Page 66 of The Holiday Swap

“What?” Charlie pulled her hands out of Cass’s. “What are you talking about?”

For a moment she stared at Cass, unable to even form a coherent thought because she was still trying to process her twin’s revelation. Austin had beaten Charlie, after all? Her television career had started and ended withSweet & Salty... and she hadn’t evenbeen there to see it happen. The initial panic she’d felt when Cass showed up tonight was replaced with another emotion: anger. With narrowed eyes, Charlie hissed, “What happened, Cass? What did you do?”

“Me? I did nothing except tolerate that jerk Austin and do my best to be the perfect Charlie Goodwin!” Then she pushed back from the table and stood, her eyes filling with angry tears. “Let’s not forget this was your idea, Charlie.Your idea.”

“The worst idea I’ve ever had, clearly.” Charlie stood, too, taking a few steps away from her sister. She was in shock. How had everything fallen apart so spectacularly? “I trusted you, Cass.”

“Charlie, you not getting the hosting job had nothing to do with me, or what happened on set. I mean, yes, I did leave the set early. But that wouldn’t have changed anything. That job was always going to be Austin’s.”

“How can you be so sure?” Charlie practically shouted.

“I overheard Austin talking with Sasha, and she said she was going to tell you afterSweet and Saltywrapped the holiday special. But they had decided before the first episode even aired, apparently.” Cass watched helplessly as Charlie paced the small room. “I’m so, so sorry. I know how important this was to you.”

Charlie couldn’t even respond. She felt betrayed by Sasha, embarrassed that Austin had won, and was deeply disappointed that her hard work hadn’t been good enough. She never should have left Souci, or taken the co-host job. On top of it all, she wasfurious. But precisely at who or what, she wasn’t sure. What she did know, however, was that she couldn’t deal with any of it tonight.

“So, that’s not all,” Cass said. “I... I told Sasha—” She cleared her throat, and her eyes dropped from Charlie’s.

“I called Sasha this morning, pretending to be you, and told herI wasn’t coming in. That Austin could handle whatever else had to be done, because I—you—deserved better. That it wasn’t fair, you having to play this ‘sweet’ role, in those god-awful heels, while Austin got to be the confident and charming one with his pithy one-liners and chef’s whites! Charlie, you deserve better.”

Charlie was quiet for a moment, then she looked right into her sister’s eyes and said, “What gave you the right to decide what was best for me, Cass?”

Cass looked stunned, clearly having hoped for a different reaction. But Charlie couldn’t really worry about Cass right now, because she could barely stay on her feet—it was as though every last drop of energy had been squeezed out of her body.

“I need to get out of here. I can’t talk about this anymore,” Charlie said, her voice quaking. “I’m going to Mom and Dad’s so you can have your apartment back.”

“Charlie, I know this is a lot to take in. And, look, I... I really thought I was doing the right thing,” Cass said, sounding as weary as Charlie felt. “But I need to figure out what the hell to do about Makewell’s. And see if I can save the starter. There’s a lot to—”

“I know, Cass.I know.We can deal with everything else tomorrow. I really need to be alone right now.”

“Fine. Tomorrow.” Cass nodded her head. “I obviously won’t be sleeping tonight anyway. Let’s just hope the starter isn’t dead.”

Charlie gave a short but humorless laugh. “Like my career, you mean?”

21

Cass

Thursday: 2 Days Until Christmas...

Starlight Peak

For a moment in the darkness of the room, Cass didn’t know where she was. But then a warm weight on her feet reminded her: Gateau was asleep at the bottom of the bed, purring away. Other people may not have been able to tell the difference between the twins, but Gateau had practically jumped into Cass’s arms when she had come upstairs the night before, and hadn’t left her side since—making it clearshehad never been fooled.

Cass sat up and rubbed her eyes as the heartache of the day before came rushing back: The fight with Charlie. Her final conversation with Miguel. Thekiss.She collapsed back onto her pillow as she thought about the way Miguel had held her in his arms andkissed her back with so much passion she was sure he felt the same way about her as she did about him.

But then she had left him behind.

And that had been that.

•••

After getting her tattoo, she had driven home to Starlight Peak without stopping, putting the Taylor Swift holiday album that had been her favorite since she was a teenager on repeat. She had been desperate to see her sister, but that hadn’t turned out the way she had hoped it would. First, she had run into Jake Greenman outside the bakery—relieved to see a friendly, familiar face. But it quickly became clear that she had offended him in some way, simply by saying a casual hello and asking how he was. Their strange and awkward encounter had left Cass unsettled, and it obviously had something to do with Charlie... but she had no clue what was going on. And then, she and Charlie had had anything but a happy reunion.I trusted you, Cass. The worst idea I’ve ever had, clearly.

Cass knew she had taken matters into her own hands by saying the things she had said to Sasha. But did Charlie really want to be walked all over like that? This was not the Charlie she thought she knew like the back of her hand.

Cass walked into her small kitchen and filled the coffeemaker she had there for the rare occasions she was not down in the bakery first thing. Then she checked the starter, which she had brought upstairs with her the night before, wrapped in one of their grandmother’s tea cozies and placed in the warmest area of the apartment. She’d fed it before bed and it had looked okay—but now it was frothy again rather than bubbly, with a watery layer on top. “Damnit,” she muttered, carrying it to the sink to pour away the foul-smelling liquid. “I trusted you, too, Charlie.”

As Cass waited for the coffee to brew, she began to feel more frustrated. It wasn’t just the starter Charlie had messed up. She had said something to Cass about moving the ordering process online, which was yet another thing Cass was going to need to figure out how to fix now that she was home. And she had allowed Sarah Rosen from Makewell’s into the bakery! Cass hadn’t exactly done a great job of keeping Charlie’s life in order in L.A.—but it seemed Charlie had done an even worse job of holding down the fort in Starlight Peak.

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