The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 53

As the helicopter landed, Daisy felt a fresh wave of adrenalin rush through her as she noticed TV cameras, reporters and photographers waiting outside. She braced herself as Conn helped her down.

“ Daisy! ”

She shielded her eyes as she peered into the crowd, and spotted Tim battling his way through. “How’s Kayley?” he asked.

“ Um, she’s over there.” Daisy turned in time to see Kayley being stretchered into the ambulance. “She hurt her shoulder when the car flipped over. It might be dislocated.”

“Bollicks to that!”

Daisy folded her arms tightly across her, shivering under the emergency blanket still wrapped around her. “How did you know where we’d be?”

“One of the band members let me know Kayley had been airlifted. I think they must have let the press know too. Anyway, after that, it was pretty easy to find out where they’d be landing.” He peered at her. “You’re frozen. Probably suffering from shock too. Do you want to go to hospital?”

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine.” As she looked over, she caught Matt’s eye as he was helped into the back of the ambulance with Kayley, before the doors closed and the ambulance pulled away.

Somebody thrust a microphone in her face. “Tara White from Channel Five news. Are you part of Kayley Lynch’s entourage? Can you tell us exactly what happened?”

“I’m … I’m not part of her entourage.” She wished she could stop shivering.

“I’m Tim Meaney, Ms Lynch’s publicist.”

The reporter flicked the microphone to him.

“Kayley’s performance at Granary House in Wicklow this evening has been cancelled because of the flooding.” Tim spoke clearly. “Kayley got into difficulties on a flooded road, and she’s on her way to hospital to be checked out. That’s all for now. Thank you.”

“ What can you tell us about Kayley’s fiancé? ” someone shouted.

“ How did the couple meet? ”

“Kayley will release a personal statement when she’s ready.” Tim was firmer now. “Thank you, again.”

The flashes of a dozen cameras blinded Daisy’s vision, as reporters continued to shout at them, but Tim turned Daisy away.

“My hire car is parked just over here. Come on, I’ll give you a lift.”

Daisy yawned, grateful to let someone else make the decisions. “That would be great.”

She relinquished the emergency blanket to a paramedic and followed Tim.

As they drove away, she wriggled down into the passenger seat, already regretting having left the emergency blanket behind as she tried to stop herself shivering – what was she thinking?

Tim turned up the heater. “That’s partly adrenalin, you’ll be exhausted later.”

She was exhausted now! “You know this seat is going to be soaked.”

He shrugged. “It’s a hire car, and it’ll dry out. Sorry you had to sit through that nauseating spectacle, by the way.”

Daisy frowned. “You mean the proposal?”

Tim nodded. “I was keeping an eye on Kayley’s social media. So were those reporters, obviously. Her fans will love it, which is the main thing. Because we’ll have to cancel or reschedule her tour.”

“She’ll just have to listen to the doctors, I guess.” Daisy tried to sound upbeat.

Tim smiled grimly. “I was thinking about her new manager.”

Daisy looked at him. In spite of everything, she was reluctant to speak badly of Matt.

Tim seemed to read her mind. “Kayley told us you and Matt used to be together.”

“Yeah, it ended five years ago.”

“Can I be brutally honest?”

“Said no PR person ever,” Daisy joked.

Tim shrugged. “I’ve decided to trust you. Kayley met Matt at a big charity event in New York. When they started dating, I advised her to keep it quiet. Matt wasn’t involved in the industry, and to be honest, Todd and I didn’t really trust him. I don’t know why – just a feeling. The thing was, he wanted to keep it quiet too. Maybe he understood more than we gave him credit for. Then he just broke it off. But, to be honest, Kayley was a real mess by that stage. It was around the time that first video of her went viral, and she went into rehab.”

“Okay.” Daisy could feel the heater in the car blowing warm air around her feet.

“When she got dry, she decided she’d do a European tour. A few weeks later, Matt contacted her and offered her Granary House. Kayley thought he was trying to help.” Tim pulled a face. “Maybe he was. Anyway, he sent her a video of the house and grounds and really bigged it up as the perfect venue for her first Irish concert. And once she agreed to move in, Todd and I guessed they’d be back together.”

