According to the weather app on my phone, it was going to rain today. Which is very unsurprising, considering it's London, and it's November. However, as I looked out the window after waking up this morning, I saw nothing but a bright blue sky and the sun rays tearing through the small white clouds that looked like cotton balls in the midst of blue. Nonetheless, the temperatures were still as low as 5ºC, and if I had any doubts, the condensation drops on the window pane would surely put that uncertainty away.

"No puddles today?" Lexi's voice was still sleepy.

"No, baby." I rubbed her back before bending down to kiss her forehead. "No puddles. But it's sunny, you can play outside today at school."

I helped her with the school uniform and served her breakfast while I got dressed myself, choosing an oversized, beige wool sweater, and a pair of jeans. Lexi was brushing her teeth when I found some time to braid my blonde hair into a side, french braid that fell lazily over my shoulder.

Today was like any other day, except for the fact that after dropping Lexi off at school, I would be driving to the restaurant to meet my boss and talk to him about leaving my position as a waitress, and handing in my resignation letter in person.

And after returning to Hampstead, I would be meeting Sébastien at L'Amour so I could sign all the documentation he needed and so we could discuss the menu and brainstorm some ideas for the bakery.

The first errand went okay, with some surprise and shock from my boss, but without showing any unpleasantness. The only thing a little bit more unexpected from him might really be when he said "We'll miss you around here.", while he pressed his palm onto my back and walked me outside.

The second and last item in the order of business today, well... I was about to find out how it'd go.

"Melanie, how are you?"

"Good." I replied after he closed the door behind me. "What about you?"

"Better than ever." Sébastien sounded excited, and not only to see me. He sounded like he was on the verge of jumping into something, something he felt good about. Like he had just discovered the secret cure to some fatal disease, and that cure laid on french pastries.

"Why don't you take a seat?" He gestured towards the seats. "I'll be back with the contract."

I did as told and took a seat on one of the booths, removing my bag and placing it on the empty space next to me. I took my chance to look around the room and take it in - my new workplace, where I would be reinventing myself professionally -, and see what he'd done with the place so far. It looked beautiful, very vintage-looking but still modern enough.

Shortly after, Sébastien came back with some papers and a pen and took a seat across from me, flashing me a smile while doing so.

"Take your time and read the contract if you'd like, but these are basically just a formality of everything we've discussed before." With his hand facing the document, he dragged it across the table in my direction.

I skimmed through the pages, confirming his words. The pay was correct, the position was correct, everything else was just plain bureaucracy. I grabbed the pen he'd brought with him (that looked like it was more valuable than my car), and signed on every dotted line that had a Sign Here sticker on it. Lastly, I handed the document back to him.

"Bienvenue à L'Amour!" Seb said, flashing me one of those million dollar smiles, as they say. Those where his lips are tugged up so high that his white pearls are in full display, in a graceful grin. One of those smiles that made my heart do backflips without even trying.

"Merci!" I said, unable to contain a giggle that fell out of my mouth as soon as I said the french word for thank you. "Thank you for the opportunity."

"Before you start working here, I feel like I should tell you a little bit about L'Amour." I waited patiently, in silence for him to continue, and watched as his blue eyes wandered around the room, as if to look for where he should start, almost as if he was physically searching for some clue that was hidden around the room.

"Do you remember telling me that one day, I'd be telling you why I decided to re-open the bakery and drop the Lexi excuse?" I nodded in agreement, practically reliving that whole conversation in my head. "Well, the day is here."

I sat back straighter in my seat, eager to hear his explanation.

"My father met my mother in London, back in 1982. Back then, he had his whole life set in Paris, had just started his baking business there." His blue eyes bored into mine so intensely I could feel my insides burn. "She was Parisian too, but had come to London to study nursing while he was here visiting. He fell in love with my mother the minute he saw her and after getting to know each other, they learned they were both passionate about cooking."

"He did not want to stop seeing her, so he called my grandfather and told him he'd need money to open up a bakery here, and expand their business. My grandfather was on the fence but went ahead and sent him some money. My father opened L'Amour on March 4th 1983."

"Seb..." I breathed out his name. "That is such a beautiful love story."

"It's not over." He continued. "When my mother finished university here, they both wanted to move back to Paris, where they were both from. By that time, they were engaged and the bakeries were doing very well."

