Chasing after you, p.1
Chasing after You, page 1
Chasing
After you
A York Beach Novel
The Cappelli Family
Nicole Vidal
Copyright
Published by: Jasper Media, LLC
Copyright © 2023 Nicole Vidal
Cover images © Doug Lemke (lighthouse), and Volodymyr TVERDOKHLIB (models).
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious events in every regard. Any similarities to actual events or persons, living or dead, are coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to the be property of their respective owners and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement in any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.
Cover design by Designs with Sass
Developmental Edit by Virginia Cantrell of Hot Tree Editing
Final Edit by Jamee Thumm of Hot Tree Editing
ISBN
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Keep in Touch with NV
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Epilogue
Coming Soon
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Prologue
Lilianna
Two Months ago
The heaves haven’t lessened since I pulled away from the bar. I turn into a spot and throw my car into park. Our bench. I didn’t know where else to go. We came here so many times over the years, a spot we found near the end of high school. Almost every visit was to celebrate an amazing milestone, like graduation or when his team won the state championship. We celebrated here about a month after he was drafted to play professional football as well. The only time we were here for a sad moment was when his grandmother passed about ten years ago. Now, there is no “we.” We aren’t here. I am. Alone. By choice, but still…. He’ll go to my house first. Hell, he has a key and a cushion molded to his ass on my couch. I exhale and ignore the tug of the past for a short time.
It’s the right decision—sever all ties. I know it is. Well, for him anyway. He’s happy, at least he appears happy. For him, I would take a bullet, assuming I could shove him out of the way. For him, I will wallow in heartbreak and stride forward a tiny bit each day without my almost lifelong best friend.
Our unlikely friendship started in third grade when Leo yanked my ponytail hard while taking a step backward. The memory makes my heart constrict.
“Let go you big oaf!” I recall shouting at him. It only happened once. He didn’t expect me—barely a whiff of a girl—to stand up to him and his towering size. Even then his size was imposing.
He laughed and released the ponytail that reached to my waist.
I turned to face him. “How dare you? I don’t even know you!”
“It was either grab your hair or let him tackle you.” Young Leo pointed to a classmate sprawled at my feet.
My mighty protector, a role he filled a few times over the years. “Well, thank you. I’m Lilianna.” I extended my hand to him.
His hands were gigantic and enveloped mine. “I’m Leo, short for Leonardo. I guess our parents like long names.” A sadness filtered into his eyes when he said “parents.”
I shrugged. “Everyone in my family has long names, except my big brother.”
“How many of you are there?” Leo asked with his head cast down toward the ground.
“I have three sisters and a brother. I’m fourth in line. You?”
“It’s just me and my—”
The recess bell rang and cut off our first conversation. It was the start of a beautiful friendship spanning most of my life.
The trill of my phone pulls me back to the present again. A friendship that is now over. I ignore the text message; I know it’s from Leo.
I’m alone after the final confrontation I’m willing to have with the enigmatic Danica. His girlfriend comes and goes from the bar and Leo’s bed when it suits her. Apparently, she travels frequently for her job. Even though she’s rarely present for more than four or five nights a month, she has demands of her boyfriend—demands that include an engagement ring and never spending time with me alone. She’d prefer he spend no time at all with me, even though our monthly movie nights have been in place for the last six or so years. She clearly doesn’t know Leo as well as I do. He would never betray her. He’s loyal to a fault. It’s not how he’s built. Additionally, he isn’t interested in me as more than his best friend, who happens to be a woman. As far as I know, he never has been.
He’s found family. Choosing to end our friendship impacts more than me and him. It affects my entire family, and it isn’t going to go over well at all.
Without thinking, I answer the call that comes through instead of rejecting it. I can already hear him talking. Ugh!
“Lilianna, talk to me please.”
“I can't. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The ache in my heart is difficult to bear, yet I force out the words. “No, you don't understand. I'm in love with you.”
I imagine him scrubbing his beefy hand down his face like he does when he’s frustrated. “Where are you? I want to talk face-to-face.”
“Don't. I didn't want you to find out like this. You’re dating someone else. It's not who I am. I'm not a home-wrecker.”
His tone sounds more forceful and pained. “Where are you, Stella? We need to talk. I refuse to allow you to make this decision for me—for us.” He gave me the nickname sometime in high school after he learned my middle name is Stellaluna. At a later point, he shared he selected it because I’m his North Star.
“There is no us. There can't be.” I don't need to bring up Danica's ultimatum. He's well aware. I'm sure he's as torn about losing our friendship as I am.
Me on the other hand, “devastated” and “heartbroken” barely describe the hollow darkness I feel. You would think we’ve kissed or been together, but I've never tasted his whiskey-laced lips and likely never will.
