BILLS, BOOZE & BETRAYAL | LARRY AU

EPILOGUE

BILLS, BOOZE & BETRAYAL | EPILOGUE

"Aimeriez-vous autre chose avec ça? Would you like anything else to go with that?"

"Non, merci. No, thank you."

"Parfait, je reviens rapidement avec vos commandes. Alright, I'll be right back with your orders." I say as I walk away from the table with the lovely couple that I'm seeing here for the first time with a content smile on my face. That does, however, contort into a bit of a panic when I see the time on the clock and stop Stella – one of the waitresses that works for us here – on her way to the table she is currently serving.

"Amour, est-ce que ça te dérangerai de mettre la table pour 12 ? Je dois aller chercher Darcy à l'école. Love, would you mind covering table 12 for me? I have to go pick up Darcy from school."

"Vous l'avez eu, boss. You got it, boss." She says with her ever-present, beautiful smile and I peck her cheek before telling her the order and walking into the kitchen behind the counter.

"Hazza?" I call out to him as I take off my apron and run a hand through my hair with the screen of my mobile phone serving as a mirror.

"Oui, mon chéri? Yes, my darling?"

"I'm going to go and bring Darcy back to the café, mind coming out of your sugary corner and manning the counter for a bit?"

"Oh, alright." He says in an exasperated tone but I can hear the smile on his face. I keep standing in the same spot till I hear the water running and Harry comes out his 'sugary corner' as I like to call it and smiles at me – his face, his apron and a few loose, curly strands of his hair dusted white with the flour, or possibly the sugar.

"You've got stuff on your face, baby." I say with an amused smile because I know Harry loves it when I wipe it off for him and he always intentionally leaves it on his face. I roll my eyes with a small smile still set on my face as I carefully wipe it off of his pretty face while he stands there obediently like a school-boy with his hands behind his back and giggles.

I finally lean up and peck his lips – the slight stubble on his face tickling my hands and my cheeks in the most delicious way possible and he follows me out to the counter where I bid him goodbye with another quick kiss before getting into the car and turning on to the main road – driving up to the school merely 10 minutes away. I try to speed up, though, because I know Darcy is just like her father and will make an unnecessarily big deal out of me being just about 30 seconds late.

I park the car and get out of it, just in time, too, as I spend the few minutes before the kids come out talking to some of the familiar faces around me – ones I sees every day.

"Louis! Comment tu vas, mon ami? Louis! How are you, my friend?" I hear Antoine's familiar voice behind me and I turn back with a grin on my face.

"Antoine, tu es de retour! Comment était le voyage? Antoine, you're back! How was the trip?"

"Bien, bien, ma petite fille m'a manqué cependant. Good, good. Missed my little girl though."

"Ouais, tu lui as manqué aussi. Petite Bella n'arrêtait pas de parler des souvenirs que son père lui ramènerait une fois qu'il serait de retour de Grèce quand elle venait à la maison pour dormir." I say with a smile. "Yeah, she missed you, too. Little Bella wouldn't stop talking about what souvenirs his father would bring him once he's back from Greece when she came home for the sleepover."

"Oh, je m'excuse pour l'excitement de cette fille, mon ami. Oh, I apologize for that girl's excitement, friend."

"Non, non, il n'y a pas de quoi être désolé. On a eu du bon temps à imaginer les différentes façons dont on te ferait une blague si tu ne ramenais pas de souvenirs." I say with an easy grin on my face and he laughs out loud, making me smile even more as we talk more about the trip. Antoine's been one of our closest friends here in Fontainebleau since we came here five years ago. "No, no, nothing to be sorry about. We had a great time conspiring about ways we'd prank you if you didn't bring any."