Paul said, “No, I think he wants to talk to you about doing something with the website. She told him she owes her popularity all to us.”

“Yeah, and she said her father owns a casino on the reservation or something,” Jeff filled in.

Ivan nodded again. “A casino, hunh?” He smiled and began assuming things. “So, he must want us to give them the big IDPromotions.com brand treatment.”

“Maybe so,” Jeff commented.

“Well, when is she supposed to be heading back this way?”

“She said in a couple of weeks,” Paul answered. “She said she needed to get back to her apartment in New York and make sure everything is in order there first.”

“All right, well, just let me know when she gets back out here,” Ivan responded. With that he left their office and walked down the hall toward his own.

“How are you doing today, Mr. David?” a college intern addressed him as he headed to his office. Natalie was a communications major in her sophomore year, with dark brown skin as smooth as satin and ultra-white teeth. She had a bright Colgate smile. But Ivan grinned at the idea of her calling him “Mr. David.” He was the official boss more than ever now, at thirty years young.

He said, “Don’t call me that, you make me feel like a college professor. Just call me, ah…boss,” he told her with a shrug. He didn’t want them all calling him Ivan, either. It was too informal. At least calling him boss had a slight angle of sarcastic humor to it. And he could deal with that.

Natalie laughed and said, “Okay. Well, how are you doing today, boss?”

On second thought, Ivan didn’t like the sound of that, either. Calling him “the boss” was a privilege that Jeff and Paul often used. However, they had built up the company brand with him from its inception. He figured he owed them that right. But with his new employees and interns, the sarcasm was not earned.

Ivan grimaced and said, “Ah…on second thought, ‘Mr. David”s not that bad. Let me hear you say that one again.”

A few of the other staff members overheard the awkward discussion from their cubicles. They began to hold in their laughs. Ivan was still trying to work out his position of power inside the office. He felt much more comfortable with it while directing his staff on the execution of new ideas. But acknowledging his leadership in a basic walk down the hallway to his office was different. He had rarely spent much time in the previous off-campus office, so being around his staff on an everyday basis was an experience he was still getting used to.

Natalie laughed and repeated, “How are you doing today, Mr. David?”

He said, “I’m good. How are you today?”

She giggled and said, “I’m fine.”