Roz smiled at the assembled staff as Carolyn led her into the massive home.
Talk about beautiful. Roz was blown away by the beauty. She stood in the middle of a foyer that was as large as her entire Brooklyn apartment, where marbled floors and chandeliers and duel staircases met her as she entered. This was no home. This was a showplace. This was the place that magazines filmed when they needed to capture luxury for their dreamy-eyed subscribers.
“I’ll show you to your room,” Carolyn said as she escorted Roz up one of the staircases. Roz had no intention of staying at Mick’s home while she was in town. She had, in fact, reserved a hotel room for herself before she left New York. But she was not going to discuss that with Mick’s staff. That was an issue she would take up with him.
“I hope your trip proved satisfactory,” Carolyn said as they walked up the stairs.
“It was very nice, thank you,” Roz responded.
“It’s not a long trip from New York, but like all trips it can be taxing nonetheless.”
Roz didn’t find anything taxing about the trip, so she did not reply.
“How long do you plan to stay?”
“A few days. I’m not real sure.” She had a week off, but Mick might not want her there that long. She was playing it strictly one day at a time.
They arrived on the second floor landing, but kept going up, to the third floor. And Carolyn kept with the questions. “We’re happy to have you regardless of how long you stay.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ve known Mr. Sinatra how long?”
Roz didn’t see where that was her business. “Is that a matter a house manager will need to know?” she asked Carolyn.
Carolyn was at first surprised by the question, but then she smiled it off. “We’re very protective of our boss,” she said. “That’s all.”
“Oh,” Roz said with a smile. “I can understand that.” And she could. But she still didn’t answer the question.
Carolyn was perturbed by her refusal to answer, but she let it go. If word got back to Mick that she had even asked the question, she knew there would be hell to pay. One thing he was clear about to her when he hired her three years ago: run his household, but stay out of his business.
“Here we are,” Carolyn said as she swept open the double doors to a bedroom so incredible, and so filled with Mick’s wonderful scent, that Roz looked at her. “You may rest here.”
“Is this Mr. Sinatra’s bedroom?”
“Why, yes. This is where he told me to place you. And before you take my head off, I agree with you. It is highly inappropriate. He has never, and I mean never had an overnight guest that he put up in his own bedroom. He has never even put them up in the main house. They always stayed in one of his numerous guest houses on the property. No matter how big they are, no matter what relationship he has with them, they always stay in one of the guest houses. But he told me to put you up in his bedroom. I’m doing what I was told to do.”
Carolyn expected Roz to be offended. And she was highly offended at first. But Carolyn’s own words changed her mind. Mick never made this request of any of his previous overnight guests, many of whom, if not all, were undoubtedly female. By Carolyn’s own account, this would be a first for Mick.
Roz felt some kind of happy about that reality. Because she, unlike Carolyn, understood what it meant. He wasn’t putting her up in his room simply because they were going to engage in sexual activity while she was in town. Even if she had gone straight to her hotel room and never stepped foot in Mick’s home, they would still engage in sexual activity. That went without saying. But he separated her from the rest. The fact that he wanted her to stay, not only in the main house, but in his own bedroom in the main house, was telling to Roz. This man was serious about their relationship. This man, if she were to be so bold as to think it, was serious about her.
“You can always object,” Carolyn suggested. “That way, I will be justified in putting you up in his myriad of guest rooms. Or even one of the guest houses, if you prefer. That’s what I would do. If I were you, I wouldn’t allow a man to treat me this way.”
Roz knew Carolyn’s type too. She was probably in love with Mick herself. She’d be thrilled to put Roz up in the guest house. Roz wasn’t going to stay on his property at all. She had her own hotel reservation. But again, that wasn’t Carolyn’s business. “No,” Roz said. “This will be fine.”
She could see that look in Carolyn’s eyes. But Carolyn smiled it off. “Very well,” she said. “I’ll let you rest. If you would like a tour of the grounds, please let me know and I will be happy to assist. Or would you care for something to eat or drink?”
“I’m good, thank you,” Roz said. “I don’t need anything right now.”