Page 8 of The Holiday Swap

“Cass, don’t do this. It’s freezing out here,” he said when he caught up to her at the end of the walkway. He was coatless and shivering. “Things don’t make sense without you!” The snow fell lightly, the flakes settling on his blond hair. “Please. We can work this out.”

Cass sighed, taking in the face she knew so well. She felt badlyfor hurting him, even if she knew it was the right thing to do. “I don’t think we can. I can’t accept your proposal, and I definitely can’t accept this house. It’s over. Please respect that.”

“What if all you need is a little more time?”

It was then they saw Sharon, who had stepped out from the darkness between the streetlights, her dogs sniffing around a lamp base and looking for a spot to relieve themselves. From the look on Sharon’s face, she had seen and heard everything.

Brett glanced at Sharon, then at Cass, giving her a pleading look. “I love you, Cass. I’m going to let you go tonight—but only because I know in my heart we’re meant to be and you’re going to come back to me. Iknowthat. And you’ll realize it eventually, too, once you get over this... this quarter-life crisis you’re going through.” He lowered his voice ever so slightly, though Sharon and her dogs had already moved a few feet closer.

Cass wished Sharon would walk in the other direction and mind her own business, but that was highly unlikely. “I’ll be here waiting,” he went on, “with the ring, and the house—with everything we’ve ever dreamed of. Wearegoing to be together, Cass Goodwin. Wearegoing to get married.”

Cass opened and closed her mouth but nothing came out. Brett gave her a smile, then waved to Sharon and exchanged pleasantries with her before walking back into the house—which he still somehow believed was going to be theirs.

“Twice in one night,” Sharon said, now beside Cass. “Sit.” Her poodles immediately sat on either side of Sharon, like statues.

“Sorry?” Cass said, still dazed.

“It’s nice to see you twice in one night,” Sharon repeated. “How are your parents enjoying their trip? I went to Cabo on my honeymoon. Worst food poisoning of my life.”

“Yeah, they’re fine. Having fun, last I talked to them.” She longed for her mother in that moment, for her comforting embrace and sage advice—which was often so similar to Charlie’s advice. But she was entirely on her own. Cass stared up at the house, saw the front window curtain move slightly, and knew Brett was watching, probably hoping she wasn’t sharing too much with Sharon.

“It’s a beautiful house,” Sharon said, following Cass’s gaze. “And Brett is such a great guy. You’re lucky.”

“Um, yes. Sure am.” Cass needed to go, to put some distance between herself, the house, Brett and prying Sharon. “I have to get back to the bakery. Enjoy your walk.”

Cass’s thoughts spun as she headed back. She pulled out her phone to call Charlie back, but it rang in her hand.

“Charlie,” Cass answered. “I have so much to tell you. I went to see Brett—”

“Cass, hold that thought, okay?” her sister said. “I need your help with something. I know it’s going to be the very last thing in the world you want to do, and will push youwayoutside your comfort zone, but I need you to think about how much you love me and how you’d do anything for me and how much I need this. My career depends on it.”

This made Cass stop in the middle of the sidewalk and press the phone tighter to her ear. “Depends on what? Charlie, are you okay? What’s going on?”

“I will be. I think. But I need you.” Her voice sounded shaky, uncertain—and very un-Charlie-like. Suddenly her messy evening with Brett was the last thing in the world that mattered to Cass.

“Of course. Just tell me what you need me to do.”

“Come to L.A.”

“What?But, Charlie, this time of year is imposs—”

“I know, I know. The holidays are the busiest time for the bakery and Mom and Dad aren’t around this year and under normal circumstances you would never leave—but it would just be for a few days.”

“How many?”

A pause.

“Ten.”

Cass knew she couldn’t abandon the bakery for the remaining days left until Christmas—and yet, all at once, the idea of temporarily leaving her problems behind was tempting. “Believe me, I would love to get out of town, but I can’t just drop everything. The Starlight Bread orders alone... Plus, Brett just told me a Makewell’s is thinking of moving in. I feel like everything is falling apart. I have to be here to keep it together.” Cass thought about the dough she’d abandoned, and the stack of unfulfilled orders back at the bakery. Her parents were trusting her to run the show while they were gone, and she needed them to believe she was up for the task of taking over the bakery, a lifelong dream. Except, as she looked around at the familiar streets of her hometown now, her dream suddenly felt small and suffocating.

“No one is neglecting the bakery. I’ll take your place. We’ll switch, like we used to do when we were kids, remember? You come to L.A., I come home. It will befun.” But there was nothing in Charlie’s voice that indicated this was going to be fun. Charlie loved her life in L.A., which, from Cass’s perspective, was full of glamor and adventure, and could not be more different than life in Starlight Peak. The last time Charlie had come home she had seemed distracted, restless. Why would she want to come back here so badly?

“What exactly is going on, Charlie?”

“I hit my head at work... alittleconcussion, apparently—” Atthis Cass instantly understood why her own head had been hurting so much. The twins had always been connected like this—if one got hurt, the other felt her pain. When fifteen-year-old Cass broke her wrist snowboarding, Charlie’s arm inexplicably ached for a week; when Charlie caught a bad flu not long after arriving in L.A., Cass spiked a fever.

“Charlie!”

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