Ivan couldn’t believe it. All of that for a girl? I hope he’s not talking about Lucina, though.

“What does she look like?”

“She’s a blond, with green eyes, wearing a hot pink top and a black skirt, about halfway down the latest party photo gallery page.”

Ivan smiled. “Oh, that’s, ah…Janine.” He knew the exact picture.

“And there’s this other girl right across the page from her in this white hat that just stands out in the middle of the crowd.”

“Gretchen,” Ivan told him. Then he laughed. “People really do look at those pictures, hunh?”

“Come on, man, you got the hottest girls on there,” Chip responded. “And you know them all by name. So make sure you invite me to the next big party.”

Ivan said, “Yeah, I’ll introduce you. But I got a meeting to make right now.”

“Hey, do what you do, man.”

When Chip climbed out of the car, he got Ivan thinking again. With these white girls mixed in all over the website now, I wonder how many white men are watching me. And I wonder who they would all like to meet.

It was a thought that remained with him when he met up with Eddie for lunch.

He walked in a few minutes late and said, “Eddie, let me ask you a question. What do you think about the girls we post on the website?”

Eddie K. was already munching on a turkey club at his table. He nodded to Ivan with wide eyes and mumbled, “They’re the best. We’re, like, an interactive Maxim magazine.”

“You think everybody sees that?” Ivan asked him.

“Of course. Are you kidding me? The photo galleries still get the most visits. We didn’t have anything like that at the newspapers,” he added.

Ivan nodded and kept his thoughts to himself. Even legitimate businessmen are more concerned about the girls, hunh? Okay. So be it.

Then he returned to business. “So, anyway, Hutch and Mitchell agreed today to sponsor our financial corner page; then I’ll have my guy Thomas Jones to help us set up the sponsorship of the real estate page.”

Eddie nodded, loving everything he heard. He said, “This thing is really shaping up to be an online magazine. We’ll be posting close to fifteen pages now. And that means more space for advertisement. Me and the guys were even thinking about a few things.”

Whenever Eddie mentioned “me and the guys,” he was referring to Jeff and Paul, the undergraduate webmasters. They had all become quite friendly.

Ivan said, “Yeah, what about?”

Eddie looked at him and paused. He answered, “Well, we know you’re being quite generous with us on the commissions and all, but we were just wondering out loud if we could buy into the company at some point. Or at least make us an offer before you make offers to anyone else.”