Page 36 of The Life Daisy Devlin Designed
“For drinks with Laura and Brian? I thought that was why you were home early too.”
There was a brief silence. If James tried to wriggle out of this, she was going to stab him with a butter knife.
He sighed and stood his guitar against the wall. “Sorry, it slipped my mind.” He shrugged apologetically at Alma, who actually seemed to be sulking now. “I’ll go change.”
He was buttoning up a clean shirt when Daisy came into the bedroom shortly after.
“How come you agreed to go out with them?” He caught her eye in the mirror. “Brian does my head in.”
Daisy stepped up behind him, leaning into his back and wrapping her arms briefly around his waist. She felt him sigh, and then he closed his hands around hers.
“Me too,” she said. “But Laura asked us. It’ll be good for us to get out with friends. I mean, you don’t actually want to spend the whole evening hanging out with Alma, do you?”
The moment the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could take them back. She sounded like a total bitch! A paranoid bitch! Except what if she was right? What if it was a sign?
James turned, his face flushed. “Hanging out with Alma?” He shook his head. “Will you listen to yourself? She lives here too. Would you prefer if I just ignored her?”
Shit, this wasn’t the right start to the evening!
“Of course I don’t want you to ignore her! Look, tonight should be a bit of craic.” Daisy smiled brightly. “I’ll be ready in five minutes.”
James gave a small shake of his head. “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
After he left, Daisy plopped down on the bed. Things would get better, she thought. Maybe after Alma finally went back home. And when James figured out things at work. Meanwhile, tonight was exactly what they needed.
She should never have agreed to drinks this evening, Daisy decided a while later. The bar was too busy, and every single person in the place was too loud and happy. And, for the first timeever, she felt wrong in her favourite 1950s-style red-and-white polka-dot dress. She also decided that her feelings had nothing to do with her clothes and everything to do with Alma!
“So, how’s life with Jimmy and Daisy-flower?” Brian winked at Daisy.
She pinned on a smile and slowly counted to ten. She wished Laura had never told Brian about her parents’ pet names for her and Rosie. Her mother was right. The guy was a twat.
James muttered something and got up from the table.
Laura frowned as she watched him leave. “Is he okay?”
“Sure. Gone to the loos, I guess.”
Daisy kept her voice light, hoping he hadn’t just decided to leave. Not that she’d blame him – although she might have to kill him. “So, how did you two come across this place?”
“Came here with some of the work gang a few weeks’ ago.” Brian picked up his Jack and Coke. “Jesus, the craic we had that night!”
So it was Brian’s recommendation, not Laura’s. Brilliant! Daisy let her attention wander around, hoping to spot James, but stopped as another familiar face hove into view.Was that Matt?It looked like him. He seemed to be with a group, some of whom she vaguely recognised from their college days. What were the chances that he was here in the same place, on the same night, as her and James?
Her eyes slid sharply back to Brian. Had he somehow engineered this? Matt might have mentioned he was meeting up with friends – maybe he’d even asked Brian to join them. It couldn’t be a coincidence! She jumped a bit guiltily as James came back and sat down.
“What?” He frowned at Daisy.
“Hmm?What?” Daisy smiled and did her best not to let her gaze slide back over to Matt.
“So.” Brian pointed his finger at James. “I hear you’re still sharing your place with that student, Allie or Millie, orsomething. Didn’t I see you guys hanging out the other day in town?”
“I doubt it,” James said tightly.
“Yeah, it was definitely you.” Brian flicked Daisy a look. “Short, blonde hair, right? The two of you were in Bewleys.”
Daisy found herself digging her nails into the fleshy part of her hand, her smile frozen in place as James seemed to think.
“Oh, right, yeah, I bumped into her in town. She was coming from college, and we had a coffee together.”
