She expected Agnes to tell her to call her Agnes or whatever nickname, but she did not. She wanted to keep her superiority intact. But Mick cut her down to size. “Call her Agnes,” he said to Roz.
Roz could tell Agnes didn’t like it, but being the trooper she was, she went along with it. “Yes, please,” she said dramatically. “Or Aggie. That’s what Micky calls me.”
Roz didn’t respond to that. And Barry took over. After finding out what they all wanted to drink, he headed for the bar in the living room while they headed for the sofa.
Agnes placed her arm in Roz’s arm and escort her to the sofa. “Did Micky bore you with silence on the ride over?” she asked. Mick followed behind them. “He’s no big talker, you know.”
“It was a nice ride over,” was all Roz would say about it.
“Yes, but were you bored?” Agnes asked. “Micky never bores me, but I’ve heard from his previous ladies how inattentive he can be.”
But as Roz was about to sit on the sofa, Agnes steered her to the flanking chair. “The best seat in the house for you, Rosalind,” she said, as Roz sat down in the chair. “Or can I call you Roz? Most Rosalinds prefer Roz.”
“Roz is fine.”
Agnes sat in the middle of the sofa, and patted the seat for Mick to sit beside her. He did, but not on the cushion where she was patting, but on the seat beside Roz’s chair. Mick didn’t play games, not even with Agnes.
“So,” Agnes said to him, that award-winning smile again. “I was absolutely blown away when Barry told me you were actually going to come and break bread with us. It’s been such a long time.”
“You know Barry,” Mick said. “He doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“He loves you,” Agnes said. “He worries about you like a brother.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Barry said from across the room, and everybody laughed.
Actresses who worked with him before told Roz that he was a straight shooter who called it like he saw it. He never cast Roz in any of his Broadway productions, only his off-Broadway shows, so he apparently didn’t see any great acting chops in her. But she couldn’t hold that against him. He preferred a certain type of actress, and she wasn’t that type. That didn’t mean she wasn’t a good actress. That didn’t mean she was going to steer clear of every one of his productions. No way. Broadway, and by extension Broadway producers and directors, were as fickle as the rain. One day you’re the toast of the town, the next day you’re just toast. On any given day, any decent actress could get any part. Actresses like Roz lived for those given days.
Mick leaned back and crossed his legs.
Agnes leaned back too, putting herself shoulder to shoulder with Mick. “I was going to set you up with this very nice lady,” she said, “but Barry told me not to do it. He said that was the only way you would come.”
“That’s right,” Mick said.
“I see why now,” Agnes said with that smile again, as she looked at Roz. “She’s lovely.”
Mick looked at Roz too. “I agree.”
“Not the drop dead types I’ve seen you with, but she’s cute.”
The dagger, Roz thought. And Mick looked at her, as if she was going to argue Agnes’ point. But Roz knew her worth. She held her peace.
But Mick didn’t. “I think she’s stunning,” he said to Agnes. “Inside and out.”
Barry, from the back of the bar in the back of the room, watched Mick as he watched Roz. Mick almost never gave his date a compliment like that.
“We weren’t expecting you to bring your own date, however,” Agnes continued. “That’s my point.”
Roz knew this date wasn’t exactly long term planning on Mick’s part, but she at least thought he would have warned their dinner hosts that he was bringing someone with him. But apparently he had not.
“I knew an additional person would not be a problem,” he said.
“But what if I would have defied Barry, as I am known to do, and invited that nice young lady along anyway? This would have been a very awkward situation.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” Barry said from behind the bar. “Not for Micky, anyway. He would have told that chick to get lost without giving it a second thought.”
“And by hurting her feelings he would have hurt mine,” Agnes pointed out.
But Barry snorted. He knew his wife too well. “You would have gotten over it.”
“And sooner rather than later,” Mick added, and Barry laughed.
“Very funny,” Agnes said, smiling too.
Barry arrived with their drinks on a tray. Roz took hers, Mick took his, and then Barry gave his wife her drink and sat down beside her. Agnes, Roz noticed, slanted away from Mick and toward Barry.
“So,” Agnes said to Roz, “how long have you known this rascal?”
“About three weeks,” Roz said.
“They met at the auditions,” Barry said.
Agnes looked at him. “Your auditions?”
“Yup.”
“Oh.” Agnes was surprised. “So you’re an actress too?”
“I am, yes.”
“Of any note?”
Roz didn’t realize she had hesitated, but she did. Mick and Barry both were looking at her. “I’ve had some success off-Broadway,” she said.
“When?”