Page 34 of The Life Daisy Devlin Designed
Claire had hugged Daisy tight as they’d taken their leave.
“I know that award is a big deal in your business, Daisy, and I’m not dismissing it. But look at the bigger picture: you give people the homes of their dreams. What’s more important?”
Now Daisy dunked a small almond biscuit into her coffee and waited to hear what Matt thought.
“It was good to see it,” he said. “There isn’t a single straight wall in that place!”
Daisy laughed. “Yeah, it’s always an extra challenge. But it lends character.”
Matt leaned back in his chair. “I have to admit, it feels different now I have skin in the game. Not that I didn’t enjoy seeing all those showhouses you used to drag me to on a Saturday morning.”
“You must have hated it.” Daisy felt herself blush.
“No, it was fun pretending to be interested buyers.” He raised an eyebrow.
Daisy glanced away and concentrated on blowing needlessly across her coffee. How could she forget? Every time she allowed herself to think about those five years of her life, she’d remember how she’d imagined their future unfolding.
“I’ll bet your own house is stunning,” Matt said.
Daisy latched on to the change of subject. “I like it, but it’s bijou, which is such a great word for tiny, right? I mean, I’d love more space. Who wouldn’t?” She stopped, shrugging away the rest of her thoughts. She and James had saved so hard to buy their home – it felt like a betrayal to talk about it with Matt.
She just wished she wasn’t so annoyed with James right now. After they’d got home the previous night, he’d gone straight to his office. She had gone to bed just after ten, but had woken around midnight to hear James and Alma talking quietly outside the bedroom door. She hadn’t been able to make out what they’d been talking about but, after James had slipped quietly into bed, it had been easier to pretend to be asleep.
“You always had a thing for old houses,” Matt said. “You even liked that dilapidated old redbrick I lived in during college.”
A sudden memory of a big, unmade bed pulled into the middle of a high-ceilinged bedroom flashed into her mind. If she closed her eyes, she could still see those draughty, single-glazed windows, stained, uneven floorboards and boarded-up fireplaces.
God, it was way too warm in here! Maybe she could ask them to leave the door open for a while.
“So, what happens after the house is finished?” she asked. “Have you made any other plans?”
“Not really.” Matt gave a lazy smile, and Daisy’s eyes followed his fingers as they snagged in the curls at his neck. “More hopes, I suppose.”
Was she really sitting here after five years listening to Matt Deveraux discuss his dreams for the future? It was completely surreal.
“I want to meet someone, Daisy. I want to have a family, fill that big house if I can.”
As he held her eyes, she felt her skin prickle with warmth.
Had she been right? Had he come back home to see her?
“So,um, apart from me and Brian, have you seen anyone else since you got back?”
She half-expected him to deflect the question.
“I went down to see the folks.” Matt leaned back in his chair. “They still live in Kilkenny, although Dad’s semi-retired. I saw Charlie too.”
Daisy tried not to look surprised at the mention of Charlie, given how reluctant he’d been to discuss him before.
“He’s running the family pub now.”
“Really?” Daisy tried to remember. “Wasn’t he working for one of the big stockbrokers? You two had planned to go into business together.”
Matt’s lips thinned. “That was the plan.”
Except Matt had gone to the States. So he’d let his brother down too: maybe that was why they’d fallen out. Matt had never admitted to it, but Daisy had the feeling that was what had happened. She took a breath. “Do you ever regret going to the States? Deciding to stay there?”
He gave her a long look. “I did what I thought was best. What about you, Daisy? If we could go back, would you do things differently?”
