“Not in the way I expected. But I’m going to take my chance to go to pastry school even without Leo in my life. And maybe one day I’ll have my own little pastry shop.”

“That’s a wonderful plan,” her mother said. “I’m going to put a call out for someone to take your place in the bakery. That will free you up, Vivienne.”

“I can’t thank you enough for helping out, Viv.” Tessa hugged her sister again.

“I was happy to be able to finally give something back to you.” Viv wrung her hands. “It ate me up inside, being in Paris without you. You must have hated all those photos I sent.”

“I will make it to Paris one day,” she told her sister. “And that photo of the little café with the pink chandelier—that’s what I want one day in my own shop. A pink chandelier.”

“Mom,” Juliet said, “I thought you didn’t want anyone who wasn’t family to work in our bakery.”

“It’s time for that to change, too,” her mom said. “I don’t want any of you to feel chained to our family business. I’m sorry if I let that happen.”

“I’m grateful to have you all, and I love all of you,” Tessa said. “Very much.”

There was a lot more hugging and crying. Cosette suddenly appeared at the distant edge of the couch, perched on top of a sofa cushion. She gave a wide yawn and set about licking a paw, still mortally offended at being displaced in the middle of the night and put off by the handful of sobbing women who were interrupting her beauty rest.

Finally, they all sat down to collect themselves. After a little while, Juliet asked Vivienne, “Did you say you can make crepes? All of this crying is making me hungry.”

“I can make us some crepes,” Gram said, standing up.

“Do crepes go with wine?” Juliet asked.

“Wine goes with everything,” Gram said, giving Tessa a squeeze on the way to the little kitchen. “And crepes may not mend broken hearts, but family can.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

When Leo woke up the next morning, he threw an arm around Tessa. Or rather, where Tessa used to be. His arm dropped, his hand hitting the cold sheet with a thump, bringing him fully awake.

For an instant he thought she’d left for work like usual.

But then a cold, hard knot took up residence in his stomach. A feeling of dread seeped through him as the memory of last night hit him hard.

He was alone. In the kitchen, even the low hum of the refrigerator seemed loud as he took out a can of cat food for Cosette and looked around. What he saw confirmed his worst fears.