“Oh, Charlie. Don’t cry. I’m fine.”

Charlie spun around and dropped her sister’s hand. “Cass! I can’t believe I missed it!”

Cass laughed. “Missed what, exactly?”

“The moment you opened your eyes. I’ve been sitting here waiting for—” She checked her watch. “Six hours?” Charlie dashed away a tear with the tissue. “I was so worried, Cass. And I’m so sorry.”

Cass grabbed her sister’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Oh, Charlie. Do we really need to apologize to each other? Isn’t it just a given that I forgive you, and you forgive me, always, no matter what?”

Charlie put her forehead to her sister’s for a moment, and it felt like they were little kids again.

“I guess so. But I still am sorry. I thought I was going to lose you, and thinking about how we had left things— We can’t do that again, ever.”

Cass laughed. “I think we learned a few lessons over the past week, haven’t we?”

“That might be the understatement of the year.”

“And now look at us. We’ve taken this whole twin connection thing a bit far by getting matching head injuries, haven’t we? Plus, we have something else that matches, too, now.” Cass let go of her sister’s hand and held hers up.

Charlie looked at her sister’s wrist; there was a bandage there. “Hey, what’s this? Did you hurt your wrist, too?”

“Actually . . .” Slowly and carefully Cass pulled back the bandage to reveal a fresh-looking tattoo. It was gorgeous, an artful depiction of a constellation of stars. “I got a tattoo, just before I left L.A. It’s the Gemini constellation.”

“It’s gorgeous! But you, get a tattoo? I guess this really has been a transformative week.”

Cass gazed down at the tattoo, and for once Charlie couldn’t read what she was thinking. “When I started my hike yesterday I was thinking about what I was going to say to you, how I was going to make things right—not even realizing I was taking a stupid risk going for that hike at all and might not get the chance to talk to you! I was just still so torn up about everything that had happened. I really care about Miguel—”

“That much is obvious. And he’s nuts over you—”

“But none of this is more important than my relationship with you. And this tattoo, it represents that. My connection to you, and my life here—and also, my connection to the world. My resolve not to forget how I felt when I was in L.A. I know what it looks like, like I was running away from your life because of a guy—but, that’s not all. I also want you to know I was upset because of Sweet and Salty, because of the way they were treating you. The way Austin treated you, all of it. You are so much more than that. I would never walk out on something that was really, truly right for you. And it really didn’t feel right. But that wasn’t my call to make.”