So he came up with his own response system. He said, “I’m basically seeing what their tastes are like today. But this store isn’t going anywhere, and they both plan to settle down here in San Diego. So we’ll have plenty of time to come back.”

“Oh, I see,” the salesclerk commented with a nod. “So you two are both from out of town?” she said addressing the girls.

“Yeah,” Audrey answered. “But we both would like a change of pace, you know? San Diego is nice.”

Ivan didn’t believe her. She seemed to have lost a chunk of her luster as soon as she realized that he wasn’t buying them anything. Ivan made note of that along with everything else he observed.

When they walked out of the Fendi store empty handed, they bumped into Emilio Alvarez from the San Diego Padres.

“Hey, E.A., what’s going on, man? Where have you been? I tried to invite you out to two of our last events.”

At first Emilio had to look twice at Ivan’s new haircut.

“Oh, shit, Ivan, you cut your hair down,” he responded. “That looks good on you. You look like an agent now.”

Ivan laughed it off and noticed that Emilio was with a new, white girlfriend. She had shopping bags full of expensive items with her. She had authentic blond hair and gray eyes, but she didn’t look half as stunning as either one of the two girls with Ivan. She looked frail, with weak skin, and lacked a body. Ivan saw that and felt sorry for the baseball player immediately. He was being taken to the bank by a seven instead of a nine. Maybe he allowed it because she was white.

Audrey looked at his new girlfriend, carrying the shopping bags, and she stood right there in front of them for an introduction. Ivan went ahead and gave her one just to see what she would do with it.

“Oh, this is, ah, Audrey from Las Vegas, and Christina from Seattle.”

Emilio nodded to both of them. “Nice to meet you.”

Audrey stared at him and said nothing. Chris cracked her dimpled smile again.

Emilio looked at Ivan and said, “Yeah, I heard about your parties, man, but I was just busy trying to stay focused on my first baseball season in the majors.”

Ivan nodded. “I understand. You gotta do what you gotta do. But I’ll have some more things coming up for you.”

Audrey heard that and continued to stand there, soaking it all up. Just like at Hooters, Emilio didn’t bother to introduce his companion.

Finally, she said, “I need the keys. I’m going to the car.”

Emilio dug into his pocket for his Mercedes key ring. He told her, “I’ll be right out in a minute.”