The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 42

Daisy locked her bike in the bike park outside the office, and slipped off her helmet, running a hand back through her hair in an attempt to untangle the knots.

The cycle in had helped to clear her head a bit, but she still felt awful after the weekend. Now that James was buying a new app, his work was bound to get even busier and, although he claimed there was nothing between him and Alma, the atmosphere at home was more strained than ever.

The one bright moment had been Rosie, surprisingly, who’d phoned on Sunday evening.

“I’ve been thinking about Freya’s daughter,” Rosie had said. “Do you think Freya would agree to let me see her?”

Daisy had been momentarily speechless. “Probably. I mean, I’d say so. Would she have to go to Galway?”

“I’d come up to Dublin. I haven’t visited you in a while. Could I stay the weekend?”

“Sure, what about the kids, though?”

“Séan will manage. Look, if you don’t want me to stay, just say so.”

“Of course you can stay!” Daisy had almost tripped over her words. “It’s just, you’re not practising right now, and I don’t think Freya would expect you to drop everything and come to Dublin for her.”

Rosie had huffed out a sigh. “The twins have been invited to their millionth birthday party of the year this weekend. And I have managed to be at every single one. But I’m worn out, Daisy. When they handed me those bloody invitations, I felt like tearing them up. So I told Séan he’s taking them. He can drop the boys off to Mum and Dad’s, and then spend a couple of hours making sure our daughters don’t fall off the top of a bouncy castle or eat too many sweets, or burst into tears because they don’t like how the party clown did their face-painting.” She’d paused for breath. “By the way, have you talked to Mum about this Galway market nonsense?”

Daisy had felt like a child who’d forgotten to do her homework. “I was actually about to phone her,” she’d lied.

Rosie had made a disbelieving sound. “Don’t forget!”

Daisy had hung up and tried to think of an excuse for phoning her mother. Not that she’d needed an excuse, obviously. But it would help.

“Would you like Kayley to write a special message for Dad on the album?” she’d asked, when she rang a while later.

“Oh, just tell her what it’s for,” Miriam had said, “and let her write whatever she likes. But make sure our names are spelt properly – Americans spell everything so differently.”

“Grand, no bother.” Daisy had paused. “So, um , Rosie was saying that you’ve taken a stand in the Galway market for your art. That must be interesting.”

“Ah, I love it, Daisy!” Miriam’s voice had brightened. “I meet so many gorgeous people. All the stall holders are so friendly, and the public has been so supportive. Sure, didn’t I sell two paintings last week?”

Daisy had murmured something vaguely encouraging.

“But it’s not even about that,” Miriam had continued. “We creatives spend a lot of time by ourselves, and it can get a bit lonely. The market’s a great outlet.”

Daisy had fallen silent. It hadn’t occurred to her that her stay-at-home mother wasn’t perfectly content pottering around her beautiful house and garden in Oranmore, painting and cooking and seeing friends. But her mum was an intensely sociable person, and Daisy had suddenly realised how isolated she might feel when her dad was at work.

“I’m glad, Mum. You know, maybe you should think about putting on an exhibition? You could ask other artists to collaborate.”

“I’ve thought about it, all right.” Miriam had sounded pleased. “I was half-afraid you were going to start going on about my self-portrait. Rosie is obsessed! I should have known it’d never bother you.”

Now, as Daisy climbed the smooth, polished stairs to their office, she wondered if her mother had suspected that Rosie might ask for Daisy’s help to talk her out of selling at the market – and had cleverly cut her off with some counter tactics.

Fionn was on the phone, and Laura’s desk was conspicuously empty. She opened the sash window behind her chair and sat down, just as Fionn hung up.

“Morning, Daisy. That was Laura.”

“Is everything okay?”

Fionn frowned. “So, that friend who’s having triplets? Laura had to take her into hospital because she started to bleed, and she has to stay in for monitoring.”

Daisy tried to process this. “ Wow , I only bumped into them at the weekend. Hang on, what about Stephanie’s partner?”

“He’s in Dubai on a business trip.” Fionn flicked his fringe. “Laura said they’re not even telling him until they know more, because what can he do over there?”

