“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 becausehe 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.
“Bianca asking what time I expect to be home.” He sighed, remembering that he needed to speak with her about how long he expected to stay. Chase hoped they could work out an arrangement so she could look after Ricky for the rest of his time here. Another message came in asking if it was okay to make Ricky some dinner. Chase messaged that it was, realizing how late it had gotten. He needed to get going. “I’ll see you this weekend,” he said softly.
Antonello nodded. “We can meet and review the timeline again on Monday so you can tell your boss. I doubt there is any room, but we will see.” He lingered for a few seconds, his gaze holding Chase spellbound for no reason other than the fact that he could.
“THANK YOU,Bianca,” Chase said an hour later as he saw her to the door. They had negotiated a deal where she would look after Ricky while he was at work for the rest of their stay. She seemedpleased, and Chase was happy. He was pretty sure Ricky would be too. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Ciao, Mr. Chase,” she said and closed the door after she left.
Ricky was already in his pajamas, and Chase read him a story and tucked him into bed before poking around the tiny kitchen area for something to eat. He found nothing and was about to run out to the restaurant next door to get something to go when a knock sounded on the door.
He wondered if Bianca had forgotten something and opened the door to Antonello with a bag in hand. “I bet you forgot to go to the market,” Antonello told him.
“How did you know?” Chase stepped back.
“You’ve been working late.” He stepped inside. “Isabella made some things for us, and I figured your cupboards would be bare.”
“They definitely are.” Chase cleared the small table of papers and set them aside as Antonello pulled a container of wide pasta with a thick meaty sauce out of the bag, along with bread, cheese, and a bottle of wine. Chase got glasses and plates, and they sat down to a delectable feast for the senses. “Oh God,” Chase moaned around the first bite.
Antonello smiled and popped the cork on the bottle before pouring glasses for each of them. “I thought you would like it.”
“Didn’t you have plans? What about your parents? The family—won’t they miss you?”
Antonello sniffed the wine and then sipped. “They have friends for dinner tonight, so I’m on my own. I could have joined them, but I don’t want my mother and the other women to decide whose daughter to try to fix me up with next.” He smiled. “I’m a coward, but I refuse to date someone and get her hopes up when I have no intention of going forward. I won’t do that to anyone.”
Chase swallowed his sip of the amazingly light and fruity wine. It was smooth and crisp. “You can’t avoid it forever.”
Those incredibly deep brown eyes met Chase’s gaze, and he set down his glass. “I won’t lie or hurt someone like that. Not again. I want to be happy, and I deserve that. Saddling some girl with a man who….” Chase could hear the words catch in his throat. “My family will be so upset when they find out. I don’t know what my father will do, but my mother will go into full mourning like I died or something. Sometimes I swear she could out-drama a drag queen.” He grinned.
