Page 2 of The Temptation
“You’re very lucky to have Pierce. I hope you realize that.”
“Maybe, but his life would be so boring without me.”
That was true. According to Sawyer, I wasn’t adventurous enough. I took the safe and easy path. Sawyer always went off road, straight into chaos every chance he got.
With some muttering and chuckling, his mother sent us to get settled in our rooms. The plans for the weekend were low key. Tonight was dinner with the immediate family, along with cake and presents. On Saturday, we were going to a place that had an indoor go-kart track and arcade games. Then, that evening, we would attend the symphony. We would have enough time on Sunday for brunch ahead of our flight to Boston. Not my first choice for a weekend when I had an enormous pile of reading and essays ahead of me, but I’d do it for Sawyer without complaint because he really was the best friend I’d ever had.
As the night passed, Simon’s mood improved, and he got out of his grumpy sulk. He was happy to see his brother and even dared to throw a smile or two in my direction. Dinnerwas enjoyable. Sawyer took after his father with his boisterous, larger-than-life personality, while Simon was more like his mother. However, they all knew how to sling teasing comments back and forth.
As the cake was brought out, I was reminded that Simon wasn’t a typical teenager. Instead of a cake with pirates or superheroes, which would have fit Sawyer perfectly, Simon had gotten a cake elegantly decorated in musical notes and shaped like a violin. Sawyer had said that Simon had started playing music at the age of two by pounding on the keys of their piano. But as soon as he could hold a violin, he’d switched instruments. All his energy went into the violin, almost to the detriment of his other studies. It was only after his parents had threatened to take it away that he’d begun to pay attention in class.
Despite Simon’s groans and begging, Elizabeth led them all in singing “Happy Birthday,” which left Simon’s face beet red. He pulled his T-shirt up to cover most of his face, but when he lowered it again, he was grinning.
It was a nice time, and Simon seemed to appreciate that Sawyer had left college just to spend the weekend with him. I escaped early with the excuse of needing to get some reading done. I didn’t want to intrude on their family time.
A hall clock chimed the midnight hour, and I slipped down to the kitchen to brew a cup of coffee. I had at least another hour of reading ahead of me, but the words of the very dry book were blurring together.
The rest of the house was silent. Sawyer had poked his head into my room around eleven to announce that he was crashing. He had a nine a.m. class on Fridays and took a nap afterward so he could party that evening. However, our flight to North Carolina had disrupted his routine, forcing him to stay awake.
“Hey, Pierce.”
I almost jumped out of my skin at the soft sound of Simon’s voice. I spun from where I’d been leaning on the counter, my eyes on the coffeemaker, to find Simon standing on the other side of the island wearing a T-shirt that looked as if it were reserved for sleeping.
“Oh! Hey, Simon,” I said. “What are you still doing up? Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
That earned me the darkest glare Simon had ever directed at me. “I’mthirteennow. I don’t have a bedtime on weekends. My parents let me stay up as late as I want.”
“Shit,” I hissed, wincing away from him. “Sorry. My bad.”
“Whatever,” Simon mumbled under his breath, his sullen gaze dropping to the marble countertop.
“Thanks for inviting me to your house for your birthday. I had a nice time tonight.”
Simon’s head popped up so fast, I believed it was going to break off his neck and bounce across the room. His expression brightened so that he was beaming at me. “Really? Did you like the cake? Sawyer mentioned you were a fan of dark chocolate with raspberry filling. I asked my mom specifically for it.”
For a second, I was speechless. He was right; I had mentioned it once in front of Sawyer, but I couldn’t imagine Sawyer repeating that to his little brother unless it had been some offhand comment. Yet, Simon had gotten that for me?
“Oh? I thought it was delicious. Did you like it?” Because that was the only thing that mattered to me. It washisbirthday.
He nodded. “I did. A lot. I don’t usually care for dark chocolate, but the raspberry filling made it taste perfect.”
“And was my gift okay? I asked your brother, and he said that you weren’t into video games.”
I hadn’t been sure what to get him at all, and it wasn’t like I could show up on their doorstep empty handed when I was there for Simon’s birthday. A gift card felt like a cheap cop-out, evenif Sawyer had said it would be fine. In the end, I’d had to get my mom to help track down what I’d had in mind.
She’d located an artist who’d made fifty pages of blank sheet music on thick vellum paper. Each page had his name inscribed in calligraphy, and the whole thing was contained within a high-quality leather box. To me, it looked like something Beethoven would have owned to write and hold all their best pieces of music. I’d also included a special fountain pen with his name on it in gold leaf. It felt like a weird gift for a thirteen-year-old, but he was also the only thirteen-year-old I knew who lived and breathed music.
“I loved it!” he gushed, leaning forward so that he was almost lying on the counter between us. He winced and continued in a lower voice. “It’s perfect. I’ve always wanted to write my own music. I plan to save all the pages until I get really good and know what I create is the best. None of it will be wasted.”
A smile tugged up one corner of my mouth. “Don’t save them. The song doesn’t have to be perfect. Just yours. Use them. If you run out, tell me and I’ll get you more.”
I didn’t think it was possible for Simon’s eyes to get any wider. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, use them. If you wait for something to be perfect, you may never end up using it.”
The coffeemaker made some guttural sounds as it finished spitting out my brew. I walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed the creamer.
“Actually, there was one more thing I was hoping to get for my birthday,” Simon admitted in a lilting, almost playful tone.
