Page 54 of The Holiday Swap

“Please, just stop it. Stop it with the guilt trip. I can’t take it anymore.” Charlie, sitting in the empty bakery watching all of this, knew the worst was yet to come.

“Of courseyou don’t understand, Brett.” Charlie’s voice was thick with frustration. “This sort of thing is beyond your comprehension. All you understand is this small life, and this small town. You think this place is perfect, and what you don’t understand is that it’s possible for people to want more than just a predictable life in a predictable place. You don’t think it’s possible for people to outgrow each other, to maybe even outgrow where they’re from and want more. You just want us to stay here, never change, never be anything except who everyone in Starlight Peak thinks we are. I’m so tired of it! Don’tyouunderstand that? I’m sick and tired of seeing your face every single time I turn around—and I want you to leave me alone.”

Her face was partially obscured because she had turned slightly, but Brett’s was in focus at this point, and the camera picked up every nuance of his anguish. Damn it.This was bad. Not only had she told off Brett, she had insulted everyone in Starlight Peak, a town full of people with a very deep sense of loyalty and affection for the place. You didn’t call Starlight Peaksmallandboringand not expect there to be consequences. Besides, it wasn’t how she really felt about her hometown, and she felt terrible for saying it.

Charlie started fiddling with the program’s settings, looking for a way to take the video down and permanently delete it. But nothing she tried worked. Walter would know, but she didn’t want to call him in on his day off.

Finally, she gave up trying to delete the video and closed the program. She put her head in her hands for a moment. She could not fix this. Not right now. She had damaged the bakery’s reputation and failed at handling Cass’s life the way her sister had asked her to. What was done was done. But she could try to make it right from now on.

She picked up the sheath of orders she still had to deal with and started sorting them. For four more days, until the swap was over, Charlie would focus only on the things she could control. She would stop worrying about Austin andSweet & Saltyand trust that Cass had it under control—the way Cass was trustingherto keep things under control at home. She would busy herself filling outstanding orders, be friendly to everyone who came in the bakery, and do her part to streamline things at Woodburn so when Cass returned the family business would have a decent chance of staying afloat if Makewell’s did indeed move into town. To that end, she linked the bakery’s e-mail—because at least Cass was not so stuck in the past that the bakery didn’t even use e-mail—to the website she had created and started working on an online order form. By the time she was done, a few customers had started to arrive. She was careful to keep the friendly smile on her face as she packaged up orders and rang up tallies.

“Thank you, come back soon!” Charlie sang out, her voice full of forced cheer. This was what she did for a living: performed. She was going to get through this. She just needed to keep up the act for a few more days.

17

Cass

Tuesday: 4 Days Until Christmas...

Los Angeles

“Do you need anything?” Priya asked, knocking gently on the door. Inside the restroom, Cass stared at her reflection in the mirror, her fingers gripping the sides of the sink. She was sweaty and pale, with her stomach in knots. Cass’s insides churned every time she thought about Miguel and how they’d left things the night before. Also, she spent half the night questioning if she had it in her to pull off yet another elaborate pastry recipe today. Then when she’d arrived on set, already feeling queasy, the smell of burnt plastic (an intern had left a ladle too close to a hot element) had pushed her over the edge. Luckily, the restroom Priya directed her to was private, so no one else was witness to the unfortunate dry heaving.

“Uh, Charlie?” Cass wondered why Priya was calling her by her sister’s name, then realized someone else must be standing outside the door with her. “How about a peppermint tea?”

Cass cleared her throat. “That sounds great. Thanks.” She turned on the cold water and splashed a couple of handfuls on her thankfully still-bare face, glad at least she wasn’t ruining Priya’s hard work. Patting her skin dry with one of the paper towels, she took a deep breath before opening the door.

Austin leaned against the wall across from the restroom, arms crossed and with his signature smirk in place. “Hope that wasn’t from testing one of your own recipes, Goodwin.”

“Do you have nothing better to do than obsess over me? It’s not a good look on you,” Cass said, before walking quickly back down the hall to the makeup room. But Austin kept pace beside her, continuing his needling.

“Not feeling so hot, huh, kiddo?” His tone was concerned, but she knew it was faked. Cass clenched her jaw and resisted the urge to turn and punch Austin right in the nose.

“Leave me alone, Austin.”

She sat back in the chair, hoping Priya would return soon and Austin would slink back into the hole he had come out of. Cass had no idea how Charlie worked with such a weasel, day in and day out.

But Austin wouldn’t leave, and instead stood in the door watching her. “We should probably let Sasha know you’re sick. You know how freaked she gets about germs on set, with all the food and everything.”

Austin put his hands in his pockets as he scrutinized her in the mirror. “You’re not going to fool anyone. So, are you going to tell Sasha or should I?”

“Tell her what?” For a moment Cass was panicked, thinking hewas referring to the swap. But then she realized he simply meant about her being ill. He looked far too happy at the prospect of being the one to rat Cass and her wobbly stomach out. Suddenly she couldn’t stand to let Austin feel like he had the upper hand for one more second.

She frowned, put a hand to her stomach. “Wow, I really feel awful all of a sudden.” Then she turned toward him. “You probably shouldn’t be in here. I might be contagious.”

He took a small step back, but his smirk remained. “I never get sick.”

Just then Cass slapped a hand over her mouth, and looked at Austin with wide eyes, lurching forward in her chair. That did the trick. Austin jumped backward.

“Don’t you puke on me, Goodwin!” Then mumbling something about needing to get on set, he turned and left the room in a flash.

Cass took a deep, satisfied breath and settled back in the chair just as Priya appeared in the doorway, watching Austin retreat down the hall.

“What did you do to him?” she asked, handing Cass the steaming mug of tea.

“Nothing he didn’t deserve,” Cass replied, blowing on the surface of the hot tea. “Thanks for this.”

Priya put clips in the front of Cass’s hair, to hold it back before she applied her makeup for that day’s show. “You look less ghastly. So, what happened this morning?” Priya mixed two foundations together on the back of her hand, then took a brush and started on Cass’s forehead.

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