Page 84 of The Paris Chapter

‘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 Parishad 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 lovedEmily in Parisas much as me. Doted on by their parents and their auntie and uncles, the twins werecurrently 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.

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