“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.
Chapter 8
“THAT WASso cool,” Ricky said as he practically danced along, holding Chase’s hand as they waded through the throngs of people who now filled the square. “I could see everything.” He grinned as Antonello turned to Chase, who looked back.
“I’m sorry. If I had known you didn’t like heights, I….”
“Once I got used to being up there, it wasn’t so bad, and the view is amazing,” Chase said, making Antonello wonder what he had done. Chase had turned off on the way down, and Antonello hadn’t known what to say. Maybe he’d pushed too hard and should have offered to take Ricky up and let Chase stay below.
“Can we get gelato?” Ricky asked.
“It’s too early, and you only had toast and juice at home.” He checked the time as the bell in the tower began chiming ten.
“I know just the place if you’re hungry,” Antonello offered, hoping Chase would accept. “It’s just over there.” He led them away from the square and down a side street to a small café. They sat down, and a woman came out, smiling.
“It’s about time you came to see me,” she chided lightly in Italian. “Who are your friends?”
Antonello switched to English. “This is Chase and his son, Ricky. I went to school in America with him, and he’s now working with us for a few months. This is Isabella, and these two are her sons, Gerardo and Santo.” The two boys, slightly older than Ricky, smiled before hurrying down the street with a ball.
“Do you want to go too?” she asked Ricky and called after the boys.
“Can I?” Ricky asked.
“They won’t go far,” Isabella explained, and Chase nodded. Ricky raced off, and the boys began some sort of game with the ball that looked a little like three-person soccer.
“It seems some things transcend language,” Chase said as all three of them played and laughed a ways away. “I want him to make new friends.”
“They are good boys, and they learn English in school,” Isabella told Chase. “They figure it out.” She smiled and took their orders for coffee before returning inside.
“What has you so uptight, as we used to say?” Antonello asked.
