mistake.” Laura frowned. “So, have you seen much of what’s her name – Kayley?”

“She’s moved into the guest wing, so I assume Matt’s in the main part of the house now. But Matt and Kenny aren’t getting on. And Kayley and her band turned the house into party central at the weekend.” Daisy sighed. “They ended up breaking part of the old conservatory roof that we’re incorporating into the new kitchen.”

“I’m sorry, but how the hell did they break the roof?”

“Somebody climbed the scaffolding, and then grabbed on to the ceiling fan!”

“That’ll do it.” Laura rolled her eyes. “Bit strange that Kayley’s staying there, isn’t it?”

“Matt says she’s hiding from the press. But as soon as she steps outside the door, somebody seems to get a photo.” She took out her phone, looked up the Deuxmoi post, and passed it to Laura.

Laura studied it closely. “You know anyone can just submit to Deuxmoi, don’t you? You don’t have to be official press, or anything.”

“I know, yeah. I just hope Matt says something to her people, so they stay out of Kenny’s way. We’re on a much tighter deadline, thanks to her concert. But my focus is the same as before – finish the house and submit it for the award.”

Laura shot her a sceptical look. “You quite sure about that? Don’t forget that if you win this award, James will find out about Matt. He’ll find out about everything.”

“The house is the most important thing, Laura!” Daisy hesitated. “Like I said – I’d cross that bridge if I came to it – if, by some miracle, I won that award.”

Laura shook her head despairingly, and turned back to her computer.

Daisy sighed. Laura knew her too well. But Daisy didn’t believe things happened by accident. Matt was back in her life for a reason. She just had to figure out what it was.