“Thank God,” Roz said. “But why didn’t Leo just take you out himself right then?”
“Because he couldn’t take over my territory if it went down like that. Because the truth always got out. There was always a witness somewhere. He had to be the last man standing. He had to be the legitimate heir to the throne. Nobody was going to promote a double-crosser. Somebody else had to do his dirty work.”
“He probably took out the two Dons, and would have killed me, because he had no choice.”
Mick nodded his head. “Yeah. That’s what I figure too. He was a dead motherfucker just thinking he could get away with harming you.”
Roz smiled.
“But anyway,” Mick said, “I have some good news.”
Roz looked at him. “What?”
“Joey called.”
“About our dinner invitation?”
“Yup. He was the last one. He said he can make it too. That means all of them have accepted.”
Roz was thrilled to hear it.
“I can’t change what happened with Shane,” Mick said, “but I’m determined to get it right with the others.”
Roz rubbed Mick’s muscular arm. This man, she thought, was really trying to change. “And you will,” she said. “This is a good first step. But it’s a work in progress. It’s going to take time. Only no more fake smiles and surface conversations. Hear them out. If they’re ready to be heard.”
Mick nodded. Then he looked at Roz. She could tell more was on his mind. “I was thinking,” he said.
“Again?”
Mick smiled. “Alright now. But I was thinking that maybe, when this project is finished, you and I can take a trip to Jericho.”
Roz was floored. “To Jericho, Maine? To your hometown?” To the town he said he hated?
Mick nodded. “Yeah. To my hometown.”
Roz studied him. “May I ask why?”
“I have men. Operatives. You know what I call them?”
“What?”
“I call them my ghostbusters.”
Roz laughed. “Your ghostbusters? Now I know they call your underworld network Poltergeist, because you see it, but don’t see it. But you have ghostbusters too?”
“I have ghostbusters. They go in and take care of enemies from my past. But this part of my past, the Jericho part, can’t be contracted out. I’ve got to bust those ghosts myself.” He looked at Roz. “But I’m going to need you by my side.”
Roz looked up at him. And wrapped her arms around him too. “You know I’ll be there,” she said. “Our relationship is still young, but don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”
Those words were music to Mick’s ears. He pulled her closer, and looked into her eyes. “I love you, Rosalind Graham,” he said. And then a seriousness came over him that Roz had never seen before. “I truly love you.”
Roz smiled. It was the first time had had verbalized it. “I love you too,” she said.
And Mick pulled her closer still. And despite the eyes of the construction workers, and their pointing, and elbowing, he kissed his beloved, passionately, once again.