24. Valerie
Chapter twenty-four
Valerie
M amá must be looking out for me, because Ambrose leaves not too long after our argument, and I can relax for what's left of my day.
The entire morning has been an absolute catastrophe.
Firstly, my father's doctor arrived late, which almost meant that the entire surgery would have to be rescheduled. Then, the administration office of the hospital said they could not proceed with the surgery until an additional payment was made to his account.
That left me calling the bank in an attempt for them to give me another loan so that, together with the deposit for the art commission, I'd be able to pay something towards the account.
A deep pit pools in my stomach as I realise I have no way to get the supplies for this art piece now that I've spent the deposit.
One financial meltdown at a time . Right now, my main priority is the payment for my father's physical therapy.
Financial issues aside, Fabio also handed me a single tulip and a note this morning.
Another black card.
Don't play games with me Valerie, I'll always win .
These notes are getting closer and closer. He now even knows where I work but I'm not surprised, it wasn't hard to figure out after the CFP dinner. The note sent me spiralling as I started to wonder if Mattheo was in Tevici or if he maybe had someone following me around here on his behalf. Nevertheless, Mattheo has always made empty threats just like his empty promises.
When the driver drops me off at the hospital I have to swallow back tears and sheer exhaustion, to not project any of it onto my fragile father. His surgery ended a few hours ago, so I'm hoping to pop in before he falls asleep for the evening.
Thankfully, due to my father's time at the hospital, I've gotten to know quite a few nurses who have been the absolute sweetest.
"Hi honey, he's not awake yet," the elderly nurse says as I enter his ward.
"Yet? I thought he got out of surgery hours ago?"
"There were some complications during surgery, so it took slightly longer than expected. He's still sleeping off the anaesthetic."
I nod, feeling completely defeated now. The small joy of getting to see my papá after the day I'd had was the only thing holding me together.
But now, it all slowly feels like it's crumbling apart. I thank the nurse quickly before bolting towards the parking lot.
Thankfully, Caden is a lot nicer than his boss. He gave me his number in case I was ever stuck somewhere without a ride. I'm not sure if it was his idea or Ambrose's, but I'll choose to believe it was his.
I can barely get the words out when I call him, and by the time I hang up, the tears are running down my cheeks in a race to see which one will fall off my chin first .
Caden is back before I can even pull myself together, so I slip into the back of the car silently and try to wipe away the evidence of my slight breakdown.
"Is everything okay, Miss Farina?"
I sniffle and nod. "Yes, Caden. Thank you for coming back to fetch me."
"No problem, Mr. Vitale will have my head on a stick if I don't," he says.
"Caden."
"Yes, Miss Farina?"
"Whose idea was it for you to give me your number for instances like this?"
His eyes meet my glassy ones in the mirror before he sighs. "Mr. Vitale's."
I nod while more tears threaten to spill, and I have to cover my mouth to prevent them from coming out. The fact that even right now when I'm pissed off with him, he manages to be the only one here for me.
His kindness and small gesture causes an ache to fill my chest. It digs up every delusional thought I had growing up where I was convinced Ambrose and I were destined to be together.
I was so foolish
Ambrose only cares about himself and Vitale Holdings–nothing more, nothing less.
I thank Caden silently and exit the car.
The small jog I do up to my door comes to a halt when I see a large bouquet of pink tulips sitting on my doorstep. I freeze midway in my front yard and stare at it, maybe if I blink enough times, the mirage in front of me will simply go away, but it doesn't.
"About time you got home, I've been waiting here for hours." My front door rips open and Natalia stands in the doorway, staring at me.
Her joyful expression quickly turns to worry as she takes in my tear-soaked appearance, and then her eyes drop to the flowers surrounding her feet, and even I can't help her comprehend what is happening right now because I'm clueless .
I wipe my face and walk up to the door, barely managing to lift all the flowers as I squeeze in through my doorway that's already filled with my best friend.
"I didn't know you still had your set of keys," I say breathlessly as I put the flowers down in the kitchen and turn to head upstairs.
"Valerie," Natalia says, but I ignore her and rush up the stairs.
Footsteps behind me let me know that she, unfortunately, didn't decide to stay downstairs or better yet leave altogether.
I need to start on the piece, I only have a few more things to research before I can head out to get supplies. I stop in my room and sigh. I don't have money to get the supplies.
"Fuck," I cry out and throw my jacket at my bed.
