Mari and Ilna—I am grateful every day for the laughter and the friendship. You guys are the best.

Sandy—thanks for over a decade of sharing laughs and tears. Thankfully there have been more of the former than the latter.

REAL McRollers—I can't come close to expressing how much your support and enthusiasm mean to me. I know I sound like a broken record but as usual I am embarrassingly behind on replying to reviews. Please know that every single one is read and treasured.

It's Really All About Tony Bennett (1/1)

Sidestreet

Friday 7:00 P.M.

"Sorry I'm late," Catherine said as she slid into the chair next to Steve's and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I was just confirming a few last details."

"No problem," he smiled. "We just got here a couple of minutes ago ourselves. The meeting with Frank Kaewa took longer than expected."

"Anything wrong?" her voice was tinged with concern. Steve and Danny were the star witnesses in a murder trial kicking off Monday and the last thing they needed was a problem cropping up now.

"No," Steve assured her, "Just a lot of little details. Everything's fine. We'll be ready."

It had been a long, exhausting day and neither of them felt like cooking so they decided to stop at Sidestreet on the way home and grab a quick dinner. When they found out Gabby was working late and Grace was spending the night at Linda's they invited Danny to join them.

Catherine looked up and smiled as Danny returned from the bar carrying three cold beers.

"Perfect timing," he said as he handed each of them a bottle before dropping down tiredly into a chair on the opposite side of the table. "Ryan said the kitchen is pretty backed up tonight so I ordered some appetizers while we wait. He send he'll send them over ASAP."

"Sounds good," Steve nodded. "Thanks."

"Actually that works out perfectly. It'll give us a chance to go over a few things about Nonna and Grandma Ang's trip to Atlantic City." Catherine grabbed a napkin to use as a coaster then pulled out her tablet. "I made most of the reservations this afternoon. I want to handle as many details as possible now so they don't have to deal with it once they get there."

"Of course you do." Steve gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Organization is your middle name."

Catherine grinned.

"Seriously, thanks for taking care of most of this, Cath. I really appreciate it. And I'm sure the grandmas will to. Who knows how things would have ended up if Steve and I had to make the arrangements."

"My pleasure," she said. "I talked to Mary on the way over here and we're happy with everything we have so far but we wanted to check with you guys and see if there's anything you want to add. Keeping in mind we want to leave them plenty of free time to go to the casino or the pool or whatever else they might want to do."

"Whatever you guys decide is fine with me," Steve leaned back in his chair. "You know I'm not very good at this stuff."

"That's not true at all," Catherine said softly as she dropped her hand to his knee and squeezed gently. Their eyes met and she smiled. She could tell by the shy look on his face he knew exactly what she was referring to.

Her thwarted birthday weekend in LA.

They both happily passed on the trip for the chance to spend a few days at home with Mary and Joanie but when she saw the itinerary of what Steve had planned she was incredibly touched.

It showed exactly how well he knew her.

He had passed on the glitzy downtown hotels and reservations at trendy restaurants in favor of arranging a stay at a smaller boutique property with lots of interesting history he knew she would love. With a vintage movie theater right down the street and several historic properties within walking distance ready to be explored it was Catherine's idea of a perfect weekend getaway.

He'd clearly put a lot of time and effort into researching and choosing the just the right place and that meant more to her than the trip itself.

She wasn't worried. She knew they'd get there someday.

But family came first and neither of them regretted that for a minute.

Danny watched from across the table as once again his friends seemed to be having an entire conversation without uttering a single word. He'd gotten accustomed to seeing it happen over the years but still there was something about it that amazed him every time.

He smiled then cleared his throat.

"A few last details," he asked leadingly, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"Yeah, just a couple of things." Catherine smiled as she tore her eyes away from Steve and turned to look at Danny. "First off, your friend at the Borgata came through big time. He got us an amazing discount on a suite. He must have really owed you."

"It wasn't that big a deal. I helped get his nephew out of a jam a few months back," Danny explained. "Nothing big … just kid stuff really … but Stu was afraid it was gonna hurt the kid's chances of getting into a good college. He assured me it was a one-time thing with some knucklehead friends … and I believed him. I asked around. The kid had no record … good grades ... so I made a few calls. Kid did community service and three months later got accepted to Princeton."

"Well Stu is apparently very grateful," Catherine smiled. "Upper floor, great view, plenty of space. I'll email you a video tour but trust me, it's impressive."

"That sounds perfect," Steve nodded approvingly. "Upper floors are usually safer. Plus I feel better with them all in a suite. That way Joseph will be close at hand if anything comes up. You never know who might see two older ladies and think they're easy targets."

"I hadn't thought of it that way," Danny warmed to the idea immediately, "but that's definitely as plus."

Catherine smiled softly at the two men and their over-protective natures, especially when it came to Nonna and Grandma Ang. She took a deep breath, sure the next piece of news she had to share likely wasn't going to be received with the same level of enthusiasm.

