Page 97 of The Life Daisy Devlin Designed
“And he just happened to discover Mum’s website and decided he’d buy this for you?” Rosie sounded incredulous.
“Well, yeah.” Daisy shrugged. “It’s kind of a long story, to be honest.”
“Good thing we have the weekend, isn’t it?” Rosie paused. “Have you seen the website? Is the self-portrait there?”
“No idea,” Daisy said.
“Because if it is,” Rosie sounded grim, “I know exactly what we’re going to do.”
CHAPTER 44
MyStarScope Taurus: Your trust is tested when someone you work with lets you down.
Fionn had barely said two words the whole morning, Daisy realised the following Monday. Usually, when it was just the two of them, he was happy to chat away. But this morning he seemed subdued. She wondered if anything had happened over the weekend.
Her own weekend had been good. She’d barely seen James, and Alma had tactfully kept out of the way too, giving Daisy and Rosie a bit of space and privacy to catch up.
Daisy had dropped Rosie to Freya’s house on Saturday morning. Afterwards, Rosie hadn’t mentioned Holly or Freya, and Daisy had known better than to ask. Her sister took patient confidentiality seriously, and it made no difference to her that she wasn’t being paid.
She had, however, been highly complimentary about her house redesign, which Daisy was taking as a major win. The two days, in fact, had been the most relaxed she’d spent with Rosie in ages.
They’d also gone onto Miriam’s website. Sure enough, there was the self-portrait, with a price tag of €800.
“I think the fumes from the white spirit have finally got to her,” Rosie had muttered. “Who does she think is going to pay that for a painting of herself in the nip?”
“It’s probably very reasonable for what it is,” Daisy had said. “It’s a big painting,” she’d added lamely, when Rosie had glared at her.
“We’re buying it!” Rosie had said.
Daisy had stared at her. “Why would we do that?”
Rosie had looked at Daisy as if she were a bit slow.
“We’ll buy it anonymously obviously. I’ll transfer the money to one of my girlfriends, and then I’ll arrange to pick it up from her house. We’re going to give it to Mum and Dad for their anniversary, Daisy! That way, it’ll have to stay with them, and she can’t sell it again!”
“Right.” Daisy wondered if Rosie could see the small problem with this plan. If their mother saw that her self-portrait had sold for a high price, it might encourage her to begin another one. But for the sake of peace, she’d said nothing.
Now she glanced over her schedule for the day, and then looked over at Fionn. “Everything okay?”
He pulled a face. “The landlord found out about our house guests.”
“The people on the air mattress?” Daisy winced.
“I think Crona told him. You know, the one who gave me the Bible?” He sighed. “Anyway, I hope she’s happy now – we’ve all been given a month’s notice.”
“Shit, Fionn, I’m sorry.” Daisy tried to think of something reassuring to say. “You’ll get somewhere else.”
They exchanged a look, and Daisy knew they were both thinking the same thing. Rental properties in Dublin were scarce and overpriced – he’d be lucky to get anywhere.“It’s grand, I’ll figure it out.” He shrugged. “Um, about our social media.”
“What about it?”
“Granary House and Kayley Lynch are both trending on X.”
Daisy blinked. “We’re not mentioned, are we?”
Fionn bit his lip. “There’s a short piece in Spilt Tea. Should I read it?”
“Go ahead.”
