Page 66 of Sweet Temptation

“She’s beautiful,” I said.

“She was,” he agreed. “She was always laughing and had a terrible knack for getting herself into trouble. She had an infectious personality that was impossible not to love.”

“It sounds like she was a lot of fun.”

He smiled but let out a slow breath at the same time. “Certainly more so than me. I think I used to be more fun, but I threw myself into work even more after she died. It feels like it’s been so long since I did anything just because I enjoy it. I’m afraid I wouldn’t remember how anymore.” It was sad hearing Matthew talk about himself that way, but it was understandable knowing he’d lost his sister.

“I’m sure we can figure out a way to remind you,” I said, and his eyes lit up. I got the impression that one throwaway comment meant more to him than anything else I’d said tonight.

“Speaking of fun, I’ve stolen enough of your evening,” he said. “I should get you back to your friends.”

It felt like we were ending the night too soon, but after everything Matthew had just shared, there wasn’t much more to say. I still had so many questions, but I wasn’t going to force them on him now. He’d be back in Weybridge soon enough. Hopefully we’d have another chance to talk about everything then.

Matthew joined me in the car when his driver dropped me back at Cress’s house. We didn’t say much on the drive, and I imagined it was because we were both still reeling from our conversation at dinner.

I glanced at Matthew, watching the city lights flickering across his face as he stared out the window. He looked like his thoughts were a million miles from the car. I couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for him to lose his sister, and he was clearly still torn up about it years later.

I felt like I finally understood why Matthew had warned me to stay away from Noah. It might not be fair that Matthew judged Noah for his family’s mistakes and associated him with the danger that getting close to one of them presented, but fear wasn’t always rational.

I also understood where Noah was coming from. He too didn’t want to lose another family member in his grandfather. But I wasn’t so sure Noah’s anger toward Matthew was fair. The actions my grandfather had taken seemed justified given everything William did to him. I hadn’t wanted to take a side in the fight between our families, but after speaking with Matthew, I felt like I had no choice but to back my father up. He was just trying to do the right thing, and he didn’t deserve to be vilified for it.

There was no way to change what had happened. The only thing I could control was what happened next. Noah had chosen to believe my father was the bad guy. If he couldn’t understand Matthew wasn’t the villain in this situation, there was nothing I could do.

As the car pulled up outside Cress’s house, I realized I still had one last question for my father.

“You know,” I started. “Noah went missing from our school excursion today. My friend Wes was visiting his dad at the hotel across the road from your office and said he saw Noah leaving your building.” It was the only way I could think of broaching the subject without upsetting my father or letting him know I was there too.

Matthew’s eyebrows lifted with surprise, but his features quickly returned to neutral

“Why would Noah have been in my building?” he asked calmly.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Wes had this crazy theory that he went there to see you.”

My father raised his eyebrows slightly once again. “That really is a crazy theory,” he said. “If Wes saw him there, I’m sure it was just a coincidence.”

I watched him closely, trying to gauge what he was thinking. I couldn’t really figure him out.

“Yeah.” I laughed awkwardly. “That’s what I said too.”

In truth, Wes had suggested it was all just a coincidence. I was the one who couldn’t stop wondering why Noah was there. I was still questioning it. Despite all of my father’s honesty tonight, I had to wonder if he was still keeping things from me.

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

Icouldn’t look at the price tags on the clothes the girls were buying. I’d looked at one of them earlier in the day and had nearly fainted when I’d seen the number of zeros. Neither Cress nor Anna seemed bothered they were spending more in a day than I had in my entire life. And the twins were just as bad.

The boys had disappeared into the men’s department when we’d arrived at the expensive department store with plans to buy outfits for the night. I hadn’t bought anything yet. I couldn’t justify it when I knew I had perfectly good clothes packed in my duffel bag back at Cress’s place, all of which had been selected by Matthew’s stylist in New York.

“How are you getting on?” someone whispered in my ear.

I gasped and spun to find Wes grinning down at me. My hand was pressed against my chest as I scowled at him. “Wes, you scared me. You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”

He chuckled. “I was hardly sneaking. I can’t help that your head was in the clouds.”

“My head wasn’t in the clouds,” I responded instinctively, but when I thought about it, he was right. My thoughts had been somewhere else all day. I was still reeling from everything my father had told me the previous night, and no amount of shopping was going to take my mind off that.

“Where was it then?” Wes asked.

“I was trying to figure out if Anna and Cress plan to shopallday.”

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