“That’s good,” Ivan told her. “But for right now, we just want to get their general appearance and promotional prices, and not that performance or concert shit. Because that’s a whole ’nother ball game. You feel me?”

Lucina nodded. She was satisfied with where their conversation had ended.

“I feel you,” she answered him.

Ivan joked on romantic instincts. “So, I guess you can spend the night and make up with me now, right?”

It all came out so smoothly Lucina was unable to feel offended. Instead, she smiled at him and asked, “Would you say that to me if I were a man?”

Ivan smiled back. “But you’re not a man.”

“Nevertheless, this is business,” she told him, “and I like to keep it that way.” She walked toward the door and said, “Good night, Ivan. I will call you tomorrow to begin making plans for the next level of parties.”

When she walked out of the door and closed it behind her, Ivan took a breath and wondered about her. He nodded to himself and mumbled, “Yeah, she likes me. She just likes the money a little bit more right now.”

And I can’t complain about that, he mused. I like this money right now, too.

THE NEXT NIGHT, Ivan invited Christina over to his apartment before running out to another weekend event. Chris was not nearly as engaging as she usually was. She had a lot on her mind that Friday evening, and she would not allow Ivan to work in a quickie of sexual satisfaction.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

Christina had settled in on the living room sofa and would not budge.

“I just don’t feel like it tonight, Ivan,” she told him.

Ivan waited to hear more. Christina was a woman of layers.

She said, “I’m thinking about going back to school.”

Ivan looked at her and nodded. Higher education was on her mind.

He asked her, “How many years did you do?”

“Two.”

“And you would go back to school to study what?”

“Business administration,” she answered. She had thought about it in detail.

Ivan then wondered about Catherine Boone and how she was making out in her new job.

He asked Christina, “Were you studying business before, or you just decided you want to study it now?”

She faced him and said, “I just decided on it. I mean, I don’t plan to be a hostess at parties for the rest of my life. What kind of life would that be?”

Ivan nodded again in silence. She had a point.

She said, “But I may need for you to sponsor me.”

Ivan heard that comment and frowned. “Sponsor you? What do you mean?”

“I mean, help me to go, Ivan. Colleges cost money.”