26. Matteo
Chapter 26
Matteo
M y visit to Amelia’s office had gone poorly. Her reaction when I kissed her forced me to accept the truth; there was no hope for our relationship. It wouldn’t be easy, but I knew I had to let her go.
Unfortunately, it was one thing to know it and a whole other thing to do it. Letting Amelia go felt simply impossible. Not when she was finally back into my life after years of being apart. How could I let her go now when I’d felt her skin against mine again? How could I let her go when I’d tasted her lips and felt what it was like to have her in my arms again?
It didn’t feel possible, but I didn’t have a choice. Amelia was done with me and I had to accept that. The days dragged out in the wake of that realization. I felt miserable. Time moved but I wasn't moving with it. It was like the world had gone on without me.
I woke up, went to work, ate a meal, and went to sleep but no real thought went into anything I did. It was as if I was moving on autopilot. My brain had taken over because my heart needed time to recover.
I sat through meetings, worked on projects, and did everything else that was expected of me. I was mostly tuned out during all of this but at least I was able to get in done. It was the only way to help take my mind off Amelia. I was making progress. It was small but it was progress all the same.
All my progress evaporated when Nora and Joseph Pierson showed up at my office. For a moment, I thought I was seeing things. I missed Amelia so much that it was manifesting in strange ways.
I massaged my temples and shook my head. When I looked up again, they were still there. Not a hallucination then. I stood up. “Please come in.”
Nora walked into the room with her husband trailing behind her. They took a seat opposite me and I sat down as well. Kayla must be out on her lunch break. That was the only way to explain the lack of warning I received about the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Pierson.
“How can I help you?” I asked, taking extra care to make my voice sound as polite as possible. The last thing I wanted to do was help these people. They were the ones responsible for ruining my relationship with Amelia.
Joseph stared at his wife and Nora stared back. It was as though they both expected the other to say something. Nora made a small gesture with her head and Joseph sighed before saying, “Amelia told us everything.”
Of all the things I expected them to say, this wasn’t one of them. If Amelia told them everything then that meant…
It meant they knew I was the man they made her dump five years ago. My gaze shifted between husband and wife. I could tell from their inability to meet my eye that they did indeed know who I was.
I was surprised by Amelia’s decision to reveal the truth. Why now? Why tell them now when there was nothing between us? I couldn’t make sense of it.
“We know you are the man she was seeing five years ago,” Joseph continued. “The… um… ”
“Construction worker?” I supplied and he nodded. His difficulty saying the word was almost laughable. You would think he was talking about something absolutely deplorable rather than an honest means to make a living.
I would never be ashamed of my humble beginnings. Being a construction worker was the perfect place to start in my journey towards building a successful company.
“Yes. That,” Joseph said. He sucked in a deep breath and sighed deeply. If I didn’t know him any better, I would say he seemed genuinely remorseful. Joseph Pierson didn’t know the meaning of the word.
And yet to my greatest surprise, he said, “We came here to apologize.”
The words sounded strange coming from him. So strange that I turned to his wife, hoping to get an explanation from her. I was shocked to see Joseph’s remorse mirrored on his wife’s features. Had they really come here to make amends?
“What we did all those years ago… ” Nora said, speaking for the first time since she got here. “It was awful. You and Amelia didn’t deserve that.”
I was so shocked by what they were saying that I remained silent as she spoke. “You see we’ve always been overprotective of Amelia. That overprotectiveness doesn’t always manifest itself in the best way. What I’m trying to say is that we can be… controlling.”
My eyebrows shot up. I never imagined Nora Pierson would ever admit she was controlling. “We only want what’s best for her,” she said. “We want her to be with a man who cares about her. A man who will love her and treat her like the princess that she is.”
There was a fond smile on Nora’s lips. Despite my own feelings towards the woman, I had to admit that she clearly loved her daughter.
Nora continued, “I suppose somewhere along the line, we started to value a man’s ability to provide for our daughter rather than his ability to care for her. We cared more about his financial and social status when we should have cared if he loved her. We see now what should have been more important and we’re sorry for not seeing it years ago.”
“We hope you can forgive us,” Joseph added.