"Val," Natalia whispers from behind me.
I can't turn to face her. I know if I turn to face her, I'll end up crying again, and right now that's the last thing I want to do.
"Nat, I'm fine, I need to change so I can go work on the piece I'm busy with."
I start reaching to take my shoes off when her soft hand touches my shoulder.
"Valerie, what's going on?"
"Nothing. I told you I have a piece to work on."
This time she forces me to look up at her, and her glossy brown eyes set me off completely and before I know it, I'm collapsing into her and crying tears I didn't even know I had left.
"It's okay, Vee. I'm here for you."
I don't know how long I cried. I don't know when I stop either. All I do know is that I never felt alone for a second. She made sure I knew she was there for me, now and forever going forward, and I can't even believe that for a second I thought I was alone to begin with.
Eventually, we make our way to the living room and when I've calmed down enough, I tell her the truth.
Why I'm home, why I started working at Vitale Holdings, and everything surrounding the Vitales as a whole.
"I knew Antonio had a crush on you, but you always refused to believe it," Nat says.
"I love how I told you that entire story and that's the only point you're stuck on."
"You know I love a good I told you so moment," she shrugs, "but I am more concerned about why there's a table full of your favourite flowers in the kitchen right now."
"I was hoping you'd forget about that. I know that I'm trying to." I lay down on the couch.
Natalia moves closer and pokes me in the thigh. "Why didn't you tell me things were this bad with Papá? I would have done more to help."
"Nat, it isn't your responsibility."
"Yes, it is, he and Mamá were as much parents to me as they were to you. It already killed me that I couldn't be here for Mamá."
"Nat, you literally couldn't get back into the country in time, she doesn't blame you."
A tear runs down her face and she quickly reaches up to wipe it away.
"I've got it under control, I promise."
"Promise me you'll tell me if you don't?"
"Pinky promise," I say, extending my pinky towards her. She interlocks our pinkies before jumping up.
"I'll go get the card."
"I could barely find it under all of the flowers, your kitchen smells like a perfume store by the way," she says, handing me an envelope.
In large swooping sloping cursive letters ‘Valerie' is written across the front, and I drop the envelope onto my lap.
"What if I don't want to read it?"
"How bad could it be?" She asks, and I simply stare at the paper in my lap. "If you don't open it, I will," She threatens, and I almost jump away with the envelope.
Valerie,
I've been wrestling with myself non-stop since everything happened between us this morning. I am a total salted caramel latte-deserving asshole, and I can't shake off the guilt I feel for how I acted.
I want to start by saying I am sorry for crossing a line. Everything with your father was your own business, and I should have trusted you to handle things your way, without wanting to know or get involved. My meddling only made things worse, and I regret not respecting your space.
And then, pushing you to tell me the truth—I messed up big time there too. You had your reasons for wanting to keep it to yourself and I should have respected that. I get it now, and I'm sorry.
Honestly, I felt like a complete idiot when I found out why you were late. I jumped to conclusions without knowing what was going on. I was an insensitive idiot, and I don't think I can begin to apologise enough for how I treated you and made you feel.
Valerie, what I'm trying to say is, I care about you. More than I probably should. I hate that my actions hurt you because that was the last thing I wanted. In all honesty, it's the complete opposite of how I wanted the morning to go. These flowers–they're a horrible attempt to say sorry. But they come with a whole lot of regret and a heap of hope that you might forgive me.
I know all the "I'm sorry's" I've written here may never be enough to make up for how I've treated you, but I'm willing to learn from this mess. I want to be the guy who's there for you, who listens, and who respects your boundaries.
If you are willing to, I want to be the guy who gets to make it up to you in person, where hopefully my actions can convey my apology better than these flowers can.
(I hope you like them, they reminded me of you)
I hope you can forgive me. I want to make things right between us, maybe even better than before. Your friendship You mean the world to me, and I'm hoping this apology can start fixing what I broke.
Sorry again, sweetheart. I hope you can give me a chance to make it up to you.
Ambrose
I stare at the page, then re-read it again and then one more time for good measure.
Only when a tear drops onto the paper and I hurry to wipe it away, in fear it'll ruin the letter, do I snap out of it.
"Is everything okay?"
I shake my head. "No."
"What's wrong?" She shifts closer.
"I think I may like Ambrose…just a tiny bit." A smile breaks through my tears. "... again."