The car boss began to shake his head and chuckle. He said, “How old are you again, Ivan, twenty-nine going on fifty? You just get those proposals together for me, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Ivan nodded and smiled to him. “Okay. That’s fair.”

HIS NEXT BIG MEETING was with Lucina and Seth Gardner, the marine broker, who specialized in the sales of large yachts and ocean cruise liners. Seth wanted to meet with them out on a yacht to show it off and let his promoters see what they would be working with.

When they made it deep out into San Diego Bay and headed toward the Pacific Ocean, Ivan thought back to his elevated view from the window of the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel room with Catherine.

This is insane, he told himself of his lightning-speed progress. In less than a year, I’m out here on a big private yacht already. And I don’t own this shit yet, but I’m out here, he mused.

He had to stop from smiling the whole time, while forcing himself to think about the business. On the other hand, Lucina had been on plenty of boats around the world. She was cool, calm, and collected, with the sea breeze blowing through her radiant two-toned hair. And as they stood out on the front deck of the boat, admiring the yacht’s luxury, their unobstructed view of the ocean, and their comfortable place in the world, Ivan couldn’t help but notice how every part of wealth fit in perfectly with his partner. Lucina’s poise and beauty made her seem to deserve it all. So Ivan was sidetracked into watching her.

Man, I feel like that movie, Titanic. I just want to hold her and kiss her right here at the front of this boat, he mused. I want her to open up to me.

Ivan was locked in his daydream, which had nothing to do with business.

“What do you think, Ivan?” Lucina asked him, breaking him out of it.

“Oh, ah…it’s all good. It’s nice. This is good money.” He said, “But we would need a bigger boat for an all-out party, though. This would be more of a private invitation party.”

Then he stopped and looked back at Seth, who idled patiently behind them. He wasn’t into overselling the product. He preferred to let the boats do the talking for him. And while they were out there in the middle of the bay, they couldn’t rush away anywhere.

“Or…we could do both,” Ivan suggested to him, taking a page out of his meeting with Roman Zemeckis. If it worked once, then make it work again.

Seth nodded and thought it over, remaining calm. He said, “Whatever size you need, or whatever event you come up with, I can make it happen.”