Epilogue
EPILOGUE
THE FOLLOWING FEbrUARY
It was Valentine’s Day and I stood nervously in front of the packed room in Cinq in Paris. I knew that my book We’ll Always Have Paris needed to be launched in the City of Love, and Juliette hadn’t let me go anywhere but her family’s restaurant for it.
I looked out at everyone as I read a passage from my novel. I didn’t exactly enjoy events; I was still an overthinker at heart and panicked that no one would like the story, plus my imposter syndrome was high, but it helped to see familiar faces rooting for me amongst the strangers. Juliette and our Paris friends, Carly and Luke with their double pushchair, my parents, and everyone from my publisher Turn the Pages including Gita and Stevie. Then my eyes fell on a familiar face. I did a double take, smiling in surprise to see the person I was happiest to find here.
Ethan gave me a reassuring smile, and calmness rolled over me as it always did when I was around him. I took a breath and carried on, finishing the paragraph to an enthusiastic round of applause. I then sat down and Stevie organised a line of readers who wanted me to sign their books. I saw Ethan go over to her husband Noah and chat to him. They had got on well at Stevie and Noah’s wedding last autumn.
‘The story is so beautiful, I came to Paris because of it,’ a reader said to me as I signed her book.
‘Oh wow, that means so much to me,’ I said.
She told me that she was enjoying the city. I still marvelled at how much my trip this time last year had changed things for me.
When everyone had had their books signed, I got up and went over to Ethan, eagerly leaning into him. He gave me a soft kiss that sent warmth from my lips down my body. ‘What are you doing here?’ I asked. ‘You shouldn’t have come; what about Amour?’
Amour was Ethan and Juliette’s London restaurant. It had now opened and was generating great buzz. Juliette had wanted to keep the one-word tradition of her parents’ restaurant and Ethan had suggested the French word for love to represent their passion for food, Paris, the City of Love, and because my gift for them when they found their venue had been a large print of The Wall of Love in Paris. That print was the first thing you saw when you went inside their restaurant, and it made my heart soar every time I walked past it.
I had never been prouder of someone before as I was of Ethan making his dream come true. But with Juliette here helping me organise my launch party, I had told Ethan I understood that he couldn’t leave their place for the weekend to come to Paris too.
Ethan wrapped an arm around my waist, keeping me pulled in close to him. ‘We show up for each other.’
I looked at him and smiled. ‘I know we do. But what about your restaurant?’
‘Pierre has it covered,’ he replied. Juliette’s boyfriend was their manager and ran it as a tight ship. ‘Our sous chef deserved a chance to run the kitchen for the weekend too. It will all be fine. I had to celebrate your book with you.’
‘It’s really our book,’ I replied. We smiled at one another.
‘You were amazing up there doing your reading. As always.’
‘I was so nervous.’
‘You shouldn’t have been; it went brilliantly,’ Stevie said, coming over. ‘Do you have time to film a video for social media?’
‘Sure,’ I said. I turned to Ethan and gave him another quick kiss. ‘I’ll see you in a bit?’
‘We will celebrate in style.’ He dropped me a wink and I watched him join Juliette and Oscar, still surprised he’d come to Paris for me. It meant a lot to me. But I knew he was right. That was what we wanted to do in life – show up for each other.
I went over to Stevie to do what she wanted for social media. Before this trip, I had gone to the Turn the Pages offices to meet with Gita and I had signed a new book deal with them. We’ll Always Have Paris had become an instant hit, hitting the bestseller chart in the UK but also in America and around Europe, and a studio was interested in turning it into a film. I had signed on for four more romance novels with them and everyone was excited for what was to come next in my career.
When I finished what Stevie wanted me to do, I joined our friends and we all had a glass of bubbly. I leaned down to look at the twins with a smile. Carly and Luke were already amazing parents to their boy and girl. They had named their daughter Clementine, suggested by Juliette when Carly and Luke were unable to find one they both liked. She argued the babies were practically half French anyway, and Carly had been obsessed with drinking orange juice while she was pregnant. Then they had to choose a French name for their son too and Gabriel was picked as Carly loved Emily in Paris as much as me. Doted on by their parents and their auntie and uncles, the twins were currently sleeping peacefully in their pushchair while Carly and Luke managed to grab a glass of champagne for a rare evening out.
‘I’m so glad you made it,’ I told them.
‘We wouldn’t have missed it,’ Carly said.
‘We are all so proud of you,’ Luke added.