I hear the telltale sounds of my alarm and my new puppy barking. Also, I’m certain, despite his haste, he’ll let Lola out of the crate and let her out before leaving.
After a few minutes pass, he continues. “I know where you are. Please wait for me. I’m coming to you.”
“Leonardo, please don’t. I can’t handle more right now.” My words are disingenuous because the only thing I want is a huge bear hug and assurance he could be mine. His hugs are epic and can fix almost anything wrong in my life. No! Not this! It’ll only make the raw wound gape more.
“Stella, it makes me crazy you’re hurting right now, and it’s my fault. Stay there, please. This conversation needs to be in person.”
“Please don’t. This is hard enough. I won’t make you choose.” A silence falls over the line. I love you, I whisper in my soul. I pull the phone away from my ear, the call still connected. “Goodbye, Leonardo. You’re the best friend a girl could ever ask for.”
I end the call and force my lead-laden feet to move toward my car. He’ll be here within the next five minutes. As I crest the hill and stop near the exit, I glance back at our bench once more. It was a special place. I will never come back here again. I reminisce a bit too long, until Leo charges into the lot and parks. I take that as my cue to leave.
Chapter One
Leonardo
Present day
It’s been two months since Lily ended our friendship. The details are still vivid in my mind as I sit in my private office. Lily was sitting at the bar chatting with Miguel, my bartender, when Danica breezed in. Danica is Lily’s physical opposite in every way. She’s blonde, bubbly, and has an athletic build. She works in construction sales and travels the mid-Atlantic and New England states for work.
I didn’t see it, but my staff indicated after the incident, she wasn’t pleased with Lily’s presence. Danica expressed her disgust to my best friend loudly and without regard for me or my customers. I heard most of her words as I made my way into the bar area.
“You don’t belong here. Leo is my boyfriend,” Danica spewed.
“I’m aware. He’s my best friend, and this is a public place,” Lily calmly replied.
< br /> As I rounded the corner, I saw Danica hovering with her lips near Lily’s ear. From my position, I couldn’t hear what she said or read her lips. Whatever her words were, it was enough for Lily to throw back the remainder of her drink and storm out of my bar.
Spotting me, Danica sauntered over and threw her arms around me before I could fully process what just happened.
“What did you say to Lily?”
“The truth,” she replied.
I yanked her arms away from me, and all but dragged her into my private office. “What is the truth?”
“You don’t want her like you want me. If you did, I wouldn’t be here. I mean, she’s been following you around like a lost puppy for the last…. It doesn’t matter. You’re mine, and she has no place in your life.”
Has she listened to anything I’ve shared about myself? It’s absolutely the other way around. “No, you’re wrong. She’s the reason I’m where I am. Along with her family, she saved me from life circumstances and poor decisions more than once.”
“I don’t care. It’s her or me. I meant what I said, Leo. I want her gone, and I want a ring.”
“I’m not having this discussion with you again. We haven’t been together long enough for me to consider marrying you. Hell, I don’t love you. More importantly, I will not give up my friendship with Lily or her family for you.”
“Are you sure you want to choose her over us?”
“It isn’t that simple, Danica.”
“Yes, it is,” she bit back.
“Then, yes, I’m choosing Lily and her family over you.”
When I didn’t add more fuel to the argument, she stated, “Fine, I’m done.” Without another word, she turned on her stilettos and walked back out the way she came.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and thumbed a text to Lily. Doubting I would get an answer, I grabbed my keys and hustled to my truck. I sent a few more texts, demanding to know where she was. On the way to her place, I took a chance and called her. Much to my surprise, she answered. I keyed open the front door to find her not home, but Lola, her new fluffy puppy, was whining in her crate.
The conversation that ensued was nowhere near what I expected. The faster I want to move, the more time it took to get Lola back into her crate. By the time I made it to our spot—our bench—all I saw was her taillights.
These last two months since she ended our friendship has been close to the worst time of my life. The only other times I was this miserable was when my dream was stolen with one unfortunate tackle and when my grandmother died. I’ve tried everything I could think of to get her to talk to me. I even stooped to reaching out to Mama Cappelli for assistance.
Like Lily’s sisters before her, Mama told me to keep trying. “Leonardo, I love you as if I birthed you. Only you can fix this with Lilianna. You have too much history to give up so easily.”
“I won’t give up.”
“Good” was all she said before ending the call.
I refuse to give up the only true family I’ve ever known, aside from Gran. My early life story, which I’ve gleaned over the years from anecdotes and cautionary tales, includes my mother, who was an alcoholic, leaving me with my father at eight months old. It only took him a few months of single parenthood to leave me with Gran. We moved to York Beach the summer before third grade.