Once again, my gaze shifted between husband and wife. I saw the sincerity in their eyes and I sighed. I’d been carrying my resentment towards them for five years. This was my chance to finally unburden myself.
I remembered the famous quote my grandmother often told me when I wasn’t willing to forgive; Holding on to anger is like grasping hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
I’d been holding on to my anger for years and it had burned me from the inside out. It was time to let it go. “I forgive you,” I said and I meant it.
Visible relief flashed over their features. Joseph even cracked a genuine smile. I noticed that Amelia had inherited his smile, but she definitely used it more.
Amelia.
“Where is she?” I found myself asking before I could stop myself.
They didn’t need me to clarify who I was asking about. There was only one woman I wanted to find. “She’s staying with a friend. I believe she said her name is Lisa,” Nora said.
“Do you know her address?”
Nora shook her head. “No, Amelia didn’t give us the address, but she gave us Lisa’s phone number.”
Before I could ask, she reached into her bag and handed me a piece of paper. I took it from her. There was a number scrawled on the paper in what I immediately recognized as Amelia’s handwriting. I lifted my head. “Thank you.”
“Good luck.”
With that, the couple left my office. The door had barely shut on their exit when I dialed Lisa’s number. She picked up on the third ring. “Hello?” A female voice asked.
“Lisa. This is Matteo. I… I have to see Amelia.”
She sighed. “Look I don’t know what happened between you guys, but she’s been so depressed lately. I’m not sure seeing you will be good for her.”
I understood her need to protect her friend but she didn’t understand that I was desperate to see her. “I’m trying to fix things, Lisa. I need to see her so we can work it out. I love her and I can’t live without her.”
It took a bit of persuading but Lisa eventually agreed to help me. We met at a restaurant close to her office and there, she gave me the key to her apartment and her address. The plan was simple. I was going to wait at her house so I could surprise Amelia when she got home.
The hard part was convincing Amelia to come home with me but I would cross that bridge when I got there. Lisa told me she would spend the night at her boyfriend’s apartment, so I didn’t need to return her key until the following day.
Everything was perfect. I just hoped Amelia would forgive me this time.
An hour later, I paced the apartment Amelia had been living in. It was strange but somehow, I could tell which items had been added by her. I picked up the ballerina figurine that sat on the center table in the living room. Amelia used to love ballet. She always said that in another life she would be a ballerina.
She would have been one in this life had her parents not forced her to study business administration. There were many dreams she had to let go of because of her parents. I was one of those dreams.
I set the figurine back on the table just as the door opened. Amelia walked in and her eyes widened when she saw me. “Matteo? How did you- Why are you-” She stumbled over her words before taking a deep breath. “Where is Lisa?”
“Hello to you too,” I said as a small smile graced my lips. She looked just as beautiful as she always did. I wanted to reach for her but I kept my hands to myself as I remembered what happened the last time. We needed to talk first before we did anything else.
“Why are you here, Matteo?”
“Because I miss you, I love you, and I need you to come home with me. I can’t think straight when we’re apart. I want you in my life, Amelia. The penthouse isn’t the same without you there. It’s empty.”
“You have Agnes,” she said as she smiled slightly.
I saw her ability to make jokes as a sign that I was getting to her so I continued. “Please come home. I need you with me. I love you.”
She bit her lip and for a moment, I thought she was going to turn me down again. Then she said, “It might take some time to pack my things.”
I closed the gap between us in a few quick strides. I couldn’t bear to be apart from her anymore. I hugged her tightly before pulling apart so I could kiss her. Amelia placed her hands around my neck and stood on her toes to deepen the kiss.
When we pulled away, I rested my forehead on hers. “I love you,” I said. It was the third time I was telling her that this evening but I didn’t mind. I wanted to say it a thousand more times.
“I love you too,” she said. “And I’m sorry too. I’m sorry for not having the strength to go against my parents back then. I let them come between us and for that, I will always be sorry.”
“That’s okay. I forgive you. Let’s put all of that behind us. Come home with me.”
Amelia moved back into the penthouse that day. From the moment she walked in, it felt like life had returned to the place. Her presence illuminated the dark corners of my life.
I never wanted to lose her again.