He reached out to take a box from Charlie’s arms. “Here, let me help you.”

“Thanks, Jake.” Charlie stepped into the warmth of the building’s front entrance, the smell of roasting chicken and warmed sage filling her nose. Her breath hitched, now that she stood so close to him.

“Are there more?” Jake asked, not noticing how close she was to falling apart. He was looking past her at the car.

Charlie glanced behind her. “Yeah, but I’ll grab them in a minute.” She shivered, the cold air swirling through the still open door, and Jake reached around her to shut it. Then he gave her a smile, but it didn’t reach his gorgeous eyes.

At the look on his face, everything she had wanted to say—had rehearsed on the short car ride over—got stuck in her throat. Then, weirdly, a sharp pain in her head made her gasp. Charlie put a hand to her temple, trying to rub away the pain, which was pulsing in deep waves across one side of her head.

“Are you alright?” Jake asked.

“Not really.” The strange pain dissipated as quick as it had come, but she still wasn’t okay. Charlie felt almost physically ill with guilt. She couldn’t put off what she had come to say any longer.

“Do you need to sit down? A glass of water?” Jake put a hand on her shoulder, clearly worried Charlie was about to topple over. She wished she could just throw herself into his arms.

“I don’t need anything,” she said quietly. Then drawing in a breath, she added, “Actually, that’s not true. I need to tell you something.”

“Okay,” Jake said slowly, clearly unsure about where this was going.

“I’m not Cass.”

“What?” At first he cocked his head, looking at her in confusion. But soon that shifted to concern. “Look, I think maybe you should sit down.”

“No, Jake.” She pulled away and out of his grasp. “I’m not Cass. I haven’t been Cass all week. I wasn’t Cass the night you saved Gateau from the tree. It wasn’t Cass you ate chili and drank beer with at the pub.” Her voice was almost a whisper. “It wasn’t Cass you danced with after the wedding. It was me, Cass’s twin. Charlie.”

“What?” Jake said again. “What are you talking about?”

Now Charlie stepped toward him but stopped short of actually touching him. She had been lying to Jake all week. She knew she had to give him space as he processed it.

“Cass and I swapped places. There was an accident on set in L.A. and I had a concussion and lost my sense of taste and smell. I couldn’t do my job, and I needed my sister’s help.” She was breathless, trying to get it all out quickly. “And because she’s the best sister in the world, despite everything going on with her, she agreed. We switched places. We swapped lives, Jake.”

He stared at her openmouthed. Charlie took his silence as an invitation to keep going.