"So, they did. They moved to Paris, bought their home, where I grew up in, and got married. And kept L'Amour here, because, in a way, it was the product of their love for each other and their love for food."

"I don't know if you know this, but L'Amour is french for love." While he spoke, his words kept crawling under my skin, making me feel tingles run down my spine and my mouth suddenly dry.

"It's easy to see why they called it that." I added, just barely, as I had a hard time getting the words out. It felt like they were stuck in my throat and I was tongue-tied.

"I'll be honest with you, Melanie." He said, and from his confident posture alone, and the way he said that, I knew he was about to start an important speech. "When I came to London, after my father died, I closed the bakery with no intention of re-opening it. I have my own bakery in Paris, plus all the other two that my father left me, and it made no sense to me to keep a bakery open in another country."

I could feel it. From afar, I could feel his words slowly brewing inside his head, right before he spoke them out loud. And I shouldn't have presented a question to him, one that I knew wouldn't give him an escape and would only allow a direct, straightforward, simple answer. But maybe I wanted it. Maybe I needed to hear it. The raw truth, the candid, frank and sincere answer.

So I went ahead and asked him, my voice soft. This time, my words had no trouble leaving my mouth. "What changed?"

"I met you." Three simple words that made my breath feel caught in my throat. "And right then, my world turned upside down because I knew in that moment that history was repeating itself."

There it was.

"So, I knew closing the bakery for good, after having met you, would be a crime and my father would probably turn in his grave for eternity."

I wanted to say something. I wanted to tell him that I, too, was never the same after having met him. I wanted to mention that his voice alone made me feel things I had never felt before. I wanted to fill him in on how many times a day I spent thinking about the way he said my name, which caused my toes to curl and my spine to tingle. I wanted to let him know that he was great with Lexi and that she liked him so much, and that, every time I saw them together I saw the glimpse of the family we could be, even if that's a thought I shouldn't be having.

But I was speechless, unable to speak, and I was incapable of saying any of that. Instead, I showed him.

I inched forward and grabbed the collar of his shirt with my hand in a fist, pulling him closer to me, right before my lips latched onto his. I could tell the sudden move was surprising to him, but Seb kissed me back instantly. I wasn't short or soft. No, this kiss has been a long time coming, and somewhere between the moment his tongue slipped into my mouth or my teeth grazed his bottom lip, his hands found their way to the back of my waist.

When we let go, we were both out of breath and talking wasn't an option. For some time, we were just living in the moment. Just, breathlessly staring at each other while our eyes were basically doing all the talking. With their short and jerk-like movements, our matching blue orbits were saying words we didn't say, but we knew we meant to say them.

Some moments later, he closed his mouth after licking his lips and looked away. Sébastien's next move caught me by surprise.

"What are you doing?" I asked in surprise as I watched him tear the contract apart, ripping the pages and splitting them into two, all of them at the same time.

"I don't want you to be my employee." He stated. "I want you to be my partner in this business. I want L'Amour to be yours as well, I want L'Amour to be ours."

To say I was speechless at the beginning of this conversation was one thing, but to use that word to describe the state I was in this precise moment, was the understatement of the century.

I looked like one of those people that choose a nice, tourist-packed spot at Piccadilly Circus and hop on top of a stool and stand there, masked as a famous person, in the very same position for endless hours. They get stared at, poked by little kids, they get pictures taken with them, and despite all that, they never ever break character.

I was dumbstruck. In fact, I don't even know how I managed to keep breathing. But I mean it in a good way. In the best way. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen. To me, of all people. Winning the lottery wouldn't be as good as this. In fact, I think the only moment in my life that could actually top this was when I had Lexi, but that was about it.

As the feeling of numbness started to wear off, I could feel his fingers brushing against the inside of my wrist, slowly and gently. This time, I knew exactly what I wanted to say, and I didn't feel at a loss for words.

In this case, word. "Yes." 

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

OH! MY! GOD! 😮😲🙊 Trust me lovelies, there are still a lot of OMG moments left in this story! 

Don't forget to vote if you liked this chapter and to leave a comment with your thoughts and... share it! 

If you're interested in some sneak peeks before the chapters are posted, you can check my IG, you know where to find me (missmarswrites) 💖

Xoxo, Mars