Page 31 of The Life Daisy Devlin Designed
It was of Matt with a young woman in ski jackets and goggles, posing in front of a snow-covered mountain. The woman was smiling, her hand up as if to pull back the long blonde hair that was being blown across her face, partially obscuring it from the camera.
“I noticed that photo earlier.” Daisy folded her arms. “She’s pretty.”
“An ex-girlfriend.” Matt smiled and ran a hand across the back of his neck. “I know what you’re thinking: it’s weird that I have photos of my ex on display. But I like that picture, and it would be weirder to cut her out. Anyway, I’ve found if you try to shove the past away, it has a habit of catching up with you.”
He looked at her longer than necessary, and Daisy slid a hand self-consciously over the pulse at her neck.
“Right.Uh, so ...” She looked around the room. “Yes, I’d like to put a statement half-wall right here, with a walk-in wardrobe behind it.” She paused as a loud crash reverberated through the house. “Sounds like the last of your kitchen.”
“No going back now.” He grinned. “Although I’m finding it hard to visualise the end result.”
She laughed. “You mean you didn’t do ‘modern rustic’ or the pared-back ‘Georgian elegance with maximalist accent module’ when you were in college?”
He grinned. “It was clearly a failing of my IT course.”
“I finished a house last year,” she said, thinking. “It’s quirky, all different-height ceilings and hidden rooms. But I used a lot of maximalist accents in the redesign, and I’m pretty sure the owners wouldn’t mind giving you a tour.”
“And you’d come with me?”
“Of course.”
This would be no different to anything she’d done for previous clients. “I’ll arrange for us to see it.Um, before I forget,do you know what time of the day you were born?” She opened the notes file on her phone.
“What?” He looked amused. “Why?”
“It’s a feng-shui thing.” She hoped she sounded convincing.
“I’ve no idea. All I know is that I was eight days late. Mam never let me forget.”
“That’ll help.” She put it in her phone.
“Is that stuff actually useful?” He was smiling at her.
She beamed. “Invaluable.”
CHAPTER 14
“You know, I feel like we haven’t been out on our own in ages.” Daisy took James’ hand across the table in their local Indian restaurant that Friday evening.
At eight o’clock, the place was buzzing, and pungent aromas wafted around the small room.
James pushed his other hand back through his hair. It could do with a cut, she thought. Not that she’d tell him that. She wasn’t his mother. Or Rosie!
“Well, we were just down in Galway together.” He looked a bit puzzled.
Which definitely didn’t count, she thought, suppressing a sigh. They fell silent for a few minutes as they studied the menu. Daisy took a deep, slow breath. Maybe she could still get them back on track – it felt so long since they’d really beentogethertogether.
And, if things went well, she could casually mention that she was working for Matt. It was only a big deal because she was hiding it. Plus, maybe telling James that Matt was back would ...what? Give them something to talk about? Bring them closer together? It could start a row!
“Daisy?” James was looking closely at her. “Are you okay, love?”
“Hmm?Fine, yeah.” She smiled brightly.
“Have you decided what you want?”
“Um...” She made a quick decision. “Vegetarian Saag.”
He nodded, casting one last quick glance at the menu. “I’ll get extra rice and naan bread. And we should order more beers while we can. The service tends to be a bit slow here.”
