It began with a simple holiday question: Where is the most beautiful, charming place to spend Christmas and New Year’s? In December 2022, Colte and his best friend Sam Malloy chose Paris. Somewhere between twinkling lights and cathedral bells, a photograph changed everything — Colte on the steps of Sacré-Cœur in a big fur coat and delightfully loud boots. Abdel saw the photo online and, for a moment, wondered if he might be a model. What truly caught his attention, he later admitted, was the audacity and sparkle of the unapologetic American.

They started texting, but time and geography conspired against them. Abdel was leaving to ski with his family in Austria; Sam and Colte were flying back to the States just as Abdel returned to Paris. They missed each other by hours. Messages thinned with the miles — until, in April 2023, Abdel wrote again. He apologized for the silence, explained life as it had been, and said what mattered most: he liked their conversations and hoped they might pick up the thread.

They did. Texting turned to calls, calls to FaceTime, and by midsummer they were talking three or four times a week. In September — three days apart in birthdays — they decided it was time to meet in person. Abdel would come to Winter Park.

He landed on the evening of Colte’s birthday, after delays that became part of their legend. Inside the house, a party for forty was already in full swing; outside, a small welcoming committee of Colte, Sam, Chelsea Stonerock, and Anna Eskamani waited for the mysterious Frenchman the guests had been whispering about. Abdel walked in, changed, and — true to form — proceeded to charm everyone as if he’d known them for years.

Ten days followed, threaded with bright, improbable moments. For Abdel’s 30th, they checked into Disney’s Contemporary Resort. They ran barefoot through a rain-washed Magic Kingdom, had a princess dinner in the castle, and wandered “Paris” at Epcot, grinning at the coincidence. It felt, from the beginning, like a first date that wanted to become a story.

Before Abdel flew home, they quietly named the question between them. What now? The ocean wasn’t moving, but they could. They promised intentional communication and set a plan to see each other again. In November, over dinner at what would become one of their favorite restaurants, Mavrommatis, they talked about labels and timing and decided to let the relationship grow at its own pace — while giving it the structure it deserved. By the end of that visit, Abdel proposed a rhythm for calls and trips. Later, they would mark November 26 as their anniversary — the day they realized they were, in truth, falling in love.

From there, their lives became happily transatlantic. They never went more than six to eight weeks without a visit and can count on one hand the days they didn’t speak. They made a tradition of Abdel planning a February surprise trip — Deauville one year, Barcelona the next. They gathered airline status like souvenirs and collected memories in two languages: Paris Fashion Week shows at Balmain and the Loubishow, the Orlando Ballet’s Gilded Masquerade, the French Open as guests of Celine, a Saint Laurent concert and runway. Each chapter said the same quiet thing: this is working because we choose it, day after day.

The summer that followed became a gentle test and a milestone. Colte spent two months in Paris with Abdel in his très traditional studio — cozy, classic, very Paris. It could have gone either way; instead, it became a hinge. Week by week they found their rhythm — morning coffee, evening walks, small compromises that add up to love. There were trips to Saint-Tropez, London, and Greece, and then a birthday adventure in Japan. When the season turned, they decided to alternate holidays and birthdays between Europe and Winter Park — chez eux, wherever they were together.

Along the way, their little family took its full shape: Vera, Abdel’s irrepressible toy dachshund, and Charlemagne, Colte’s gorgeous and emotive Lagotto. The four of them travel together, collecting stamps and stories, and building traditions in both homes. Their first “family of four” adventure came in Palm Beach for Abdel’s birthday — morning beach runs where Abdel took Vera and Charlemagne to play in the surf, Charlemagne discovering a love of the ocean, and all of them returning sandy and happy for breakfast — their daily ritual and favorite part of most days.

By February, they were speaking openly about an engagement. They even went ring shopping in Paris, but agreed on one last milestone first: a home that was truly theirs. After months of applications and near-misses, they got the keys in late May. Rue d’Argenteuil became their Paris address — a light-filled space with a dash of Napoleon III chic — and soon hosted friends from both continents, including a visit from Colte’s mother. With two dogs underfoot and breakfasts long enough to feel like small ceremonies, the apartment quickly felt like home.

With that settled, Colte set about planning. He had already chosen the ring at Graff — drawn not only by the diamonds, but by a serendipity: the sales associate, Jehanne, had a puppy who happened to be the half-brother of Abdel’s Vera, whom they’d met by chance at the St. Tropez airport. The circle felt right. The date would be August 2. The place: a vineyard above Bonporteau Bay, arranged with the help of the team at Althoff Villa Belrose — one table set among the vines, a barrel with champagne and charcuterie, and a photographer disguised as a waiter to capture it all.

That evening, after a morning on the water, they drove beyond the town center into rows of green and gold. At the end of the path, with the bay in view and glasses poured, Colte knelt. He told Abdel that joy had found its definition in him — that their memories already felt like a beginning and he wanted the rest of the chapters, together. Abdel said yes. The ring slid into place. The story, already in motion, turned a page.

Now they bring that story home to Winter Park — to celebrate with the people who have loved them nearby and across an ocean. It is, at heart, a tale of timing and choice, of two lives knit across distance by daily devotion and a shared sense of joie de vivre. And at the center of so many days, their favorite ritual: breakfast together, a small ceremony of its own. The next chapters are unwritten. They’ll write them together — one conversation, one flight, one quiet morning coffee at a time.