Page 8 of Hello Goodbye Amore
“I don’t think you’re old enough,” Chase said as Antonello waved. Ricky waved back and then broke away from his dad and ran up to Antonello. “Do they allow kids up there?”
“Ricky…,” Chase scolded as he approached.
“I’m sorry. Once he gets something in his mind, he gets pretty stubborn.
” He rolled his eyes just like he used to in college.
“I have no idea where he gets that from.” He smiled once more.
“He wants to climb the dome, but I think he’s probably too young.
” Chase held out his hand, and Ricky took it, looking up at Antonello like he was some sort of savior and the kid’s very last hope. It was adorable.
“You have to have a time slot, and they are very hard to get,” Antonello said. “And it’s a lot of stairs, like over four hundred.”
Ricky’s mouth hung open.
“How about we get gelato instead?” Chase was clearly trying to divert the kid.
Antonello decided to play into the redirection.
“I know the best place,” he offered and then paused, because he had allowed to let himself get excited at the prospect of spending a little more time with Chase, and he hadn’t been asked.
“It’s around the far side of the Duomo and then a block down the street next to the museum.
You can’t miss it, and they make all their own, so it’s really good.
” He smiled and took a step back. Having Chase here was getting into his head, and he needed to stop that.
They had agreed to work together and nothing more.
That was all Chase wanted. Not that Antonello could blame him after how he had treated him and his sister after college.
“You two have fun.” His original intention had been to get himself an afternoon pastry, but he wasn’t in the mood any longer.
He checked the time and tried to remember if he had eaten lunch and decided what he truly needed was something a little more substantial than pastry.
“Mr. Nello, Mr. Nello.” Ricky ran around people before barreling into him. “You come too.”
“Where is…?” Before he could finish his sentence, Chase hurried up.
“Don’t run away like that,” Chase scolded. “Remember the bad man from earlier?” Ricky’s expression immediately grew serious, and he nodded. “Just stay with me.”
“But Guncle Daddy, Mr. Nello needs ice cream too. I can tell.” He said it with such conviction that Chase seemed to cave in.
“I’m sure you have plenty to do,” Chase said softly.
“But he needs it,” Ricky said.
Chase scooped up the boy, twirling him around to fits of laughter. “Oh, does he really? Or is that your way of saying that you want gelato?” Chase ticked Ricky until he squirmed, laughter following more laughter. Chase stopped his tickling and Ricky settled in his arms, his smile huge.
“I want Mr. Nello to come with us,” Ricky said, and Antonello nodded and ended up leading the way to the best gelato in Florence.
Ricky looked over the case with his mouth open while Chase tried to help him figure out what he wanted. Antonello got a combination of chocolate and pistachio. “Do you still like mango?” he asked Chase quietly, getting a raised eyebrow in return before Chase ordered exactly that.
“How did you remember that?” Chase asked.
Antonello shrugged to avoid saying that he remembered everything about their time together.
Those years were some of the happiest he’d ever had.
Chase grabbed some napkins, and once Ricky chose raspberry and chocolate, they sat down at one of the tables outside the door, watching as half the tourist world walked past.
“This is part of what I love about living here,” Antonello said as he waved to family friends as they walked arm in arm down the street the way they had every evening for decades.
“There’s the familiar mixed with the ever-changing.
It’s like going to the museums here and seeing things that have been around for centuries, and yet a few miles away from the river are galleries featuring new artists with new ways of expressing themselves. It’s all right here.” He sat back.
“I never thought of it that way.” Chase lightly wiped Ricky’s fingers with a napkin. Then he set the napkin aside and finished his gelato. “Everything I’ve seen of the city is so vibrant, but historic and….”
“That may be true. My family has a long history here, and part of what we do is steeped in that, like the necklace that Ricky picked out this afternoon. Those designs have been around for hundreds of years. Some of them date to the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent. But underneath those designs are modern methods for manipulating the metals. And then on top of that we’ve built a whole new business that fully exists in the modern world, but like everything else rests on the foundations laid hundreds of years ago.
” He finished his gelato and put the cup in the trash.
“Daddy,” Ricky said, pulling their attention.
“Was that good?” Chase asked, and Ricky nodded. Chase wiped his hands again and gave Ricky a clean napkin to wipe his face. “Are you happy?”
Ricky turned, looking around, and then pointed. “Can we go up there now?”
Antonello chuckled as Chase rolled his eyes.
“Not now,” Chase said gently. “You and I are going to be here for a while, and there will be plenty of time for us to do everything. Okay?” He shifted Ricky onto his lap as he finished his gelato. Then Chase and Ricky got up, with Ricky holding Chase’s hand.
“We should get home. I’m sure you have things you need to do, and I have plenty that I have to do before Monday. We can go through the detailed specifications for the part to make sure everything is exactly as it should be before we begin any sort of production.”
In an instant, Antonello was reminded that his relationship with Chase was strictly business. Anything more was foolish, and he needed to keep that in mind. “Have a great rest of the weekend, and I’ll see you Monday.” Antonello stayed seated as Chase and Ricky walked back toward the Duomo.
“Ciao, bello, Mr. Nello,” Ricky cried as he turned around.
Antonello waved, and Ricky returned it before continuing away with Chase.
It was so easy to get sucked into the past and feelings he should have buried a long time ago.
Still, as much as he told himself that he wasn’t going to do it, Antonello watched them go, then finally stood to throw away the last of the trash once they had turned the corner and were out of sight.
He debated going home, but he headed to the office instead.
He had nothing else to do, and if Chase was determined to be uber-prepared, he was damned well going to do the same.