Page 14 of Hello Goodbye Amore

“Not yet.” He held out his hand, and Ricky took it. Then they went to the kitchen, where he got Ricky something quick to eat and gave him a glass of juice. Chase was too curious to eat, but Ricky ate his grapes and toast, drinking the last of his juice as the bell rang.

“He’s here!” Ricky hurried to the door as Chase set the dishes in the sink. “I’m ready, Guncle Daddy,” he sang. “Can we go?”

“Yes.” He was getting excited as well and took Ricky’s hand, meeting Antonello at the door. They left, and he locked up on the way out before they stepped into the quiet street, which got busier as they approached the center of the historic city.

“Where are we going?” Ricky asked, practically dancing with excitement.

Antonello pointed upward. “There.” Chase followed where he was pointing to the top of the cathedral.

Ricky clapped his hands as he shouted with glee. “Really? All the way to the top?”

“All the way up there.” He smiled. “I have a friend who works there, and he is going to get us in before they open.” Antonello’s happy gaze shifted to Chase. “Sorry for the fast notice. Tourists go up starting at nine, so we had to get here quickly.”

Chase looked upward for a moment, his belly churning at the thought of being that far off the ground. He didn’t want to think about it too much. Just the idea made him cold. But dammit, Ricky wanted to go so bad, and Chase wasn’t going to tell him no because of his own fear of heights.

“Do we go in there?” Ricky asked as they passed the front door of the building, where people were already lined up to get inside.

“Nope. It’s over here,” Antonello said, leading them around to the side, where a shorter line had formed. Antonello led them right to the front and spoke to the man in Italian. He nodded and opened the door, and the three of them went inside. “There are lots of stairs.”

“I can do it, and so can Daddy,” Ricky said. “I’ll help you if your legs are tired.”

Chase smiled and took Ricky’s hand. “We’ll do it together,” he said with more confidence than he felt as they took the first steps into a gray stone stairway that circled upward and back around on itself.

“These stairs were put in way back when the building was built, over five hundred years ago. So be careful. They have worn over the centuries after thousands of people have used them,” Antonello explained.

It was enclosed, and some of Chase’s worry slipped away as they came to a small room. “Is this it?”

“This is the top of the outside wall.” Antonello led them inward to more steps, and they continued their upward trek before going through another door and stepping out onto an interior walkway at the base of the dome. Chase took one look down and froze solid.

“Daddy?” Ricky asked around the edge of his hearing.

“Chase, it’s okay. Look up. Those paintings on the dome are masterpieces, and you get to see them up close.” He lifted his gaze up into the dome just over his head. “Take my hand. We just have to get to that next door.”

He nodded, getting Ricky in front of him.

Antonello stayed behind him, holding his other hand.

Chase squeezed it and took his first step, concentrating on the walkway and the paintings above him rather than the long way down with death waiting at the bottom.

Fuck, he hated heights, and he couldn’t help thinking about what would happen if he fell.

“Daddy, it’s so pretty up here,” Ricky said as he peered over the railing. “I love it. All the seats and the pretty floor.”

“Just keep going,” Chase managed to say without shouting, even though he wanted to scream at Antonello to get him out of there.

Still, he kept moving forward until they got to the next doorway.

He stepped through into yet another passage with stairs that led around the side of the dome.

And the damned things went higher. Chase took a deep breath, squeezed Antonello’s hand tightly, and took the first step.

“We’re between the inner and outer domes.

The outer one is what you see from the outside, and the one inside has the paintings you looked at.

” Antonello stopped. “See the brick pattern? That’s part of what makes it stay up and why it’s strong.

” He patted the wall. “You’re seeing Renaissance workmanship right in front of your eyes.

” They continued upward and came to a stop where a man stood.

“Watch your step as you go up, and take it slow.” Ricky went right up the steps that curved along the top of the dome.

Chase went after him, breathing steadily as he climbed, with Antonello behind him.

He forced himself to go upward until he passed through a door in the ceiling and out into fresh air and what might as well have been the fiery pits of hell, six hundred feet in the air.

Chase took Ricky’s hand, backed up against the side of the lantern at the very top of the dome, and stood there, refusing to move.

