Ivan wore a navy blue pin-striped suit to work that morning, with black leather shoes, a stylish multicolored tie, and a baby blue dress shirt. He had gotten a fresh haircut that Wednesday. But he was still hesitant to let anyone at the office know too much about his promotion plans, especially while he was just getting his business started. He didn’t know how the bosses would respond to any gossip about it yet. And with Chip complaining about their workload, Ivan didn’t want to add any fuel to the fire about his moonlighting with a new hustle.

“I’ll tell you in a few more months after I see if this goes anywhere with her first,” Ivan insinuated on purpose. He never had come clean with Chip about his new business plans. They had so much work around the office that Chip forgot to ask him again. But when Ivan began to mislead him about a woman, his teammate in the tax department looked surprised.

“What, all this over a girl? Are you kidding me?”

Mike Adams overheard the conversation on his way past the cubicles and stopped to put his words in.

“Don’t worry, Ivan. I got your back on getting serious. Chip only knows how to speed-date. He doesn’t know what getting serious is all about.”

Chip said, “Yeah, I know what it’s about, it’s about busting your ass prematurely for a wife and kids, that’s what it’s about.”

Mike shook off the personal slight. He said, “Just imagine if your dad had thought that way. You possibly wouldn’t have made it here.”

“Actually, my dad had me when he was thirty-five, so I’m right on schedule. Maybe I’ll even wait until I’m forty-five,” Chip teased.

Ivan grinned and said nothing. He was admiring his curveball. He did think of telling Dwayne Bellamy as a member of his core audience of African-American professionals over twenty-five, but since Dwayne was a middle manager, he was not safe to trust. Furthermore, Dwayne had previously kept his race a nonissue, so Ivan had no idea where he stood on color codes or social settings away from work.

On the way out of the office at slightly past five, John Hutch caught up with Ivan at the elevator and gave him a word of advice.

“Just keep your focus, Ivan. You’ve been doing well.” He gave Ivan a smile and a thumbs-up before the elevator arrived.

“That’s all in my plans,” Ivan told him with a smile of his own. As soon as he walked onto the arriving elevator and the doors closed behind him, he began to wonder what his boss really meant.

Was that a real pat on the back or a warning? he pondered. Does he know that I’m about to start up something else? Or is he thinking that I’m lovestruck for a girl like the rest of them?