“You’re saying it’s a joke,” said Teddy. “Did he say it was a joke?”
“I’m a married woman, boy, what’s wrong with you? He didn’t have to say it. It spoke for itself.”
Another shoe to shoe hit from Teddy to Nikki. The idea that Roz might leave his father upset Teddy in ways he never thought possible.
But then he showed up. “Mr. Sinatra’s here,” Nikki said.
“What’s with you and thatMisterSinatra?” Roz asked Nikki as she and Teddy looked where Nikki was looking. “You can call him Pop or Dad or even Mick if you want to.”
But every time Nikki settled on a name like Pop or Dad, she would get in Mick’s presence and freeze up. She could never be that casual with that particular man. Outside of his presence, yes. She could call him Pop all day just like Teddy did. But whenever he was around? Whenever she was in his presence? No way. He was Mr. Sinatra to her.
“Look at all those females assessing him,” Roz said as Mick made his way toward their booth.
Teddy and Nikki saw it too. In his designer suit and his well-built body and that sleepy eye that most women found most attractive, he struck a powerful pose. Nikki looked at Roz as she watched those much-younger ladies make no bones about checking him out and even murmuring with the other ladies at their tables as he walked past.
But Nikki could also see the pain in Roz’s eyes. She knew she had won the prize so many other ladies were doing all theycould to win. And she knew if she left Mick he’d have a thousand ladies to choose from to replace her in his bed. It would be just that easy for him to move on.
But Nikki could see Roz’s resolve too. She wasn’t putting up with his antics anymore. She didn’t want to leave him. Nikki knew Roz loved herself some Mick. But she seemed to be at a place where she felt she had to love herself more. Mick and Roz’s marriage, unlike any time Nikki had ever seen before, appeared to be in serious danger of collapsing toward a tragic end.
“You may as well let me out, Ma,” said Teddy who was seated beside Roz, “because Pop’s gonna make me move.”
“I doubt that,” said Roz.
Nikki looked at Roz. Teddy did too. “What do you mean you doubt it? He always makes me move.”
“Yeah well, things they are a-changing,” said Roz cryptically and Teddy and Nikki glanced at each other.
And Roz meant it. Sometimes she wondered if that man gave a damn about her.
And when Mick arrived at their booth and sat beside Nikki as if he never ordered people to move whenever they were seated beside Roz so that he could sit beside her, Teddy’s heart began to squeeze. It was real to him now.
“What would you like to drink, sir?” the waitress asked Mick.
“Nothing. I won’t be here long.”
Roz looked at him as the waitress left. “Really Mick?”
“I told you I was busy.”
“And I told you we need to talk.”
“Here, at a restaurant? Here, in front of Ted and Nikki?”
“Yes!” Roz wasn’t backing down. “It’s that serious, yes.”
Mick looked at Roz. She was already getting hot under the collar he could tell. And unlike any other woman on earth, whenever Roz got angry like that, she always looked as sexy assexy could look to him. He always wanted to fuck her on the spot whenever she got that hot. He couldn’t help it, but he was getting hard.
Roz could see the lust in his eyes. And that only made her angrier. It was as if he wasn’t taking her seriously anymore. And that made her wonder if he was just that out to lunch, or if he just didn’t give a damn. “I don’t know if y’all know this,” she said to Teddy and Nikki, “but this is the first time I’ve seen Mick in three days.”
That sounded odd to them. “You’ve been out of town, Pop?” Teddy asked him.
“No, he hasn’t been out of town. He’s been right here in town. He just haven’t bothered to come home.”
That was new to Teddy and Nikki. “Damn, Pop,” Teddy said.
“Listen to her if you want to,” said Mick.
“I know your ass ain’t calling me no liar,” Roz said with fire in her voice. “I know better than that.”
