“Your career?” Charles asked.
“Yup. It’s not exactly on fire these days.”
“Show business is something else. You know that.”
Roz nodded. “Oh, I know it,” she said.
“But tell me what happened between you and my brother?”
“I was in New York, at another audition I didn’t get, again, and I find out he’s in New York too.”
Charles frowned. “You didn’t know he was going to New York?”
“No. I thought he was still in Rome handling that raid. But he was in New York when he knew I was there too. He didn’t even come by the theater or call me or anything.”
“What did he do?” Charles asked nervously.
“He was at his hotel with Bella Caine when I got there.”
Charles shook his head. “I told Mick to leave her ass alone, but he never will. And all she wants is his money.”
“Oh, she’ll take him too. Trust and believe. But he’s not giving it to her.”
Charles looked at Roz. “Sure about that?”
Roz hesitated. “Yes,” she said. “He wouldn’t cheat on me with Bella.”
“Then why are you here,” Charles asked, “if there’s no problem?”
“This woman called, while I was still there, and left a phone message. She said she heard he was in town and could come over and make him feel good like she did the other night, or whatever she said, and told him to call her.”
Charles’ heart dropped. Mick was going to mess around and lose a good woman. “What did Mick say?”
“He said it wasn’t like it seemed, or something like that. I don’t know what he said. I’m done with him saying. I’ve got to start paying attention to what he’s doing.”
Charles nodded. “Right,” he said in agreement.
“And I decided I’m not living like that again. I can remember staying up all night waiting for Mick to come home, and sometimes, I’m ashamed to admit, he didn’t come home at all. Or he came home so late he might as well not have come.”
“He always has his reasons?” Charles asked.
Roz nodded. “Always. Not details. He doesn’t give me details. He just says he had to handle some business, and I’m supposed to just accept that. And I used to accept it.”
“But?” Charles asked.
“But I wasn’t about to turn forty when I was full of all of that acceptance. I see so many of my girlfriends who are married, but every time you see them they’re by themselves. As if they’re married in name only. And I used to be hard on those sisters. I would never be that girl, that’s what I used to say. Until I realized I not only was that girl, but I was that girl at an age when I was going to be that girl forever. Or grow old alone if I don’t make a change.”
“Sounds like this is about much more than some phone call Mick received,” Charles said. “Sounds like it’s about how you want to live the rest of your life.”
Roz nodded. “That’s what it’s about.”
“And if Mick is going to be a part of that life,” Charles said. “Is that what it’s about too?”
“I can’t even bring myself to admit it, Big Daddy,” Roz said. “The very thought of my life without Mick is horrifying to me. There’s just no way I could ever be without Mick in my life. But there has to be some changes made. I’ve got to get him to understand that doing it the way he’s accustomed to doing it isn’t working for me anymore. And raising our children with a father who’s always gone? That’s out too.”
“And you’ve got to stick to your guns on that, Roz,” Charles said. “That’s not too much to ask.”
“It’s not! But Mick knows how to string me along. He’ll do right for a little while, while I keep the heat on his ass, and then I get caught up in my own shit and he reverts right back to his old ways. It never fails, Big Daddy. It never fails. And then there’s the women,” she added, as she fought back tears.
“You think he’s cheating on you, Roz?”
Roz hesitated. “My heart says no,” she said, “but my head keeps telling me I’m being a fool. Why wouldn’t a sexy, virile man like Mick be cheating his ass off every chance he gets?”
“And your answer is?”
“He loves me,” Roz said. “That’s my answer. Mick loves me. I even believe he craves me.”
Charles stared at her. “But?”
“He’s addicted to that adrenalin rush called his life,” Roz said. “And I’m afraid an addiction beats a craving any day of the week. That’s the but.”
Tears appeared in Roz’s big, beautiful eyes and Charles, his heart broken for her, placed his arm around her waist and then pulled her against him. He wanted to tell her not to worry, that he’ll come around. But nothing was that simple with Mick.
