CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Charles left them to their own devices most of that next day, mainly so they all could recover from their foolish behavior, but after dinner that night he assembled them all into the huge parlor room.

The men sat in the five chairs on one side, while the ladies were seated in the five chairs facing them. Charles and Jenay sat in the two chairs at the back of the group while an empty chair was seated at the head of the group. What inwardly amused Charles and Jenay as they looked out over the group was that every one of them had their legs crossed. Each one of them was casually dressed in what looked to Charles to be the most expensive casual wear money could buy. Every one of them seemed embarrassed by their behavior last night as they sat stoically like the spoiled, rich elites they were.

But Charles still wanted to kick each and every one of their asses for how they behaved last night. Like thugs on a street corner if you ask him. The women as well as the men. Throwing food and drinks and chairs, slipping and sliding and trying to beat each other up: it was unbelievable. He still hadn’t gotten over that scene. If it hadn’t been for Jenay’s calming influence, he would have run up those stairs and beat the shit out of every one of them. And not one of them would have been surprised. Big Daddy Sinatra put the gangster in OG. He was where Mick got that viciousness and ruthlessness from. He just knew how to conceal his better.

But Jenay kept him in their bedroom. It took sex, and plenty of it: a marathon of it. But she managed to calm him down.

Charles continued to size up his guests. They all small-talked with their own gender, the men talking sports, the ladies talking Christmas dishes and who was going to cook what as if nothing bad happened last night. But the scratches and bruises on the men’s faces, and the hurt and sadness in the ladies’ eyes made it clear to Charles that they knew better than that.

Mick was seated in the middle of the men, but he remained silent. His finger was rubbing over the cleft in his chin while his hard green eyes were staring unblinkingly at Roz. Although all of the women were constantly taking peeps at their men, Mick noticed how Roz never once looked his way. Not even for a second. As if she was so over him that it wasn’t even funny. And what pissed him off and inwardly was beginning to enrage him was how he seemed unable to get over her! Even after last night. Even after that hatred he saw in her eyes.

Then the double doors to the parlor slid open, and clinical psychologist Dr. Anthony Sinatra, better known as Tony, walked in.

Although the ladies were thrilled to see the handsome man walk in, the men immediately were wary. “ Oh Lord ,” Sal whispered to them. “Not the fucking shrink.”

Charles heard the whisper. “Shut up, Sal,” Charles said as Tony hugged the ladies and greeted them warmly.

Sal, offended, whispered to Reno who was seated beside him: “He got one more time, and I mean one more time, to tell me to shut up.”

Charles heard that whisper too. “Shut up, Sal,” he said again, daring him to do something about it.

“Your ass the worst whisperer in the world,” Reno said as he looked at Sal. He was daring him to put meat to his whispers too.

Although Sal turned around in his seat, and glared at Big Daddy, he did nothing at all. What was he gonna do? Raise up at Big Daddy? Act as if he was going to beat his ass? That was not done. Not to Big Daddy. Not in their family.

Tony, in his glasses and tweed suitcoat with a leather vest, looked more like a professor than a psychologist to them. But the ladies seemed glad to have a professional onboard. He counseled prisoners for crying out loud. Surely he could handle them.

But when Tony saw the men, he was taken aback. “What on earth happened to you guys?”

“What do you mean?” Reno asked him.

“Somebody beat the shit out of y’all. What happened?”

Teddy shook his head. “Don’t ask,” he said.

Tony smiled. Big Daddy had schooled him on what happened, but it was still jarring to see such powerful men reduced to men battered by their wives. It had to be humbling. “Do me a favor,” he said as soon as he sat down and got a full lay of the land. “Sit next to your spouse, please.”

Charles and Jenay glanced at each other. That wasn’t going to happen! But when Tony just sat there staring at them, as if he absolutely expected it to happen, the men began getting up and moving toward their spouses. For Tommy and Grace, it was a piece of cake. For the others it was more challenging. But the men and women moved themselves and their chairs beside each other. The only man that didn’t move was Mick. The only woman that didn’t move was Roz. But Tony figured that would happen.

When everybody settled down, Tony settled his eyes on Roz. “Aunt Roz?”

It took a moment for her to respond, but she did look at him. “Yes?”

“You seem to have a quizzical look on your face. Do you have a question for me?”

“I do, matter of fact.”

“By all means let me have it.”

“What I don’t understand is why you’re here. How in hell are you supposed to be able to help our relationships when you’ve munked -up every relationship you’ve ever had?”

They all thought it was kind of harsh, given that he was having issues in his current relationship too, but they all knew it was true. They looked at Tony. Tony looked as if he was taking her question under advisement. Then he nodded his head. “Valid point,” he ultimately said. Then he folded his legs. “How many of you think that this retreat is a waste of time?”

They all, except for Mick, raised their hands. Sal and Reno raised both hands.

“Okay,” Tony said. “You may leave.”

Even Charles and Jenay were surprised. And especially the couples. They began looking around and putting their hands down. “Leave?” asked Reno.

“Absolutely,” said Tony. “I’m sure my father doesn’t want to waste a moment of your time.”

“But,” said Sal, “nothing’s resolved.”

“Do you want something resolved?”