“Get home, maybe!”

How had Laura suddenly become Stephanie’s go-to person, when Daisy hadn’t even heard of her until a couple of weeks ago?

Fionn got to his feet. “Will I get coffee?”

“Coffee sounds great, thanks, Fionn. Um , quick Zodiac thing. Are Leos compatible with each other, or do they clash? Two lions together, haha !”

“You’d think, right?” Fionn beamed. “Nah, two Leos are a perfect match.”

“A perfect match.” This week just kept getting better. “Do me a favour: get me a chocolate croissant with that coffee?”

“A croissant?”

Daisy nodded. “Chocolate! And please don’t make me eat it by myself.”

“Gotcha.”

Fionn left and Daisy wished she’d never started taking an interest in horoscopes. They were just supposed to be a bit of bloody fun!

She couldn’t even remember exactly how the topic had come up over their Friday-night pizza. One moment Alma had been telling them about her childhood birthday parties in Sweden, the next she and James were acting like they’d both won the Zodiac lotto when they’d discovered that their birthdays were a day apart.

It was un-bloody-believable that somebody studying nuclear physics would have any interest in their star sign. But Alma knew she was a Leo. Just like James.

When Daisy’s phone rang after lunch, her first thought was Laura. But it was Matt.

She swiped the screen. “Hi, all good?”

“Fine.” Matt cleared his throat. “Look, hope you don’t mind me phoning you about this, but Kayley’s pendant is missing and I wondered if you’d seen it.”

“Her pendant?” Daisy frowned. “Okay …”

“The moonstone one.” Matt hesitated. “She was wondering if you saw it in the guest wing last week.”

“I remember.”

“The pendant?” He sounded hopeful.

“No, I remember I was sorting out the boiler.” Which anyone could have done if they’d bothered to look! Had any of the crystals in the bowl been on a chain? She didn’t think so. “Is it very valuable?”

“There was a diamond setting around it, apparently.”

“Right.” Daisy waited for Matt to say he was sorry to bother her, and that Kayley was the most high-maintenance person he’d ever come across and a total pain in the arse, but he didn’t.

“I’ll ask Kenny and the rest of the team to keep an eye out,” she said finally. “Was there anything else?”

“Not for now.” Matt sounded terse.

“Great.” She wasn’t sure what else she was meant to say. “It’ll probably turn up, Matt.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “To be honest, between all the Deuxmoi stuff and now Kayley’s things going missing, Todd says she’s starting to feel paranoid.”

Daisy wasn’t sure what Matt expected her to say.

“It’s not the first thing that’s gone missing,” Matt was saying, now. “Alec made some wisecrack about there being a poltergeist, but I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

Daisy wished that she could rush to Alec’s defence, but the truth was she didn’t quite trust him either. “Things tend to get misplaced during a renovation, Matt. I wouldn’t worry.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Matt sounded unconvinced. “One other thing. I’ve asked Kenny about it, but the guy’s pretty difficult.”

Daisy massaged her forehead. “Go on.”

“Some of Kenny’s workmen must be using the guest wing, which is a no-go area right now.”

“How do you mean?” Daisy frowned.

“Kayley found peanut butter on the floor, and she doesn’t touch the stuff.”

Daisy remembered the mouse she’d seen. Didn’t they love peanut butter? She took a deep breath.

“Matt, people have been in and out of every part of the house since Kayley arrived. Just clean it up. Oh, and get a few traps down – you could have mice, which is normal during building work.”

“I’ll handle it.” Matt sounded exasperated.

After Daisy hung up, she looked over at Fionn. “Do you believe in poltergeists?”

He flicked his hair across his forehead. “Is this about Kayley Lynch?”

“How did you know?”

“Because it’s on her Instagram reel.” He picked up his iPhone, selected something and handed the phone to Daisy. “Take a look.”

Kayley was standing in the driveway in the front of Granary House, her long, blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail.

