Page 81 of The Life Daisy Devlin Designed
“I’ve had a quick look, Kenny,” she said, once she was back at the door. “There’s only a couple of panes of glass gone, and the rest seem fine. We’re just not sure what happened.”
“I’m going next door to make some coffee.” Matt left abruptly.
“If the house was on fire, yer man would make sure he had his bloody coffee,” Kenny grumbled.
Daisy sighed. “He has to call his insurance company too.”
Kenny grunted, swapping his beanie for a hard hat from his tool bag, before walking into the room. He studied the ceiling for a moment, before turning his attention to the scaffolding.
“The scaffolding doesn’t seem damaged.” Kenny gave her a level look. “This floor is all sticky. Beer, I think, judging by the smell. But I’ll want a serious word with yer man. Someone was messing around!”
“Kenny, let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Daisy said as she heard Matt coming back into the hall.
“I never jump to anything, Daisy.” Kenny took off his hard hat, and ran a hand across his stubbled head. “I’m just calling it as I see it.”
Matt came back into the kitchen carrying a tray with three cups of coffee.
“It’s all right.” He handed a coffee to Daisy, and offered the second one to Kenny. “I saw Kayley when I went next door. Her band all crashed there last night, after a late session. I think things might have got a bit out of hand.”
“Here? In a room full of scaffolding?” Daisy flicked Kenny a nervous look.
“No.” Matt looked uncomfortable. “By the looks of it, they were in the living room for most of the night. But the bass guitarist, Greg, came in here and climbed to the top of the scaffolding. Kayley said he spilt beer all over the planking and slipped,so he grabbed on to the ceiling fan to steady himself.” He shrugged. “I think we can guess the rest.”
“Fucking gobshite!” Kenny said.
For one tense moment, Daisy thought Kenny might be talking about Matt, but Matt seemed to assume he was referring to Greg.
“So, is this fellah paying for the damage he’s done? Because either way, we’ll just have to keep going and add this onto your bill.” Kenny drank some coffee and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Keep going, please,” Matt said tightly. “I’ll speak to Kayley’s manager. But you might want to ask that workman of yours what he was up to the other day when I saw him messing around with this.”
Kenny stared hard at him. “What are you on about?”
“Alec! He had a screwdriver – he said he was checking the structure to make sure everything was okay.”
A pulse throbbed in Kenny’s neck. “If that’s what Alec said he was doing, that’s what he wasdoing!”
Matt jutted out his chin. “Fine, well, we can’t prove anything –”
“There’s nothing to prove,” Kenny ground out. “We know for a fact that your house guests were messing around with my scaffolding!” Kenny gesticulated towards the structure, causing some coffee to spill.
“By climbing on it?” Matt gave an angry laugh. “Sorry for thinking that that’s what it’s for!”
“It’s not a fucking toy!”
“Guys, stop!” Daisy said, quickly. “I’m sure Matt will talk to Kayley’s manager to make sure this won’t happen again andum, Kenny, you can recheck the planking to make sure it’ll be safe for your crew to use.”
There was silence for a moment.
Then Matt shrugged. “Okay by me.”
Kenny still looked annoyed. “We’ll inspect the ceiling, and see what needs to be done.” He glared at Matt. “Tell your guests to stay out of here. In fact, tell them to keep out of our way altogether. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee your house will be finished on time.”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Pretty sure this won’t be a big deal, Kenny. Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I’ve got stuff to do.” He turned to go.
“There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” Kenny said.
“What?” Matt uttered the word with exaggerated patience.