Roz knew it too. She sometimes wondered why she even came to Charles’ house with her problems. But he was the only one on earth with any real influence over Mick. He was the only person on earth who could still kick Mick’s ass.
They stopped embracing and she removed Charles’ handkerchief from his suit coat. But he kept his protective arm around her waist.
“Feel better letting it out?” Charles asked her.
“You make crying sound like a fart,” Roz said.
Charles laughed. “It is, in a way.” Then he looked at her sadly. “Seeing you crying stinks too.”
“Ah, Big Daddy,” Roz said and leaned against him. “That was so sweet. You’re going to make me start bawling all over again.”
Charles let out a harsh exhale. If only Mick knew the kind of wonderful woman he had! “Go get some rest, Rozzie. Don’t let the kids see you like this. They’ll start worrying too. And we don’t want that, do we?”
Roz couldn’t agree more. “No, we don’t want that,” she said. “Children first.”
Charles, as the father of seven children, agreed immediately. “Always,” he said.
Roz squeezed his hand as she was about to stand up. “Thanks, Big Daddy,” she said, and he gave her a kiss.
But then the cell phone she had sitting beside her rang. Wondering if it was Mick, she grabbed it quickly. When she saw that it was Billy Lancer, the man offering her the only promising gig she had on the horizon, she answered quickly anyway. “Hey,” she said.
Billy, in the backseat of his limousine, smiled. “How are you?” he asked. “It’s been longer than a couple days, and I haven’t heard from you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“We still need to get together, Roz, and get that paperwork signed. And, more importantly, to make sure you understand in what direction we want this production to go. Where are you?”
“I’m in Maine,” Roz said, glancing at Charles.
“Maine? Now that’s a place I’ve only saw from the air! But guess where I’m headed?”
“I have no idea.”
“To The Carson. To your husband’s hotel, believe it or not. I’ve got reservations.”
Roz exhaled. “That’s nice.”
“You don’t sound like it’s nice! Truth is, whenever I’m in New York, this is where I stay anyway. I like the style of the place. The Carson-Benning makes the Waldorf look like chicken shit to me.”
Roz smiled.
“Didn’t realize your husband owned it until recently.” He was lying, but effortlessly. “Listen, we need to get together, that’s a fact. How about next weekend? Will you be back in Philly by then?”
“Actually, no, I’ll be in Canada then. In Montreal. At my sister-in-law’s wedding.”
“Oh, that’s right!” Billy said. “What’s her name? Amelia Sinatra? Mick Sinatra’s sister? She’s marrying Hammer Reese is it?”
“That’s correct.”
“Sounds like an odd pairing to me, but who knew? I’ll tell you what. Since I’m on the east coast right now, and you aren’t that far away, how about I come over tomorrow night and take you to dinner? How does that sound?”
Roz knew if she signed that contract, there would be no turning back. She would be
committed to living and working in London for at least two years. But she also knew it was the role of a lifetime, especially if Billy Lancer’s name was going to front the marquee, and he didn’t even make her audition for the part! How could she turn that down? Because Mick won’t like it? He hadn’t even called her since she left his ass. He might even be with that Charlotte woman for all she knew.
“Sounds good,” said Roz. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“Text me the address,” Billy said, they said their goodbyes, and Roz ended the call. Then she stood up.
But Charles was too curious to just let it go. “You’ll see who tomorrow night? Mick?”
“No, that wasn’t Mick. That was Billy. Billy Lancer.”
Charles was stunned. “Billy Lancer? THE Billy Lancer? That producer?”
Roz smiled. “I didn’t know you knew the names of producers. Most people don’t.”
“Most people don’t know the names of ordinary producers,” Charles admitted. “But Lancer’s right up there with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Walt Disney for crying out loud. I mean, maybe not Walt Disney,” he said, and Roz laughed. “But most people know those names! Besides, he was married to Natalie Stanley, everybody’s favorite actress, God rest her soul. But what’s it about?”
