"You must decide. Chef Laurent told me today—he thinks you have real talent. He said if you want, he can help you find placement in a Michelin kitchen. That's very rare, Lucy. He doesn't offer that to many students."
Lucy felt her stomach flip. "He said that?"
"Oui. He thinks you could work anywhere in Paris. Maybe anywhere in Europe." Amelie paused. "But you have to want it. You have to choose it."
That night, Lucy walked along the Seine and thought about choices.
She could stay in Paris. Take the placement Chef Laurent was offering. Build a career in French cuisine. Visit Timber Falls occasionally but make Paris her home.
Or she could go back to Vermont in four months like she'd planned. Open her restaurant. Rebuild her relationship with Jake. Stay close to Uncle Walter and Rei and everyone she loved.
Both futures were possible. Both had merit.
But which one did she actually want?
Lucy pulled out her phone and started a voice memo.
"I'm in Paris. It's beautiful and terrifying and I'm learning more than I ever thought possible. Chef Laurent thinks I have real talent—he wants to help me find placement in a Michelin kitchen. That's incredible. That's a dream I didn't even know I had."
Lucy paused, watching the boats pass on the Seine.
"But I miss home. I miss Timber Falls and Wednesday mornings and snow. I miss knowing everyone's name. I miss Uncle Walter's bad coffee and Rei's tough love and Mae's optimism. I miss the bakery—even though it's not mine anymore. I miss belonging somewhere."
Another pause.
"And I miss Jake. God, I miss him so much. But maybe Jake was right. Maybe I need to figure out who I am without him. Without Timber Falls defining me. Without anyone's expectations but my own."
Lucy stopped the recording and saved it. Maybe she'd send it to someone eventually. Or maybe she'd just keep making these voice memos—documenting her thoughts as she tried to figure out this impossible choice.
Four months. She had four months to decide.
It felt like forever and no time at all.
Lucy walked back to her apartment, climbed the four flights of stairs, and looked out at the Paris skyline.
This could be home. This could be her life.
Or Timber Falls could be home. That could be her life.
Both futures were possible.
She just had to be brave enough to choose.
Chapter 16
April in Paris was everything people said it would be.
The city bloomed—flowers in window boxes, trees lining the boulevards turning green, tourists multiplying by the day. Lucy's culinary program intensified as they approached their final months. Chef Laurent pushed them harder, expecting perfection in every dish.
Lucy rose to the challenge.
She worked twelve-hour days, perfecting techniques she'd never even heard of three months ago. She learned to make pâte à choux that was so light it dissolved on the tongue. She mastered the art of French macarons—notoriously difficult, with their delicate feet and precise measurements. She even earned grudging praise from Chef Laurent on her tarte au citron.
"You are becoming a real pastry chef," he said one afternoon, inspecting her work. "Not just a baker. There is a difference."
It should have felt like a triumph. Instead, Lucy just felt empty.
She and Jake texted sporadically. Nothing deep—just surface-level check-ins.
