Chip told him, “And you’re just gonna assume that I can’t help you and leave me hanging to pick up Mike? Some friend you are, Ivan. And after all this time of me looking out for you, that’s how you repay me.”

Ivan said, “What do you mean, looking out for me? I always did my own work.”

“I mean that I was there when you first got hired,” Chip answered. “I was the one who helped you to become comfortable with the job, the managers, the workload, and everything at the office. You still remember any of that?”

Ivan said, “I would have done the same thing for you. But you didn’t really advance since then, man. And you need to ask yourself why. It’s not my fault.”

Chip became silent for a minute. Ivan had no idea how he would respond to that. So he waited it out.

Finally, Chip asked him, “Are you sure you don’t have any other positions?”

Ivan paused to think about it. He needed more time to do so, and while his mind was not on other ideas and issues.

“Give me a few days to think about that.”

Chip said, “Yeah, I could use a new job away from this place.”

Ivan responded, “Well, give me a call back next week sometime.”

When he hung up the phone with him, Ivan smiled to himself. He could really feel the weight of his new authority. In less than a year, he had become an official boss.

“Well, how ’bout that?” he questioned himself. Guys I used to work with want to work for me now.

He arrived at Lucina’s stone-built home and was practically walking on air.

Lucina met him inside of her doorway.

“Can a guy at least ring your doorbell?” he teased her.

“You could have if you were not late,” she told him.

Ivan smiled it off. “Here we go with that again.”

She walked toward the passenger side of his car. It was parked behind her Mercedes in the driveway.

“How do you like how it handles?” she asked him.

Ivan stopped and said, “Lucina, this car is worth a quarter of a million dollars. She better handle me like a woman in love or I’m taking her back in a week.”

Lucina was not amused. She stopped at the passenger-side door and stared at him. She said, “How come everything you say to me now has a sexual overtone? I don’t like that. And you didn’t used to talk to me that way.”

She wanted to keep her same level of respect from Ivan no matter how big he got. That was Lucina’s way. Respect was pivotal.

Ivan stared back at her. He didn’t even mean it like that. But Lucina would not climb into the car until he had something to say about it.