“Just business.” Roz wasn’t ready to go public yet. She hadn’t even talked to Mick yet. “He’s going to pick me up tomorrow night and take me to dinner. To discuss a possible deal,” she felt a need to point out.
“Look like a guy like that would have the lawyers handle the business end, wouldn’t you think?”
“We’re old friends,” Roz said. “He used to be a struggling actor on Broadway right alongside me, believe it or not. That’s why.”
“Still sounds like he’s going above and beyond,” Charles said.
“We’re friends,” Roz said again.
Charles only nodded on that, making Roz feel as if she was doing something wrong just by having a business dinner with an old friend. But she knew Big Daddy was stern like that. He was never with the bullshit, even when it wasn’t bullshit. “I see,” he said, looking at her with that gaze of his.
Roz expected him to say more, or to ask more questions, but he didn’t bother. “Anyway,” she said, “I’m going to take you up on your suggestion and go and get some rest.”
“We’ll call you when dinner’s ready,” Charles said.
“Thanks,” Roz said, and headed back inside of Big Daddy’s house.
But as soon as she left, Charles wasted no time. He pulled out his cell phone and called his knucklehead of a brother.
But the call went straight to Voice Mail, which meant his cellphone was off, which meant Mick, more than likely, was out handling some business of his own.
Charles didn’t leave a message. Something that monumental, as least that was how he felt about a man like Billy Lancer going all-out for Roz that way, even to the point of coming to Maine to have dinner with her, wasn’t a heads-up he was going to leave on a Voice Mail.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Mick rang the doorbell as if he was a regular houseguest. Teddy stood beside him, as if he was an ordinary joe dropping by too. But when Frankie DiGenova opened the front door to his purposely modest house in south Philly, he knew at once there was nothing ordinary or regular about that visit.
But he smiled the grandest smile he could manage. “The Don is here!” he said happily. “How are you, Mick?” He opened his door wider and gave Mick a big bear hug, although Mick inwardly cringed, and a kiss on either side of his cheeks. “It’s so good to see you again, my friend,” he said. “Come on in!” Mick walked on in.
“And Junior,” he said to Teddy as he gave Teddy the same hug and kiss treatment. “You’re getting as big as your old man. Look at the muscles on ya’!”
Teddy smiled. He was slightly better at putting on the face than Mick was, but he wasn’t great at it either. “How you been, Frankie?”
“Ah, you know how it goes, Teddy. Problems all around. Always something. But I’m getting by. Come on,” he said to both men. “We were just sitting down to dinner. Molly! Molly! Fix them some food!”
Frankie escorted Mick and Teddy into his dining room, talking nonstop as they went. His two chubby daughters, both seemingly around Teddy’s age in their late thirties, looked pissed that guests had interrupted their dinner even as Mick sat beside the oldest daughter, and Teddy sat beside the youngest. But their mother, Molly, looking like Edith Bunker, Mick thought, cheerfully said her hellos and hurried into the kitchen to get plates for the Sinatras.
And they all sat down to dinner, speaking only casually, with Frankie doing all the talking. It wasn’t lost on anyone that Mick nor Teddy had touched their food, but they all were mainly just listening to what Frankie had to say. Which was a lot of nothing. Until Mick, tired of the charade, took out his big, fat magnum, and sat it on the table as if that was really what was for dinner.
Everybody stopped chewing. The sound of forks scraping plates ceased too.
“Why you wanna disrespect my dinner table like that, Micky?” Frank asked him.
“Why you wanna snitch on me, Frankie?” Mick asked him.
Frankie looked shocked. “Snitch? What are you talking? I’m no snitch!”
Mick quickly picked up his gun and placed it to the head of Frankie’s oldest daughter, causing Molly and both daughters to scream. “Why did you snitch on me, Frankie?” Mick asked again.
“Pop!” Teddy said, amazed that his father would terrorize the daughter!
But Mick wasn’t playing. “Gonna tell me now, Frankie? Gonna tell me now you motherfucking cocksucker!” He pressed that gun even harder against that daughter’s head. “Gonna tell me now?!”