‘Don’t, I might cry,’ I said, looking at the people I loved most in the world all here to celebrate my book with me. It was more than I could ever have imagined when I came to Paris a year ago.
Ethan leaned in then. ‘I have another surprise for you afterwards.’
‘This was enough of a surprise,’ I said, reaching out to take his hand.
Juliette raised her glass of champagne. ‘To Tessa,’ she said.
I smiled, embarrassed but touched as our friends toasted me. I glanced out of Cinq’s window to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the distance.
Thank you, Paris.
Later, we left the restaurant, Ethan and I the last ones to leave walking out arm-in-arm, tired but happy.
‘What a night,’ I said as Ethan steered me in the direction of my surprise. ‘I’m so happy you’re here.’
‘I don’t want to be anywhere without you,’ Ethan replied.
‘You never have to be anywhere without me,’ I promised, holding on to him tightly as we walked through the quiet streets of Paris. ‘ Toi et moi .’
‘You and me,’ he murmured. ‘You know, that’s a very popular engagement ring design – two stones, one ring.’
I smiled. ‘Juliette might have mentioned that a few times to me.’
‘Hmm, did she now?’ He gave me that amused look I loved. ‘ It’s very sexy when you speak French, you know,’ he said, echoing what I had told him when we had first met.
‘I can speak more of it later if you like,’ I said playfully.
‘Let’s walk faster,’ he replied. We both laughed and turned into a street that I recognised.
‘Is that…?’ I looked and saw the apartment building ahead that housed the Airbnb we’d stayed in together a year ago.
‘I booked it for us for the weekend as a surprise. Juliette moved all your things from her place without you knowing,’ Ethan confirmed.
‘Babe, that is so romantic!’ I cried, so touched he had done this.
‘Well, it’s practically an anniversary trip as well as your book launch so where better to spend it than the place we fell for each other in?’
‘I love the idea.’
We went inside and up to the one-bedroom apartment. Ethan let us in and turned on the lights. ‘I’ll open another bottle of champagne,’ Ethan said. ‘Why don’t we have it on the balcony?’
‘We have to play a game of chess later too,’ I said, walking over to look out at the balcony, the twinkling lights of Paris ahead. We always had a game going in London. Ethan’s chess lessons paid off so he could now beat me but only one in about five games, which was a constant source of irritation to him, and allowed me to be extremely smug.
We had left our flats and moved into one together, still overlooking the river in Putney. So now we only had one bed again and loved every minute of waking up and going to sleep beside one another. Pictures of Paris lined our walls and we loved nothing more than going home-décor shopping when we had the time. We dreamed one day of having a second home in Paris, but until then we wanted to come back as often as we could.
‘We can play whatever games you like,’ Ethan said, coming over to hand me a glass of champagne. He leaned down to drop a kiss on the spot on my neck that he knew would make me shiver with anticipation.
‘Hmm, I have a few ideas,’ I gasped.
Ethan lifted off me and pulled back with a grin. ‘I can’t wait to hear them. In French.’
‘That’s why you taught me all the dirty words first, isn’t it?’ I asked, raising an eyebrow.
‘Guilty as charged.’
We stepped out onto the balcony. It was pleasantly warm for February. Spring had arrived early, so in our light jackets, we weren’t cold. Ethan wrapped an arm around me and I leaned against him as we looked out at Paris together.
‘This is perfect,’ I said to him. ‘ Je t’aime .’
‘I love you so much, sweetheart,’ Ethan replied. He turned to me and gave me a kiss. ‘Meeting you here was the best thing that ever happened to me.’
I smiled. ‘I feel the same way.’ Having someone by my side made everything sweeter. I loved and trusted Ethan, we made a great team, and I now knew that you could never plan who would be the perfect person for you. Ethan had been the best surprise. I was a better person for the time we had spent together in Paris last year. And I knew we had so many more years ahead of us too.
‘A toast,’ Ethan said. ‘Before I take you inside and remind us how comfortable the bed is here…’
I giggled, already desperate to be on that bed with him.
Ethan looked at me with so much love in his eyes, my giggles died away. ‘To Paris, for bringing us together. It will always be my favourite city because of that.’
‘Me too,’ I agreed. We clinked our glasses and took a sip as we smiled at one another.
Ethan reached out to touch my lip with his fingertips. ‘I hope you are always by my side, sweetheart. Pour toujours .’
‘ Pour toujours ,’ I agreed.
Forever.
It sounds good to me.