Jake nodded and crouched on Cass’s other side to help block the wind and pulled out his emergency radio, requesting an ambulance. He also called the station, asking dispatch for a rescue crew to come with a stretcher to get Cass off the trail.

Charlie leaned over her twin, her tears dripping onto her sister’s face. Cass remained unconscious. Charlie squeezed her eyes closed, only one wish circulating through her mind. Please let her be okay.

Miguel worked fast, getting a compression bandage onto Cass’s head to stop the bleeding. He was trying to wake her up, but when calling her name did nothing, he ran his fist back and forth over the middle of her chest, against her sternum. “Hey, Cass, wake up. Come on,” he said. Cass moaned, her eyelids fluttering. “That’s it, Cass. Open your eyes for me.”

Charlie gently cupped her sister’s face as Cass blinked, slowly coming back to herself. “You found me,” she whispered. Charlie’s relief was immense. They still had to get Cass off the trail, and clearly she was badly hurt and near freezing, but she was alive.

Charlie reached for Cass’s gloved hand and squeezed, murmuring, “You’re okay. Don’t move. I’m here. I’m here.”

“I’m sorry, Charlie. It was stupid for me to come out here by myself.” Cass sounded weak but shifted her head slightly, trying to see who was holding the bandage to her head.

“Miguel, is that you?” Her voice was so low it was nearly impossible to hear. Miguel grabbed her outstretched hand, then leaned down and gently kissed her on the lips. It was a kiss that told Charlie things in L.A. had been about as complicated for Cass as they had been for Charlie in Starlight Peak. Miguel kissed Cass again, and Charlie, watching them, knew this was more than a simple fling between her twin and the handsome physician assistant.

“How are you here?” Cass murmured to Miguel, her eyelids fluttering. Then she looked at her sister. “Charlie, how is he here?”

Charlie laughed softly and smiled at Miguel. “My guess is you made a pretty great impression.”

23

Charlie

Friday: 1 Day Until Christmas . . .

Starlight Peak

Charlie sat in a chair opposite the hospital bed, watching her sister sleep. The stitches on Cass’s head were almost covered by her hair—but not quite. They were a reminder of the harrowing events of the day before. Charlie reached forward and held her sister’s hand, the way she had several times in the preceding hours when the sharpness of the realization that she had come very close to losing her had hit. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Cass,” she murmured. “You’re my heart, you’re my soul. I don’t work without you. I’m sorry for—”

Her voice broke and she stopped talking. Although the doctors had assured her Cass would be just fine, until she saw for herself, until her sister finally opened her eyes again of her own free will, Charlie wasn’t going to be able to relax. Keeping hold of her sister’s hand, she turned and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose and wipe the tears away.