“Okay!” Frankie yelled. Unlike Teddy, Frankie didn’t have high hopes about Mick’s redemptive qualities. He wouldn’t put shit past Mick the Tick. “Don’t harm my child,” Frankie said.
“Then talk, motherfucker,” Mick said.
“I had to do it, Micky,” Frank began.
“Why?”
“Everybody’s got a past. Mine’s messy, just like yours and everybody else in the game. I’m no better, I’m no worse. Why he had to pick me? And this guy, Micky, he’s got what you call reach out of this world. Even you can’t touch him.”
Teddy looked at Frankie as if he had lost his mind. “Pop can’t touch him?” he found himself saying. “In your dreams!”
“Who is he?” Mick asked.
Frankie frowned. “He’ll kill us all if I say, Micky. He’ll kill my family!”
“Who?” Mick asked again, but as soon as he asked it, everything went south. A gun blast was heard so close it caused a ringing in Mick’s ear, and the bullet caught Frankie in his upper jaw. He fell backwards out of his chair to his death.
Mick and Teddy both jumped up with their weapons drawn and their chairs falling backwards too, and they looked at the opposite end of the table. Molly DiGenova, Frankie’s longtime wife and the woman Mick always dismissed as another airheaded Edith Bunker, stood with the smoking gun in her hand. Then she immediately shot her already screaming youngest daughter, and then her oldest. Shot them like she was saying hello! And then she put the gun to her own head, crying.
Teddy was astounded. “What the fuck!” he yelled.
Even Mick was stumped. But not so much that he couldn’t get intel before she did herself in too. “Who is this guy?” he asked Molly, his face frowned.
“He’ll kill us all anyway,” she said. “Why should I let my family suffer waiting for it to happen?”
“I’ll protect you,” Mick said.
“You can’t protect us from him! Nobody can!”
“Who is he?” Mick asked anxiously. “Just give me his name!”
But Molly wasn’t thinking about Mick. She even smiled through her tears. “There’s an old song,” she said. “Ever hear of it? Got my name in it. My mother used to sing it to me.”
“Give me his name!” Mick yell
ed.
But Molly was too far gone. “Good Golly, Miss Molly!” she yelled out laughing, and then pulled the trigger.
And Molly DiGenova, like her entire family, dropped dead too.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Be good,” Roz said to the twins, who were upstairs playing video games in the game room.
“Where are you going?” Duke asked as he continued playing the game.
“To dinner,” Roz said.
“With Daddy?” Duke asked, and Jackie looked too. They both stopped playing the game waiting for her answer.
Roz hated to disappoint them. They missed Mick too. “It’s a business dinner with an old friend,” Roz said. “It’s about business.”
“Oh,” Duke said. Jackie didn’t say anything. And they both continued playing the game. Roz headed downstairs, to Charles’ living room, where Billy Lancer was waiting.
Billy stood up smiling when Roz walked into the room. Charles and Jenay had been entertaining him, although it was more like he was entertaining them with all of his Hollywood stories. They both stood, too, when Roz walked in. But they didn’t even look at Roz. They were staring at Billy’s reaction to Roz.
To say he was impressed was an understatement. “You look . . . simply irresistible, Roz,” he said happily, and Roz smiled. She wore a white skirt and blouse, a light-green cardigan to add that pop of color, and flats. She called herself dressing down. But to Billy, it only elevated her elegance. “You look adorable!” he added.
“Thanks, Billy,” Roz said.
Charles and Jenay glanced at each other. And Charles glanced at his watch. He had called him. He told him what time the guy was going to be there. Where was that knucklehead, Charles wondered.
Mick told Charles about what happened last night at Frankie DiGenova’s place, and how he had gotten no further than he had been before he went to Frankie’s place. But that was no excuse, Charles felt, for Mick not to be there already!
“Sit down for a minute,” Charles said to Roz. “You guys don’t have to shove off right away, do you?”
Mick Sinatra: Needing Her Again Page 13