Matt had told her that the promoter had contacted him . Why hadn’t he just told her the truth?

It seemed he’d had his eye on the bigger picture all along. Granary House to lure Kayley back to him, and make it easy to persuade her to fire Todd and let him step in instead.

“Still, the streamers will lap up that helicopter proposal.” Tim increased the wipers’ speed on the window. “Financially, Kayley is starting to look very strong again.”

“Right.” Daisy yawned. “I wasn’t expecting that proposal thing. I didn’t even know they were in a relationship.”

“The proposal was meant to happen at the concert tomorrow night.” Tim flicked her a look. “Remember that scene at the end of Notting Hill , where Hugh Grant turns up at Julia Roberts’ press conference, and asks for a second chance? Kayley was going to be on stage, and Matt was to be miked up in the centre of the crowd. He was going to walk up onto the stage and get down on one knee!”

Daisy giggled tiredly. “Did you plan that?”

“Nope! They planned it together,” Tim said. “But if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it.”

God, she’d been so naive. How had she ever thought that Matt had been pining for her, or that they had some sort of future together? The only second chance he’d wanted had been with Kayley.

“If Kayley has any sense, she’ll make him sign a prenup.” Tim sped up the windscreen wipers.

Daisy rested her head back. “It’d suit both of them. Matt’s quite well-off too.”

“He’s not in her league, Daisy.”

She glanced over. “Maybe not, but he’s done really well for himself.” When Tim said nothing, she added, “Why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not saying?”

Tim pursed his lips.

“It’s just, Matt beat my boyfriend to a business deal recently,” Daisy persisted. “And he’d have needed a lot of money to do that.”

Tim looked a bit uncomfortable. “Kayley did mention that Matt needed money for some work project, so she loaned it to him.” He indicated and changed lanes. “I suppose the guy had enough to buy that big house, but nobody has bottomless pockets.”

Matt had needed the money to buy the app, she realised. She shouldn’t be surprised: he’d always managed to get exactly what he wanted.

At some stage in their relationship, she’d started to see that. But, by then, admitting that her relationship with Matt was anything less than perfect would have felt like a failure. Plus, most of the time, it had felt pretty good.

“I’ve worked with a lot of artists and their managers down the years,” Tim said. “Todd was doing a good job. But after that video was leaked, he had a tough time handling the fallout. We released statements to the press, but any time some reporter managed to put a direct question to Kayley, she’d do more damage. The best Todd could do was to make sure her former employees got what they were owed.”

“Kayley told me Todd didn’t have her best interests at heart.”

“You think Matt does?” Tim grimaced.

Daisy was quiet for a few moments. “What will you do now?”

“Wait and see.” He shrugged. “At least she’s done the documentary. And we’ll use the accident and the proposal to counter some of the negative stuff that’s been released recently.” He glanced over. “I’ll get some photos of Matt and Kayley to Deuxmoi, along with a few lines about how he wouldn’t leave her side in hospital.”

Daisy just nodded. She was dreading the conversation she’d have to have with Kenny about Niamh. “You’ll still work for her, then?”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry about me, Daisy. If that doesn’t go to plan, something else will turn up.”

She wished James had a bit more of that attitude. For a brief moment, she even wished that Alma was still there – at least she wouldn’t be going home to an empty house. Maybe after a hot shower and some tea, she’d phone Rosie. Or her mother. Or even both. She needed to hear the soothing, comforting voices of her family.

They were driving through Rathmines now, she noticed, and still heading in the right direction. Tim pointed to her address in the GPS.

“I’m going to drop you right to your door.”

“I really appreciate it.” Daisy yawned.

He gave her a shrewd look. “You’ve had a rough time of it. Not just tonight either.”

Daisy said nothing, as another wave of exhaustion hit her. Maybe she wouldn’t bother phoning anyone tonight; she’d just go straight to bed. Right now, she could sleep for a week.