“Look how pretty it is,” Ricky said and then gasped. “There’s the Ponty bridge, and, oh look, all those people down there.” He waved and stepped forward.

“It’s all right,” Antonello said softly from next to him. “You should have told me.”

“I’ll be okay,” Chase said, forcing air into his lungs and opening his eyes. The initial panic subsided, and he looked from side to side, the city laid out below. “Would you take Ricky so he can see everything? I’ll stay right here.”

“Hey, it’s okay. Just give yourself a few minutes.

This dome and the floor you’re standing on have been here, standing tall, for over five hundred years.

” He entwined his fingers with Chase’s, and slowly, the realization that they were holding hands and how good it felt pressed forward in his mind, diluting his fear.

The tightness in his chest faded away, and Chase turned to Antonello, bathed in reassurance from those amazingly deep eyes.

“Nothing is going to happen to you. I promise.” He drew closer, and Chase nodded, concentrating on Antonello’s touch.

For a moment, Chase forgot where he was, his mind centered on the touch of Antonello’s hand and the way their legs brushed together. Ricky held his other hand. “Daddy, are you gonna woof?”

Chase smiled and even chuckled. “No. I’m not.”

“Then let’s go. There’s lots to see.” He tugged lightly at his hand.

“Just give me another minute.” The floor wasn’t falling from under him, and Antonello had his hand, and whenever he opened his eyes, the amazing city spread out below, and his old friend was right there, steadying him.

“See the ring of stone under your feet? You don’t need to step off that. Just slowly move around and Ricky can see everything.” Antonello slowly guided them around the lantern. Ricky chattered on about everything he was seeing, and Chase smiled, loving the happiness in his voice.

“There’s where we live. Look, Daddy,” Ricky cried with delight, and Chase let himself follow to where he pointed.

“Yup. That’s our building, and there’s the Pitti Palace that we visited. And the Palazzo Vecchio.”

“We can go there sometime if you want. It has hidden passages in the walls that we can go through,” Antonello told Ricky, who vibrated with excitement.

“There’s even a whole hidden room that no one knew about for a very long time.

When they found it, there was a table and chairs, but all the cloth had disintegrated where it sat because no one had been inside for hundreds of years. ”

“Can we go? Now?” Ricky asked.

“How about we enjoy the view from up here, and then we can get something to eat once my feet are back on solid ground.” Chase followed Antonello and Ricky as they made their way all the way around.

Others joined them on the cupola as the first group of tourists reached the top, their voices jarring against the quiet of just the wind and Ricky’s laughter.

“Should we go down?” Chase asked once they returned to where they started.

“Can we get a picture?” Antonello asked.

“Yeah, Daddy,” Ricky said, standing next to him. Antonello pulled out his phone, and Chase smiled for the camera.

“Can you take one of your daddy and me?” Antonello asked, and Ricky grinned.

“Yes!”

Chase unlocked his phone and brought up the camera, then handed it to Ricky. Then Antonello lightly tugged him away from the wall so they stood together.

“The view is stunning,” Antonello said, and Chase realized he was looking right at him.

His intense gaze never wavered as his lips curled upward.

For a second Antonello leaned closer, and Chase wondered if he was going to close the distance between them right there at what felt like the top of the world.

“And I mean it,” Antonello added as Ricky took the pictures and then lowered the phone.

Chase didn’t move, lost in a spell he had dreamed of long ago but never thought could possibly come about.

He had always wondered if Antonello had been flirting with him in college, and all these years later, he had a definitive answer.

The desire in his eyes shone brightly, and Chase completely forgot where he was, lost in a gaze he had longed for.

“Are you going to kiss? If you do, I’ll look away, because that’s yucky.”

Chase groaned, and Antonello backed away, the moment broken. Antonello cleared his throat. “You should give your daddy back his phone and we can go back down.”

Chase nodded, and once he had stowed his phone, one of the attendants helped him down through the door and over the dome.

Once he was on the walkway, he held Ricky’s hand, and they went back down the way they came until they reached the walkway inside the dome.

They made their way to the far side of the cathedral and finally down two more winding staircases to the ground, with Antonello silent the entire way, and Chase wondering what he should do to regain the surprising ease he had felt back at the top.