Only Where Roads Take Us

Ypres

Camilla POV

"James do you know where Ypres is?" I ask him as I look at the map for our next destination from Amsterdam.
"Camilla I have no clue?" James teases as he starts to drive.
"It's in Belgium!" I tease slapping his arm playfully with the map and laughing.

"Ohhhh!" James says enthusiastically, "I went in a history trip to Belgium with a school when I was 14." He begins to explain. "We went to Dunkirk."

I smirk and laugh.

"James..." I tail off as I laugh. "Dunkirk is in France!"

We both look at each other and burst out laughing.
"You are actually crap at geography I don't think I should trust you driving! We could end up in Timbuctu!" I tease.

James nods and smirks as he drives down the busy highway out of Amsterdam and after a few hours we arrived in a town in Belgium.

Ypres was a pretty little town. It had Baroque styled turreted buildings that were embellished with tiny details. The sun glistened against the cobblestone roads and black steeled benches outside small shops. In the middle was a courtyard with a fountain outside a war memorial museum.
"I don't know about you but I am feeling peckish." I say eyeing up a chocolate shop with a decorative display in the window that caught my eye. Before James had a chance to reply to my question I was dragging him by the shirt towards the entrance to the chocolate shop.

A small, slim chocolatier in a clean suit and a black oiled curled over greets us in French. We stand, confused and he attempts English.
"Ahh English friends! Please try some of my chocolate." He says in his accent offering us a golden platter with different truffles. 

I choose one of the truffles which has been decorated with pale pink swirls and pop it into my mouth. Strawberry sweetness bursts on my tongue and simmers down my throat and I pick another different truffle to try. This one was more rounded and as I bite into it a crunch from a hazelnut that compliments the dark chocolate perfectly. James wanders over towards the truffle boxes and I watch him over the small chocolatier's shoulder. I follow him down the shop where shelves are stacked high to the ceiling with different chocolate boxes and sweet treats like macaroons and candies. I go to approach James who places his box of  chocolates on the till and winks at the chocolatier. 

I buy a selection box with a variety of different chocolate truffles. 

"You buying those for your boyfriend?" James teases as he kisses me on the back of the neck as I hand over the euros as I finish paying. 

"He shouldn't think of himself so lucky!" I tease back as we leave the chocolate shop, hand in hand, and walk around the town of Ypres for the rest of the afternoon.

We walk together and seat ourselves on a steel bench that looked at the fountain where children were tossing coins into the water in the low evening light. My phone bleeps and I open my screen to see an email from my agent. I open the message to see confirmation of me and James' next new job in Stockholm, and that flights had been booked for three weeks today. 

"I can't believe we fly out to Sweden in just three weeks!" I say excitedly.

"I think this...hang on. Wait there and don't move!" James says as he jogs off towards a resteraunt and returns a few moments later with a bottle of Champagne and two flutes.

"What is this for?" I ask as he pours me a glass of the fizz. 

"A little toast to us and our memories we've made on this adventure." He says with a smile as I draw closer to him.

"Well you could say that." I smirk as I kiss him gently. I open up the chocolates we bought earlier and we indulge in chocolate and Champagne. 

"Here is to the future, and Stockholm." He says as I lean forward for a kiss.