Page 17 of Hello Goodbye Amore

CHASE SAT in the office he was using, composing an email to his ridiculous boss, who was now demanding daily updates on even the smallest things.

The past two weeks had been busy, but mostly with smaller tasks and annoying busywork.

It had also been two weeks spending time with Antonello and enjoying every minute, even if he wondered if he should allow himself to be happy about it.

And two weeks of wondering how no one seemed to see the resemblance between Ricky and Antonello.

His friends Isabella and Paolo hadn’t seemed to, and others they met didn’t comment.

Chase was beginning to think it was his imagination.

Maybe he was seeing things that weren’t there, his mind filling in what it now expected.

He didn’t know. When he’d first seen Ricky and Antonello together, the revelation had struck him so hard that he had been so damned sure. But maybe he’d been wrong and stupid for worrying about it so much. No one else saw it. Maybe it was just him.

“The first set of prototypes have been sent to your office for testing,” Antonello said after knocking on the door between their offices and striding inside with that confident air that made him seem taller and his eyes just a little brighter.

Chase had seen few things hotter than a confident Antonello.

“I thought they weren’t supposed to be ready for another week.

” Chase looked up from his email to Dewey.

He had always known his boss wasn’t the brightest bulb on the string, but he was at least supposed to be qualified and knowledgeable about the company’s products.

Now the more Chase worked with him, the more certain he was that Dewey had been skating by for years.

“It wasn’t. But we had a delay in another project, so I put the guys to work on this one and they got it done.

All the settings have been saved, so as long as we get approval, we can move into initial production.

Our people here are testing as well to make sure the pieces supplied meet the specifications, but I figured your team would want to do their own analysis. ”

Chase grinned and picked up the phone. It was late in the day, so Dave should be in the office back home.

“Hey, some initial prototypes are on the way for you and the team to look at. So you’ll need to watch for them.

” He looked at Antonello, who mouthed Dave’s name.

Perfect. “I want to stress that testing hasn’t been done here yet, but they figured you would want to look them over as well. ”

“That’s great.” Dave lowered his voice. “I’ll keep my mouth shut and let you give the boss the heads-up.” That was a change. Dave never referred to Dewey as boss . Something was going on. “You deserve to give him the good news.”

“Thanks. I’m just sending him his daily update now.”

“Good. Maybe that will get him off the warpath,” Dave groused.

“I see.” Chase pulled the phone away and spoke softly to Antonello. “Can I come to your office in a little while?”

Antonello nodded and left the room.

“What’s going on?” he asked Dave.

Dave paused, and Chase heard a door close.

“Apparently Dewey’s boss is starting to question Dewey’s abilities, and this project is his final lifeline.

If it goes south…. Well, you know, and he’s been awful to everyone.

Instead of getting the team to pull together, he’s yanking and pulling at everyone, and they’re feeling the pressure.

And I suspect some of his shit is going to be coming your way. So watch out and tread carefully.”

Just what he needed. “Thanks.”

“I’m serious. He is going to see this project as his possible savior and a huge feather in his cap, so expect him to want to know and try to understand every detail, even if he isn’t capable of it.

” Damn, Dave rarely spoke this bluntly. Chase had always thought Dewey and Dave were close, but it seemed he was wrong.

Either that or the scales had fallen from Dave’s eyes.

In any event, he had no intention of saying a thing in case the wind changed.

“I got it. I need to make a few more calls before the end of business here. Call me when the package arrives.”

Dave agreed and ended the call.

Chase took a deep breath and called Dewey.

“What? You better not have a problem,” Dewey growled.

“The first prototypes have been readied and will go out tomorrow. Dave is expecting them and will get them over to our team. They had a schedule change and were able to get a small initial run completed. Glorioso will be testing along with us.”

“Good. That’s good.” He paused. “I want you to go through all your schedules and tighten them up. If this came in early, then there must be slack in other places.”

