“Hi, Tessa! Hey, Juliet!” Vivienne called. “I miss you!” She was smiling widely, but maybe a little too widely. Tessa heard a slight tinge of sadness in her voice. Probably just homesickness, as Viv hadn’t been home since last Christmas.

“You called at the perfect time,” Tessa said. “It’s just the two of us.”

“I think there’s going to be an engagement in the family soon,” Juliet said in a sing-song voice.

“Tessa met someone?” Vivienne asked.

“No, Viv,” Juliet said a little indignantly. “I’m talking about Jax and me!”

Oh dear. This wasn’t going well. But on a positive note, at least one of Tessa’s sisters still held out hope for her to find love, too.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Jules,” Viv said. “I thought you two broke up.”

“We’ve resolved our issues,” Juliet reported. “And things are going really well.”

“That’s great,” Vivienne said. “Congratulations.”

“How’s your art internship?” Tessa asked, changing the subject.

“Awesome.” She rushed on to say, “The d’Orsay is quite a place. I’m learning so much. And every day I walk by the Monets and I can’t believe how much more stunning they look in person than on postcards and umbrellas. Tonight we have a dinner to recognize up-and-coming artists.”

The d’Orsay. Monet. Viv was living her dream. Tessa was really happy for her baby sister. And, she hated to admit, a little sad for herself.

“Is your photography going to be on display at that gallery you talked about?” Juliet asked.

“Not yet. But maybe someday! Hey Tessa, I thought of you. Because I actually ate in that patisserie in the Marais you used to have a photo of in your room, remember? I took all kinds of pics for you. I’ll send them.”

Tessa felt a tiny stab in her gut that she quickly shooed away. Never mind that she’d longed to do every single one of the things portrayed in the many photos Viv sent to them: visit the Eiffel Tower, eat macarons from Ladurée on the Champs-Élysées, stroll the markets for fresh cheeses and bread, and walk the cobblestoned streets of the Marais in search of a wonderful café to have a croissant and a coffee as she watched Paris stroll by.

And the patisserie in the photo… It was her absolute dream pastry shop. With a black and white tile floor and a pink glass chandelier and a killer view of the famous Pont des Arts over the Seine. One day, she’d told herself, she’d have a little shop just like that. Minus the Seine, but hey, you can’t have everything, right?

“Oh, Viv, that’s wonderful,” Tessa said. She loved her baby sister, and she was thrilled that she was in Paris and living her dream of working in the art world.