Page 3 of Hello Goodbye Amore

“Ciao, Paolo….”

“Are you coming out tonight?” Paolo asked in Italian, sounding excited.

“Business,” Antonello said, switching to English because he knew he needed to get the language in his head and because Paolo loved to “practice.” He loved “English” girls, which to him meant just about anyone who spoke English and had blond hair. Paolo definitely had a type. “My father made an appointment for me this evening that I’m going to be late for.”

“Blow them up and come out with us,” Paolo told him.

“Off, blow them off, and you know I can’t,” Antonello said with a smile. Sometimes he swore Paolo messed up the sayings on purpose. It never failed to make the ladies he was interested in laugh, and then they fell for his bedroom eyes and rugged, dark looks. “This meeting is important, and I have to go.”

“Okay. I go to have all the fun for you. Ciao.” Paolo rang off. He really needed to remember to stick to Italian.

Antonello checked that he looked okay before leaving his family home and walking the few blocks through the center ofthe historic city. The buzz of people as they strolled the cobbled streets, the scent of Florentine beef, pizza, and fresh pasta, all of it so familiar he could close his eyes and still make his way. And yet there had been a time, years ago, when he was in college, that he had thought his happiness was elsewhere. He’d known it then as surely as he knew the famous dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. But that wasn’t to be. His family had needed him, and he returned because it had been his duty.

His father had needed help cleaning up Antonello’s cousin Lorenzo’s mess. Antonello shuddered as he thought of his cousin. Some men, like his father, turned what they touched to gold. Lorenzo’s touch turned gold into horse droppings, great big stinking piles of them.

The decision to return home had been a fast and agonizing one, but in the end, he had chosen his family responsibilities over his heart and the life he could have had. Not that his parents would ever have accepted him being in love with an American. His feelings had been so chaotic and twisted back then. Antonello had been so confused, and he’d thought returning to the familiar world he’d always known would help clear things up, but it hadn’t. He’d known how he should act, and almost seven years ago he’d done so, because that was what his family would expect. Antonello had loved Elaine, and it had nearly killed him to leave the best friends he’d ever had. But if he were honest with himself, his heart had been set in another direction, and his main regret in life was losing Chase. Not that Chase or anyone had ever known or would ever know about any of it. His father and mother would never accept a finocchio for a son.

Not that any of that mattered now. All of that was in the past, and he pushed those thoughts away. They did him no good. He had made his choice, and that was it. Still, when he was alone, he sometimes wondered what could have been if he had chosen differently.

Antonello arrived at the hotel and went inside. He followed the signs in the lobby to the hotel restaurant, where he spoke softly with the hostess. She led him to a table where a man stood, his mouth hanging open as Antonello approached. It took him a few seconds before he recognized Chase.

“They said they were sending someone to meet with me. I didn’t expect you.” Chase’s gaze grew hard as he sat back down.

Antonello had often wondered what he’d say to his old friend if he saw him again, but he honestly never expected to, and now here he was sitting in this restaurant. Antonello was at a loss for words. He pulled out a chair and sat down so he didn’t make a scene. “My father said I was to meet the Smithson Biomedical representative here.” God, he hoped there was some mistake and Chase just happened to be in town. But the fates were stone-cold bitches, and there was no way he was going to be that lucky.

“That would be me,” Chase said stiffly, his entire posture rigid like he was ready to bolt out of the restaurant at any moment. “Do they usually send the son of the owner to meet with company representatives? Maybe you could be good enough to let my main contact know that I’m here and I’ll work with them. That would probably be best.” Chase drank some of his water, turning his gaze toward the exit. Then his expression shifted slightly, as though he had made a decision. “Please excuse me.” He set his napkin on the table and stood, nearly knocking over the table in the tight space. The water almost ended up in Antonello’s lap.

“Chase,” Antonello said before he was out of earshot. “Please sit back down.” Chase stood in place, looking toward the exit and then at the still-vibrating table before slowly returning. “I am your contact here. My father feels this relationship with your company is important enough that he’s asked me to handle things from our end.”

