The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 55

A total of seven people have died as a result of Storm Iris, including an elderly driver and two passengers, who were killed when a tree fell on their car in Galway city.

Meanwhile, American country singer, Kayley Lynch, was forced to cancel her first Irish gig at Granary House, County Wicklow, when the car she was driving overturned in heavy flooding. Ms Lynch dislocated her shoulder, but in a dramatic rescue was airlifted to hospital in Dublin by the emergency services, along with her Irish fiancé, Matt Deveraux, and two other people.

The worst of the flooding has been in the West, Midlands, and South East, with counties Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford and Cork badly affected. A number of rivers and canals burst their banks, causing dangerous flash floods in many towns and rural areas, and Gardaí and army-led teams worked through the night to evacuate people to safety.

Roads across the affected counties are mainly ‘bad but passable’ this morning, with the exception of some minor roads, mainly in Wexford and Waterford.

Daisy had organised to get her car collected the following morning from Granary House. She’d wondered briefly whether to message Matt first, but decided against it. The less contact she had with him now, the better.

James had been gone by the time she’d got up that morning. Daisy had no idea where he was, given that he didn’t have a job anymore, but after everything that had happened the night before, she guessed that he needed some space.

It was very likely that he was planning to end things between them, she knew.

And while part of her wanted to curl up in a corner and pretend it wasn’t happening, she knew deep down that everything that had happened in the past couple of years had led them to this point.

Halfway through the morning, Freya rang to ask if she could drop by that evening, to discuss some last-minute details. Given how well Freya’s job had gone, Daisy just hoped she wasn’t questioning the bill. The way her week was going, she wouldn’t be too surprised.

She arrived at Freya’s house shortly after five.

“Daisy, good timing.”

Freya let her in, and Daisy followed her down to the kitchen, where Freya indicated a barstool at the island unit.

“Sit down. I love these, by the way – where did you get them?”

“Oh, Ikea.” Daisy flashed her a quick smile.

“Good old Ikea.” Freya dropped two espresso pods in the machine and pressed a button.

Daisy wished she’d just skip the coffee and get straight to the bad news. She sat up on the stool and waited for the machine to do its thing. Matt had always made such a big deal about his coffee beans and espressos. Had that been real, or just part of his elaborate ploy to soften her up? Make her feel like there was a point to it all? What had he wanted? Closure? Revenge? Even now she wasn’t sure.

He’d messaged her just after lunch, to say that the doctors had rotated Kayley’s shoulder back into place, but that she’d need time to recover, and they’d cancelled her Irish tour.

Daisy had simply wished her a speedy recovery, congratulated Matt on his engagement, and told him she’d email her invoice.

Now Freya handed her a mug of coffee.

“Thanks. I see you’ve made a start on the garden.” Daisy gestured outside, where the whole lawn had been rotavated.

Freya waved a hand airily. “Polish landscaper. His team only started today, but they work fast.”

Daisy nodded, wishing she could shake off her edginess.

Freya took the stool opposite her.

“So, how can I help?” Daisy said.

“We’ll get to that, I promise.” Freya gave her an appraising look. “Tell me what happened at Granary House?”

Daisy hesitated. “What have you heard?”

“Niamh called by to put some more sockets into my office yesterday.” Freya’s mouth twitched. “She told me about the other night.”

Daisy tried not to react. “How much did she say?”

“Not much, don’t worry. But I saw the stories about Kayley Lynch and Matt Deveraux all over the news today.”

“Right. So, uh, Granary House was quite a big job.” Daisy sipped her coffee, playing for time. “There was a tight deadline and we’d a few hiccups along the way. But we managed it, we always do.” Not bad, Daisy. If she ever wanted a career change, she could go into politics!

“Niamh also said that Matt Deveraux had agreed to enter his house for the award.”

Daisy couldn’t tell Freya the truth! Apart from the fact that she wouldn’t care about her love life, it would be totally unprofessional to divulge what she’d done.

“Yes, but we decided in the end that it wouldn’t suit.”

“I like your discretion, Daisy.” Freya gave a wry smile. “Actually, there’s a lot about you that I admire.”

Daisy wondered where the conversation was going.

After all this time, it appeared Freya was gearing up for a heart-to-heart.

“You know the thing about being a solicitor?” Freya crossed her ankles carefully on the rung of the stool.

It pays well, Daisy thought.

“You have to be discreet. I am! I don’t gossip at the school gates or in the supermarket.” Freya shrugged. “Actually, I’m rarely at the damned supermarket. There’s nothing as satisfying as having a week’s worth of shopping delivered to your door.” She looked at Daisy expectantly.

Feck it, Daisy thought. “Matt Deveraux’s my ex. We were together for five years. Things just got a bit ... complicated. And it didn’t feel right to use Granary House.”

Freya nodded. “I caught you on the nine o’clock news last night, getting out of that helicopter.”

“My fifteen seconds of fame.” Daisy grimaced. “Matt and Kayley and her bodyguard were all hurt, but they’ll be fine.”

Frey looked thoughtful. “I saw that place in the property pages when it was up for sale. I’d say you did an amazing job.”

“Yeah, it’s a special house.”

“So is this one,” Freya said.

“This is a real home.” Daisy smiled. “I loved working on it.”

“I know.” Freya clasped her hands around her knees. “And I wanted to thank you properly for asking your sister to see Holly. We’re following her advice, and it’s already started to make a difference.”

“Oh, I’m glad.” Daisy spoke quickly. “Actually, Rosie volunteered to do it. I didn’t ask her because of her career break. And, I have no idea what she said, Freya. Rosie is completely professional.”

“I know.” Freya waved her hand dismissively. “But if it hadn’t been for you, it would have been months before Holly was assessed. So if you’d still like to use our home as an award entry, you’d be more than welcome.”

Daisy blinked. “Seriously?”

“Just one thing.” Freya gestured around at the walls, one of which she’d turned into a family photo gallery. “No photos, nothing that would identify us. Feel free to replace them with whatever you want. You know, do your magic!”

“It’ll be my pleasure.” Daisy felt a rush of elation. “Thank you.” She slipped down off the stool. “I have a permission form in my bag. Give me a few minutes to fill it out, and you can sign it now.” She owed Rosie a huge thanks.

“Sure. Oh, while I think of it, Niamh must have dropped this yesterday when she was here. I was hoping you could give it back to her.” Freya opened a small drawer in the island unit, and placed a piece of jewellery on the countertop.

Daisy recognised it immediately: it was the moonstone pendant Kayley had been wearing the first time she’d met her. The one that had gone missing from Granary House.