“Well, only if you promise to be nice to me,” he said with a soft laugh. “And I promise to be a gentleman.”
“Deal. Where would you like to meet?”
“There’s this small Italian restaurant on the north side of town,”
he said.
“Fazio’s?”
“You know it?”
“Sure do. Joe’s daughter is one of my patients in remission.
That’s a perfect place. I’d love to see Joe.” “About seven o’clock okay with you?”
“Do you think we can get reservations at the last minute like
this?”
“I think we can make that happen.” “Okay, then. I’ll see you at seven.”
Just as Nick hung up, Jerry popped his head through the door. “Hey, uh, Bella said that Shelly White called for you? And Bongero’s on the warpath again.”
“Yes, I know, and yes, she did,” said Nick. He leaned back in his chair. “Why’d you tell Bella about our little conversation this morning?”
“I didn’t think it was hush-hush,” Jerry answered. “Did she really call?”
“Sure did. We’re having dinner at Fazio’s at seven.” He smiled. “Fazio’s at seven with the very chick who gave you a bad time this morning? What a strange woman.” Jerry took a seat in one of
the matching tan leather chairs that flanked Nick’s desk. “Same one.”
“Wow, what the hell happened for her to change her mind so
fast?”
“I don’t know. As I said, she called me. I did tell her about Chucky this morning. Maybe she checked to make sure I was telling the truth.”
“She checked all right. That’s the way she is. She works on the old Reagan theory. ”
“What’s that?” “Trust, but verify.”
“You know Dad had to disclose our names with that donation we made. Taxes or something. I hope she’s not being nice because of that.”