Page 68 of The Life Daisy Devlin Designed
“James?”
“Hello, Daisy? It’s Alma.”
Her skin prickled. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. James just went to bed. I told him I would answer his phone if you rang. He was very tired.”
For a moment, Daisy was speechless. How had James agreed to leave his phone with Alma? He didn’t even likeheranswering his phone! She swallowed hard.
“Good, yeah, glad he’s sleeping.Um, did he get my message earlier about me being stuck in Wicklow?”
“Of course.” Alma paused. “Please don’t worry, Daisy. I will keep an eye on him.”
“Look, no need to do anything, Alma. Thanks for answering my call, but if it rings again, James’ voicemail will pick it up.”
“Sure.” Alma sounded unfazed. “Will you be home tomorrow?”
“I could be home at any time,” Daisy said with forced cheerfulness. “I have to go now. Bye.” She hung up. What waswrongwith Alma? What was wrong withJames? She jumped when her phone rang again, before she realised that it was Matt’s.
“Matt?” Should she take it upstairs to him? She picked it up, surprised to see Kayley’s name on the screen. Why was Kayley Lynch calling him?
She put it down and let it ring out; Matt would see the missed call. Feeling a bit awkward, she walked over to fill the kettle, scrolling through her Instagram feed as she waited.
Matt came back downstairs. “I’m glad you’re making yourself at home.”
“Oh yeah, I was wondering if you had any infusions.”
“Should do.” He’d picked up his phone before putting it on the counter to search one of the cupboards. “I’ve blackcurrant and lemon, raspberry, and green tea.”
“Um, I think your phone rang.”
“It’s work.” He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “I’ll ring them tomorrow.”
Work? She supposed Kayley fell loosely into that category. Not that it was any of her business. She was about to close Instagram, when something caught her eye.
“Matt, isn’t that the front of the house?” She looked closer. “It’s on Deuxmoi.”
He moved closer to look. “Yeah, what the hell?”
She scrolled to the second picture on the post. “It’s just photos of Kayley’s crew arriving,” she said.
Matt frowned. “I didn’t notice any photographers hanging around.”
She tried to remember. “No, but they could have been anywhere.”
“Yeah, but it’s a bit isolated out here.” He shook his head. “Like, where the fuck were they hiding?”
She swiped to the last picture. It was one of Kayley and Matt in the driveway.
She looked a bit closer. Almost out of the frame was Alec, standing near the door, his gaze seemingly trained on Kayley. She sighed. Kayley was a pretty big star and she was fairly sure Alec’s attentions were normal. But she’d mention it again to Kenny. If Todd was even half right about Alec, she couldn’t ignore it. But there was no point saying anything now. Instead, she put her phone away.
“Listen, Matt, if you need to work tonight, I can go upstairs.”
“No, there’s nothing I need to do.” He dropped the infusions into a couple of mugs. “We can just talk if you want.”
It felt like an invitation, she thought, as she watched him pour the water into the mugs.
“I know you’re wondering why I came back,” he said, finally.