“Hell yeah we do!”

“Then I’ll ask it again. How many of you think that this retreat is a waste of your time?”

Not a hand went up. Charles smiled. He knew his son was brilliant, and that just proved it. Now everybody had skin in the game.

“Let’s begin with you, Roz,” he said as if her earlier point might have been valid, but it wasn’t going to deter him in the least. He knew that her and Mick’s problems were herculean. If he could get them back on track, the others would realize they could get back on track too. “Am I right to assume that Uncle Mick is the one at fault?”

Roz frowned. “Damn right he’s at fault!”

“What did he do?”

“What didn’t he do is a shorter list.”

Tony knew her too well. He wasn’t letting her off the hook that easily. He continued to look at her.

Roz knew anybody else would have moved on. But Tony was raised by Big Daddy. Nothing got passed him. So she stopped the one-upmanship and answered his question. “He has over a hundred texts on his phone, all to the same married woman, where he repeatedly says he loves her.”

There was an audible gasp in the room. Mick telling somebody he loved them? He hardly went there with his own children! That was why Teddy was so shocked. Nikki knew it was bad, because she was there when the husband showed Roz the texts, but she had no idea how bad it was.

“And that’s why,” Roz started saying but her voice began to crack. She was near tears again. But she refused to cry. She steeled herself. “That’s why I’m filing for divorce,” she said. Then she looked at Mick for the first time that day. “She can have him. I’m done with his ass.”

Nobody in that room believed that. But Roz had a way of looking like she believed it.

And that was when, she was pleased to see, that Tony turned to Mick. Nobody ever seemed to want to confront Mick and call him out on his bullshit, but Tony did. “She’s done with your ass, Uncle Mick,” he said. “Are you done with hers?”

It was the most direct question that could have been asked. Everybody held their collective breath. Everybody, including Roz, stared hard at Mick.

He had his big, muscular arms folded as he sat there seemingly reviewing his options. It took nearly twenty seconds before he even moved a muscle. And even then it was only his thumb as it rubbed the cleft in his chin. Because he was inwardly fighting against himself. He wanted to lash out at her, and make it clear he was done with her ass too. No more restraint. No more going home to Roz when he could have his pick of the litter. And that would be that.

But he knew that would be a lie.

A painful look appeared on his face that seemed to age him before everybody’s eyes. “No,” he said, shocking the room.

Even Charles exhaled. He just knew Mick was going to let Roz have it and plunge them all into a place of no return. But Mick was smart if he was anything. He probably knew that too.

But Roz was still skeptical. He said a word. That was all that was to her. Because she saw those texts. She saw I love you plastered on his phone repeatedly like a dagger in her heart every time she saw it. It was going to take a whole lot more than a word to bring her back from the brink.

Nobody knew it, but Tony inwardly exhaled too. Mick was the lynchpin of his entire strategy. If Mick gave up, it was going to be difficult to get anybody else to give in. But he wasn’t about to let Mick off the hook either. “That answer tells me that you want your wife back. What are you willing to do, Uncle Mick, to win her back?”

Now we were talking, Roz thought. Now we were getting somewhere. What was his ass willing to do ? Not talk. But do!

Not that it was going to matter. It was what his ass had already done that was the problem. But she was dying to hear him worm his way out of this one.

Mick knew Roz was skeptical. He knew her like he knew his name. She wanted a plan. She wanted steps. She wanted a process to win back her heart. She had the wrong one if she thought he was going to do all that shit. “Move on, Tony,” he warned his nephew.

Although everybody else was disappointed, Roz wasn’t. In an odd way, she took solace in knowing that Mick didn’t spew out bullshit bullet points and A, B, and Cs that she knew he would never do. He might have been a cheater, but he was never a liar. Nikki was right about that. When she got the truth from him, she knew it was going to be the truth.

And she forgot the middleman, and addressed him directly. “Do you love her?” she asked him.

Nobody had expected Roz to accept his response, but she had accepted it better than they did. And came with a question of her own.

It was such a ridiculous question to Mick that a part of him wanted to lash out at her. What do you think , he wanted to ask. But he knew that would only set her off again. “No,” he said to Roz.

Roz found that hard to believe. But yet a part of her believed him! Was she that whipped? Was she so blinded by her love for him that she couldn’t see shit for what it was anymore? Although everybody else were inwardly sighing relief that it wasn’t a love affair situation, Roz was nowhere near satisfied. She wanted the full story and she wanted it now. “Then why did you repeatedly lie and say you loved her if you don’t?”

Mick was still cool, but he still looked distressed too. This laying it all out on the table in front of everybody was not something he was comfortable with. But for Roz, but for his marriage, he was doing it. “She has something that I want.”

That got Roz’s fears ignited. What was it? Great sex? A younger body? What ? “What could that woman possibly have that you want?” she asked him.

“Video,” he said.

Roz’s heart dropped. “Of you with another woman?”

Mick didn’t skip a beat. “Of you with another man.”

When Mick said those words, another audible gasp filled the room. Even Charles didn’t see that one coming! They all looked at Roz this time, waiting for her to tell Mick he had lost his damn mind.

But all they got was silence.

Had a pin dropped, it would have sounded like a boulder.