The Holiday Swap(62)
“I have been giving you space. But I never imagined you were going to cheat on me!”
“Cheat on you?! Brett, we are broken up, don’t you get that? We are no longer together, and that means I am free to do what I want.”
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this to me. You’re breaking my heart, Cass—”
“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 course you 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’t you understand 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 Peak small and boring and 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 and Sweet & Salty and trust that Cass had it under control—the way Cass was trusting her to 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.”