Chase drew his lips into a line, tension washing over him. Antonello motioned to the chair, and Chase slowly sat back down. “If that’s true, then tell him that he needs to assign someone else. He is the boss, apparently. He can do that.” Anger and hurt warred behind the eyes Antonello remembered so well and had seen in his dreams when he was particularly tired and his defenses got low. Chase crossed his arms in front of his chest, and for a second he seemed almost petulant. Antonello suppressed a smile for fear he’d get either the water or the antipasti in his lap.

“I can’t do that,” Antonello said as a server brought menus and refilled their glasses from the bottle of water on the table before silently leaving then alone once again.

“Why not? Are you afraid he’ll be hurt or maybe heartbroken?” Chase hissed just loud enough for him to hear. “Maybe he’ll learn just the kind of man his son is.” Damn—bald, cold hatred flashed in Chase’s eyes, and then it was gone. But what Antonello had seen was chilling, given the fact that he would never have expected the Chase he had known back in college to be capable of such darkness.

“Things were different then,” Antonello tried to explain. “There were things I had to do, commitments that I needed to fulfill.” Damn, how did he say that leaving had nearly ripped him apart? Not that it mattered after these years. “I know I left quickly, but I had to.” The words left an ashen taste in his mouth, but the complex relationships that governed the way his family and the firm they owned ran were something outsiders just didn’t understand. “And that was years ago,” he added as gently as he could.

“It doesn’t matter. You hurt me, and you crushed Elaine’s hopes. We thought you were our friend—we’d even made plans to start a business together—and then poof, you’re gone.” He shook his head. “It took months after you left us high and dryto unravel the business arrangements we’d already made. You didn’t even bother to respond when she died.”

Antonello gasped, his eyes widening, the world rocking a little around him. “Elaine is gone?” His throat tightened and he reached for his glass, but when he tried to take a drink, he nearly choked on it. “Believe me, I didn’t know.”

“I sent messages to the email address I had and texted you, but everything went unanswered,” Chase said. “I just assumed that you didn’t care any longer. After all, you just left with no word, nothing afterwards.”

Antonello heaved a huge breath and tried to process what he’d been told. “When did it happen? How? Were you there?”

“She died in November the year after you left. There was something in her brain that had been there since the day she and I were born. The doctors said it could have happened at any time, but it occurred when she was driving home from work.” His expression grew hard, and then he lowered his gaze. “As for the accident, I was at work and couldn’t be there with her. She died alone by the side of the road before help could reach her.” Chase drank some more water, and when he lifted his head once again, the pain was still present in his eyes.

Antonello swallowed hard and tried to process that one of the dearest friends he had ever had was now gone. His biggest regret had been leaving Elaine and Chase. But he’d had little choice in it. To have stayed would have meant turning his back on his family and their future. As much as it had hurt at the time, it had been the only decision he could make. But that didn’t change the fact that Elaine was gone and he hadn’t been there for her. Nor the fact that Chase seemed to hate him for all of it. Not that what had happened was his fault. But it seemed his leaving had had repercussions beyond what he had ever considered. “And you tried to contact me?”

“Yes, of course I did. But I never got a response. I texted and called, but eventually the number was out of service. The only email address I had was the one you used through the university, but that was closed after you left school. I also sent a letter to an address here in Florence. I knew it would take time to reach you. I never got a response of any type, and after the way you left, I figured you just didn’t care.”

“Well, I did, and I never got any of it,” Antonello said.

Chase shook his head slowly. “Then you have a lousy way of showing it. You knew how to get in touch with us, but you never did. You left town, and presto….” He waved his hands through the air like he was performing an invisible magic trick. “It was like you dropped off the face of the earth. No cards, calls, texts… nothing.” Chase straightened the napkin on his lap. “But as you said, that was years ago.” He turned when the server approached and placed his order. The food was very traditionally Florentine, and Antonello ordered without looking. He knew what was good.

Antonello needed something to talk about since it seemed Chase was at least going to stay to eat. “How long have you been with Smithson?” That seemed like a safe topic of conversation. Obviously the past was a minefield of epic proportions.

“I was hired three months out of college. They were a medium-sized firm then, and I knew I was taking a chance, but the job offers hadn’t rolled in. I jumped at the job and have had the chance to work on some very interesting projects. We’ve grown a lot in that time, and I’ve moved up in the ranks.” Those eyes Antonello remembered so vividly seemed to take in everything. So inquisitive, with a light shining behind them that Antonello had always found attractive.

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