Lily has been beside me through it all. From the time we met, she and her family became my family. Mama and Papa Cappelli never looked down on the kid who stole food from their pantry. Once she realized I didn’t have enough to eat at home, Mama prepared extra plates for me every Sunday to take with me. Lily would have extra food in her lunch for me if I needed it after that point too.
Over the years, Lily has had two relationships of note. Her relationship with Matt, during college, required some intervention from me. Matt never treated her well, and I caught him with another girl at a campus hangout after practice one evening. It was helpful my teammates were present at the time. As the other girl and my teammates watched, he called Lily and dumped her. I strongly suggested he lose her number. He did, and the other girl left him as well.
Her second relationship was with Oliver. I mentally refer to him as “the suit.” On paper, the two of them were an excellent match. Lily is book smart, funny, and gorgeous. She’s a bit taller than average, but her curves belie her height. Objectively, Oliver met the societal standard of good-looking and smart. He seemed to treat her right, so I didn’t interfere. Nor did I share my interest in pursuing a relationship with her.
Danica hasn’t been around to see me since I chose Lily, but she has sent a few texts and left messages. I haven’t responded to any of them, nor do I intend to. Not only did my former girlfriend expect me to end my relationship with my family, but she didn’t trust me with Lily either. I’m not the one who travels often. If anyone should be concerned about faithfulness, it should have been me.
Wrestling with losing Lily has been abject torture. When Lily spilled her deepest feelings to me, my gut churned. Lily knows all my dreams and secrets. No one else knows me as well as she does, not even my girlfriend—well, my ex-girlfriend. There was a time earlier in our friendship when I thought Lily and I could be great together.
The more I considered us as a couple, the more I felt it would never work. I couldn’t risk our friendship or my family if our relationship didn’t work out. Now, having not spoken to Lily for nearly two months and the prospect of seeing her at Frankie’s wedding this weekend, I may have underestimated my feelings for her. The constant nagging ache in my chest and the urge to call or text her hasn’t diminished. In fact, it grows stronger each day. Perhaps I’ve been in love with Lilianna my entire life. I didn’t realize what real love was until I lost it. More accurately, Lily took it back.
Unsure of how to handle my emotions, I bury myself in paperwork. When I reach the bottom of the pile, I notice an envelope with Lily’s signature stamp in the upper left corner. When did this arrive? Was she here?
Though she refuses to talk to me or see me, she’s still working for me. Sort of. When I was drafted, I asked Lily to manage my signing bonus, salary, and investments, much to the dismay of my agent at the time. She agreed despite her position as a portfolio manager for Upton Gerber. It’s one of the largest brokerage companies in the country. Each month, she provides a report of my financial status. I tear into the envelope, hoping to find her usual cheerful note. Unfortunately, I find only the report. The fact she continues to help me but refuses to talk to me widens the divide in my heart. In the wee hours of the morning, I trudge upstairs to my apartment and try to sleep away the major missteps I’ve made in my love life.
Normally, a potential suitor would have a best friend to enlist in the pursuit of a woman he desires. In my case with Lily, I am—was—no, I am the best friend, which leaves her sisters, who are basically my sisters. They have adamantly and fervently done everything in their power to avoid helping me. Outside of saying, “Talk to Lily,” from Lia, Frankie offered, “Force Lily to talk to you, but don’t hurt her more,” and my personal favorite from Lina, “Get your head and your heart right, then chase her. She’s absolutely worth it, and you know you can’t survive without her,” my sisters have been unhelpful.
Each of them is undoubtedly correct. I don’t know what else to try. Lily isn’t a grand-gesture type of woman. She’s private and reserved with her affection to everyone… except me. It wasn’t until Danica’s edict that Lily regressed to our teenage “no touching each other at all” stance. I don’t mean in a sexual way. It wasn’t abnormal for her to curl up against me during movie night, curl her hands around my bicep, or seek comfort in my arms when something went awry, like her douchebag ex-brother-in-law being released from prison, albeit for a brief time.
I consider my options while fitfully chasing sleep. I fail miserably.
Over the rest of the week, I haven’t made any progress in deciding the best way to mend my relationship with Lily. I’ve been going back and forth trying to decide if I’m still welcome at Frankie’s wedding. It wasn’t my choice to end our friendship. I weighed the pros and cons numerous times before deciding all I can do is use my invitation as an avenue to show up for my family. While I’m there, I can only hope to steal some time with her on the dance floor or a private moment after the ceremony. Her sisters may not want to intervene, but Frankie asked me to partner with Lily for the introductions due to the size of her bridal party. With that in mind, I foresee a scenario where Lily and I have no choice but to speak to one another later today.