"Well, you might wanna try to hang on to that warm fuzzy feeling for this next piece of news." She decided the 'tear off the band-aid' approach was the best way to handle things and plowed forward. "The burlesque review is a go."

"What?" Steve and Danny asked simultaneously, matching incredulous looks on their faces.

"Both Nonna and Grandma Ang want to see the show. My mom does too as a matter of fact. So I booked four tickets for the Friday night performance." Catherine tried to keep her tone matter of fact.

She watched their faces as they processed the information.

"I just can NOT picture Nonna at a burlesque show," Danny grumbled.

"Really?" Catherine smiled. "I can. Grandma Ang too."

"Well I don't want to hear any details. I'll tell you that." Steve shook his head adamantly. "I mean there's nothing wrong with … you know … and them dancing without … you know … " he waved his hand in the general direction of Catherine's torso, "but I don't want to hear either Grandma Ang or Nonna describe it."

"Amen to that." Danny drained the last of his beer.

"I'll make sure I tell them," Catherine smiled indulgently. "It might make you feel better that after some back and forth they've decided to take a pass on the massages and book a haircut and style at the salon instead. They're going to splurge on a manicure as well."

"That sounds like a much better plan," Danny said and Steve nodded in agreement. "They should do more things like that."

"A trip to the salon is something they can do at home," Catherine scoffed. "They're going to Atlantic City to do things they can't do every day."

"Like gamble and see burlesque shows?" Danny asked uncomfortably.

"Exactly." Catherine took a long draw on her beer.

"If a trip to the salon is something they could do at home then why did they decide to book it," Steve asked. As uneasy as the thought of the burlesque show made him he wanted to make sure Nonna and Grandma Ang had a good time and filled the weekend with fun things they really wanted to do.

"Oh that's easy. They want to get themselves all fancied up to see the Tony Bennett show Saturday night." The excitement both Nonna and Grandma Ang expressed about the chance to see one of their singing idols was contagious and Catherine's eyes twinkled at the memory of it.

"It's really all about Tony Bennett, isn't it?" Steve smirked.

"He is kinda dreamy," Catherine sighed.

"Are you kidding?" Danny paused as a waiter approached the table and delivered the appetizers he ordered at the bar.

"Can I get you anything else?" the young man asked.

"Another round when you get a chance," Danny answered. "That should do it for now."

He turned back to Catherine as the waiter made his way towards the bar. "Kinda dreamy? The man has to be close to 90 years old."

"You should look that good at 90," Catherine scoffed. "With those eyes. And that smile. And don't even get me started on the voice."

Danny stared at Steve in disbelief. "Did you know about this?"

"She inherited her love of Tony from Grandma Ang," Steve smiled.

"Wait, it gets better," Catherine added excitedly. "Mary spent all day yesterday and most of this morning making calls and she finally found four VIP tickets to the show with … wait for it … a chance to go backstage and meet Tony Bennett after the show."

"Are you kidding? Nonna will plotz," Danny said happily.

"Grandma Ang may need smelling salts," Steve chuckled.

"They both know about the show, of course, but we're keeping the backstage part a secret until they get there so please don't spoil it," Catherine implored them.

Both Steve and Danny nodded.

"Seriously," she continued, "Mary worked incredibly hard on making this happen and she really wants it to be a surprise."

"I think it's great," Steve said sincerely. He was thrilled Mary had these amazing women in her life and he knew this surprise was her way of thanking them for taking her in and making her part of their families. Giving them both something that would make them so happy would make her happy in return and there was no way Steve was going to do anything to spoil it. "My lips are sealed."

"Mine too," Danny promised.

"So that's about it for the big stuff," Catherine said. "Unless there's something you guys want to add."

"Nothing I can think of," Steve said. "Sounds like you guys have everything covered."

Danny nodded in agreement. "Works for me."

"My mom got someone to cover her Friday classes so my folks and Grandma Ang will drive down in the morning and pick up Nonna then they're off to the Borgata. They'll have plenty of time to get settled in before the burlesque show that night."

"We certainly wouldn't anything to stand in the way of that," Danny groused.

"I offered to make dinner reservations for them but they both said they'd rather play it by ear once they got there," Catherine continued, ignoring Danny's ongoing discomfort with the idea of the grandmothers at a show where partial nudity was involved.

"That's understandable I guess," Danny shrugged. "Can't leave a hot slot machine for something as unimportant as a dinner reservation. Nonna will probably have a few granola bars in her purse for just such a situation."

"Grandma Ang always carries a few bottles of water in hers so the two of them should be just fine," Steve chuckled. "And even if they run out of something I'm sure they can get the hotel employees to wrangle whatever they need. Who could say no them?"

"Very true." Danny looked at Catherine and shook his head. "Your folks are gonna have their hands full."

"Are you kidding," she beamed. "They're looking forward to it."

The waiter returned with another round of beers and cleared away the empties. As soon as he was gone Danny raised his bottle in a toast. "To Atlantic City … which has no idea what's about to hit it."

THE END

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