“ Hey, ya’ll, ” she began, “ So as ya’ll know, I’m here in Ireland right now, where I’ll be finishing up my Europe tour. And I’m staying in this big old house in Wicklow, in the Irish countryside. ” The camera angle turned as she panned across the front of the house, before she turned it back to her. “ So, I think what I appreciate so much about this house is its energy, which has been great for me and the band as we compose some new stuff. The only negative is that some of my energy and creativity is being challenged ’cos the house is being renovated. And some of my things have even been misplaced. ” Kayley sighed and chewed a corner of her lip . “I just have to trust that the house finds a way to return them.”

The video ended and Daisy handed Fionn back his phone. “I can’t tell if she really believes all that, or if it’s her way of saying she thinks somebody is stealing from her.”

Fionn shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know either. I can’t really get a vibe off somebody I haven’t met.”

Daisy sighed, and wrote a quick WhatsApp to Kenny. Hi Kenny, just been talking to Matt. Have you noticed a lot of things going missing at GH? No, that looked wrong. She deleted the message and rang him instead.

“Is he accusing you of stealing rocks?” Kenny sounded incredulous.

“No, of course not!” Daisy said hastily. “Look, Kenny, you know if a client has a problem I’ll always say it. Just so we’re all on the same page.”

“And how is it his problem?” Kenny huffed. “I’ll mention it to the lads, but Kayley Lynch is stone mad, no pun intended, and yer man’s just as bad.”

“ Um , yeah.” Should she mention Alec? No, Kenny knew she had her suspicions, and she knew Kenny was watching him too. It was enough.

“Anyway,” Kenny added, “That one should be looking a bit closer at her own crowd. Mad feckers, the lot of them.”

“You’re probably right,” Daisy admitted. After she hung up, she looked over at Fionn. “I’m going out, do you want anything?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

He smiled, and Daisy wished for the hundredth time that they could keep him on after he finished college.

She knew it might be possible on a freelance basis, but compared with some of the bigger firms, there’d be so little work it would hardly be fair to him.

Laura seemed exhausted when she came in at lunchtime.

Daisy looked up from her screen. “Hey, how did things go? How’s Stephanie?”

Laura took a chicken-fillet roll and a bottle of water from her bag. “She’ll be fine. I had to stay until her mother could get down from Donegal.”

“Are the babies okay?”

“Yep, all good.” Laura bit into her roll. “But she was all over the place, and the hospitals are so understaffed! I was afraid ...” She paused. “I didn’t want to leave her on her own.”

Daisy gave Laura a long look. “You’re a good friend to her.”

“I didn’t do anything.” Laura switched on her laptop. “What about you? Any news?”

“ Um , yeah, James’ company is buying a start-up – an ethical travel app. I think things will be okay.”

“It wasn’t like he was ever going to lose his job, Daisy.”

“I’m not so sure.”

Laura poured her water into a small glass on her desk. “So, who’s behind the start-up?”

“A couple of grad students. James approached them after he saw an article about their project in an online journal.”

“ Hmm .” Laura’s attention seemed to be wandering.

“I also had the maddest call earlier from Matt.”

“Wait, don’t tell me. He’s decided grouse-shooting and riding to hounds isn’t actually his thing, so he’s going back to his New York bachelor pad and daily hotdog habit.”

“No!” Daisy managed a laugh. “Kayley can’t find her pendant, and he wanted to know if I’d seen it.”

Laura gave her a strange look. “Sounds like he was accusing you. Or she was, anyway.”

“I doubt that, Laura.” Daisy folded her arms, wishing she hadn’t said anything. It didn’t matter what Matt did, Laura’s feelings about him were never going to change.

“I think I might book Stephanie a couple of spa treatments,” Laura said, abruptly changing the subject. “She’ll appreciate them in a few weeks.”

Daisy remembered when Rosie had her twins. Despite her military-like organisation, it had taken months before things had settled into a new-normal routine.

“Some good salon close to her,” Laura was saying, looking online. “Maybe get her hair done too.”

Daisy just smiled. Laura’s reaction when she and Stephanie had bumped into her on Saturday still stung badly, but the last thing she wanted was for her to think she was jealous.

She wanted to ask if she’d done anything to upset her. But deep down, she was afraid that if she said anything, she might make things worse. The truth was, she’d always considered herself closer to Laura than to Rosie, or even James. And she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her.