Page 2 of Hello Goodbye Amore

Dewey’s phone rang, and he snatched it up off his desk and answered it as though Chase wasn’t there. Using it as a chance to escape, Chase left the huge office to return to his own, letting Dewey talk at someone else for a while.

“How did it go?” Loretta asked as he passed her area.

She was always friendly, but Chase was wary of anything he said to her, not knowing if she was one of Dewey’s pipelines of information.

Loretta had been James’s admin before Dewey was promoted, and Chase had always liked her, but with Dewey’s management style, he couldn’t take any chances.

“Pretty well, I guess,” he lied, and got a look over the top of her glasses, just like she’d done in the old days. “I have a decision to make, that’s all.” He tapped the counter and then returned to his office.

As soon as he closed the door, Chase collapsed into his desk chair, head in his hands, wondering how in the hell he managed to get into these messes.

All he wanted to do was make a living so he could provide for Ricky.

His mother, Elaine, was Chase’s twin sister and his best friend in the whole world.

Chase would have done anything for her, and in the end, after her death in an automobile accident, he had stepped in to raise her son—now his son, Ricky.

This was not the life he had envisioned.

When Elaine first told him of her pregnancy, Chase had pictured himself as the world’s best guncle, taking his future niece or nephew to Disney, giving them drum sets, teaching them about good food, and showing them some of the best parts of life.

And once he had spoiled them rotten, he could take them home to Mother. It was supposed to have been perfect.

What little Elaine had, she’d left to Ricky for his care, but to Chase, in addition to Ricky, she had left her secrets and their shared hurt.

That was something Chase had hoped he would never have to face again.

And now it looked like his work and his and Elaine’s past were destined to come crashing back into Chase’s life.

He could only hope that he didn’t end up as emotional roadkill.

A knock pulled him out of his thoughts.

“I hear you’re going to go to Florence,” Dave said as he came in and closed the door.

Chase wanted to smack the suppressed smugness off the brown-noser’s face.

“I want you to know that….” He looked around.

“Look, I really appreciate you doing this.” He shifted his weight slightly and wrung his hands.

Chase wasn’t sure if he was even aware he was doing it.

“They asked me to go, as I’m sure Dewey told you, and I pled the family.

” He grew more agitated. “Things at home aren’t good right now.

My youngest is having a very difficult time, and we are trying to get him the help he needs, but I can’t do that if I’m over there or if I take the entire family along with me.

” He paled and his breathing grew more rapid.

This was a side of Dave that Chase had never seen.

“I get it.” He understood family difficulties and drama.

Elaine had had plenty of that when their very Catholic parents had learned she was expecting a baby, and when she told them that she wasn’t going to marry her boyfriend at the time, Rodrigo, their mother had practically started sewing scarlet A ’s for her clothes.

Mom was definitely all about the drama. “Your wife and kids have to come first.” Just as Chase would do anything in his power for Ricky.

“Just so you know, I was the one who suggested that they send you instead. You’ve done good work on this, really solid out-of-the-box thinking, and that’s why we’ve made the progress we have.” Dave’s praise seemed genuine.

“I haven’t agreed to go yet,” Chase told him.

Dave sat down in one of the office chairs.

“You know that once you say no, they stop asking. I’m aware that by turning this down I’ve gotten a black mark with Dewey and some others no matter what happens.

But I can’t be away from my family for all those months.

My oldest will be a senior, and pulling him out of school like that…

.” He shook his head. Chase would almost feel sorry for him if he weren’t so sure that the entire time Chase was gone, Dave would be cornering the market for butt polish.

“He plays football, and he’s very good. Colleges are looking at him, and that would end if I took them away.

” His leg bounced as he sat, nerves getting the best of him.

“You’ll be doing the company, me, Dewey, and quite frankly, yourself a favor by going and making this a success. ”

Chase didn’t agree to anything. Fear warred with the chance to give Ricky more of the special things in life. “I really have to think about it,” he said. He knew the only thing holding him back was fear over Ricky… and the chance of seeing Antonello again.

Antonello Glorioso had been the third side in a close friendship triangle.

Elaine, Antonello, and Chase had been inseparable through four years of college.

He and Elaine met Antonello first in freshman English and then chemistry.

Since there were an odd number of students in the class, the three of them ended up as lab partners, and their friendship grew from there.

The last two years of college, all three of them had shared an apartment.

It was like Antonello had joined their twin fraternity, until hormones and God knows what else got in the way.

Chase developed feelings for Antonello, with his dark eyes, long wavy hair, and body worth sculpting in stone.

Hell, there were times when he thought a breeze would blow up every time Antonello stepped outside, just to fluff that hair.

At one point, Chase thought Antonello might reciprocate those feelings, but Antonello and Elaine had started dating, and the chance was just too great to take.

Chase kept his feelings to himself because his sister seemed happy—deliriously so—and Chase didn’t want to get in the way.

The three of them had talked about starting their own business and moving to a larger place to start building their lives.

A makeshift family of sorts. Then, right after graduation, Antonello announced that he was returning to the Glorioso family business in Florence, and that was the last either of them heard from him.

Elaine was angry and hurt. Chase had offered to hunt Antonello down and fill his perfect ass full of grapeshot for lying to them and killing their dreams. “He won’t be able to sit down for a month at least. I promise. ”

She had laughed, thanked him, and then hugged him tightly. After that, they never mentioned Antonello again, except in the context of a curse or as an insult. And now it looked like he was being thrust back into his path.

“Don’t take too long.” Dave leaned forward.

“This is a real opportunity, and you know as well as I do that they don’t last very long or come around that often.

Take it. Spend the summer with your son in one of the world’s grandest cities.

It won’t be all work all the time. You can go to Rome or Venice for a weekend.

And if I may offer you some advice, make sure they pay for you being over there.

You’ll need a house close to the center of town where you’ll be working, and to care for your son.

If you decide to do it, make sure you get everything you want and get it in writing.

” Clearly this was a man who knew Dewey well.

Chase had thought the same thing, but it was good that Dave agreed.

“School is out in a few weeks,” Chase said, and realized that as much as he feared going, he was already thinking he didn’t have much choice.

And maybe Dave was right—he should make the best of it.

Chase was no longer a college student, and just because he would be working with Antonello’s family’s firm didn’t mean he would ever come in contact with any of the family.

Hell, maybe he could kick Antonello’s butt halfway across the Arno River just for old times’ sake.

With all that hair, he might even look like a drowned Afghan hound.

“I suppose that as long as they are willing to wait until school is out for Ricky….”

Dave nodded slowly. “Just do what’s right for you and your son. Five months is a relatively short period of time, and the benefits of this kind of assignment could last much longer than that for you and your family.” He stood and opened the door, then stepped out.

Chase sighed and shook his head. All fear and worry about the past aside, the real ordeal was going to be keeping the past where it belonged.