“Oh great! Like we need that headache right now.”
Nikki sat down at the table beside him. “Since it was on my watch, I’ll tell him.”
“Tell him? Get out of here, Nikki. He already knows.”
Nikki was shocked. “You told him?”
“No, I didn’t tell him. What you take me for, Nikki? Pop’s got spies all over these docks. They told him. Why else would he be here? He never just drops by anymore.”
Nikki had to admit that was true. But when the office door opened and not only did Mick step inside, but Roz too, they both were surprised.
Especially Teddy. “Ma? What are you doing here?”
“Ask your father,” said Roz as she made her way to the conference table. “After Robby Yale had that accident in Vegas two weeks ago, Mick takes me to rehearsal in New York and stays in the audience the entire time I’m there. Then he drives me back home. I can’t shit without him right beside me.”
“Are you serious?” Teddy looked at Mick as he made his way behind the office desk and sat down. “Pop, Frankie would never allow his guys to hurt Ma.”
“Never,” said Nikki.
“What I do with my wife is my business. Don’t worry about my business. Worry about the fuck-up you and Nikki can’t seem to stop doing in my syndicate!”
Nikki looked at Teddy. She had planned to take the blame, since she was to blame, but just seeing the fierceness of Mick gave her second thoughts. Teddy knew how to stand up to him better than she did. He had decades more practice. She was willing to let Teddy fall on that sword.
Teddy sat back in his chair and folded his leg across his lap. But instead of getting directly into it with his old man, he took a different approach. “Where’s Kimmie?” he asked.
“She’s at the house with the twins. I was going to take her to New York and let Mick babysit her while I rehearsed, but Jackie refused to let her go. I declare if that child doesn’t think that’sherbaby.”
Nikki laughed. “I know, right?”
“I told her ass not to get comfortable with nogotdamn baby,” said Roz. “She’s going to college, getting her a career, and then and only after then can she worry about getting herself a husband and a baby. But not before then.”
Teddy stared at Roz. “I wish my mother was strict like you, Roz. Maybe I would have chosen a different path.”
Mick looked at Teddy. Nikki could tell it struck a chord with him.
But it struck a different chord with Roz. “It wasn’t just your mother’s fault,” she said. “Mick could have steered you differently. He could have forbid you from going into his line of work just like I ordered him to forbid the twins.”
Why did she put it that way, Nikki thought, because as soon as she said it, Mick spoke up. “Youorderedme?”
But Roz didn’t back down. “Yes, I ordered your ass. You better never let Duke or Jackie go anywhere near you and Teddy’s line of work. And I mean never!” She said it as sheturned his way, causing her thick, gorgeously bouncy hair to bounce side to side by the sheer emphasis she placed onnever. It was as if she was daring him to dispute her.
But Mick just stared at her. The way her hair fell down across her face when it bounced, and the way her face showed thatI dare youlook, made him love her more. Who else but Roz would he be taking all this shit from? Who else but Roz would he take time away from his busy-as-hell schedule to drive her to Broadway and back every day for the past two weeks? He needed to be in Rome, to check on Dory’s progress and security, but who else but Roz would keep him stateside until he figured out what Monk’s next move was going to be? He’d never loved anybody like this before. It terrified him in many ways. But it soothed him more.
That was why Mick didn’t mix it up with her when he easily could have. He moved on from his weakness called Roz. “What happened, Nikki?” he asked.
“It was an oversight, Pop,” Teddy started saying, in defense of Nikki, but Mick stopped him.
“Is your name Nikki?” That effectively silenced Teddy. Then Mick looked at his daughter-in-law. “What happened?” he asked her again.
“I forgot to delete the tanker that Frankie’s men blew up from the roster. It was on the port-of-call for Chicago. But when the logistics guys saw that one tanker was missing, they entered the dragnet protocol that forced other tankers off schedule.”
“For how long?”
Nikki swallowed hard. “A couple days,” she said.
Even Roz was alarmed by that length of time. Mick was livid. “A couple days, Nikki?” he yelled out. “Your ass didn’t realize you had made an error for forty-eight hours?”
“I was working day and night trying to figure out the error. It never occurred to me--”