“Dewey, we got this early only because another Glorioso client postponed their delivery by a week. We took their slot, and they’ll take ours. The rest of the schedule isn’t fluid.” He stood and pulled open the connecting door to Antonello’s office, never so happy for a door like that in his life.

“Is that what they said?” Dewey snapped.

“Hold on a minute.” He covered the phone. “My boss is trying to push everything up because of the early delivery. I need you to explain that nothing else can shift.”

Antonello stood and came into his office and shut the door. “No problem.”

“Dewey, I’m putting you on speaker.” He shifted the phone. “I’m here with Antonello Glorioso.”

“Good day, Dewey,” Antonello said formally.

“We have a very tight schedule for our production. It is committed for months in advance. A longtime customer asked if it would be possible for us to delay production for a week because of other supply issues on their end, so we upped the initial work for your prototypes. They will go out tomorrow.” Antonello was calm and totally businesslike.

“What about the rest of the schedule?”

“That is unaffected. This will simply give our teams more time for testing and verification. Final approval must be complete by the date already specified.”

“But I want to move the timeline forward,” Dewey snapped.

“We will not be able to do that,” Antonello said levelly, which had to drive Dewey up a tree.

He hated for anyone to tell him no. “Timelines and detail schedules were already agreed upon and signed off… by you. We intend to stick with them, and there is little we can do unless something unforeseen arises. And if it does, I will be sure to let Chase know right away.” Antonello stood.

“I have a meeting in ten minutes. I hope you have a good rest of your day.” He left the office, closing the door, and Chase picked up the phone.

“That guy is a real piece of work. What would his boss say about his attitude?”

Chase smiled. “You mean his father?” He loved asking that question. “Antonello is the heir to the company and all his family’s businesses, so I don’t think we can go any farther up the ladder.”

Dewey was silent for a few minutes. “You need to remember that you work for us and not them. We need to try to push this project up and make it a success.”

Chase shook his head. “The only way that can happen is if we get our verification and testing done early and sign off on it. Then, if they have an opening, we can get the next set of parts, build devices, and submit them to the FDA for testing. After that, we can go to the trials. This is a long process. You know that. So we take it one step at a time, make sure it’s right and successful, and then we can move on.

” He kept his tone soft and his mounting frustration out of it.

“Any shortcuts could endanger the entire project.” This seemed rote.

Dewey knew all of this. This kind of project took years, not days or months.

The FDA worked on its own timeline, and yet Dewey was worried about pushing up the timeline of a single part by a few weeks.

“I need things to happen faster,” Dewey pressed.

Chase remained quiet. There was nothing more he could do, and in situations like this, it was best to keep quiet, not promise anything, and let Dewey work out his own issues.

Dave was right—there was something going on, but it had nothing to do with them.

“Is there anything else?” He really wanted to get the hell off the phone.

“No.” Dewey held on, but Chase ended the call, standing and stretching his arms over his head. He sighed and stretched again before returning to his email. He reviewed it and sent it to Dewey before closing his laptop.

“Done for the day?” Antonello asked as he stepped inside.

“Yeah. Thank God. I’m tired, and my boss can wear me out faster than anyone I ever met.”

“The guy is a dick,” Antonello said. “Why would I rearrange production schedules and impact dozens of clients all because he wants something a little faster? The arrogance.” He put his hands on his hips. “Is that an American thing?”

“It’s a Dewey thing. And yes, it’s an American thing to a degree.

Everyone likes to think that they’re more important, and they press and push to see just how important they are.

It’s like Ricky. I set boundaries, and he pushes against them sometimes.

We are taught to do that, and in business, it’s something we do all the damned time to get an edge or make ourselves look good. ”

“It’s not how we do business here.”

“I know that,” Chase agreed. “And he’ll accept that the time frame can’t change, but he’ll bluster and growl a little in order to try to make himself look good. I pretty much ignore it.” His phone chimed with a message, and he checked it.

“The dick?” Antonello asked, and Chase chuckled as he shook his head.