Thomas and Henry even asked him who she was. Ivan laughed and told them he had gone to college with her and no more than that. All the while, Jeff and Paul were there snapping pictures to document it all for the website.

At the height of the party, around eight, when the restaurant was nearly filled to capacity with supporters, great food, conversation, business-card-passing, and dancing, Thomas pulled Ivan aside. He said, “I told you you’re gonna do all right with this. Now what you need to do is stop the party, the music, and the dancing, and let everybody in the room know who you are before they start to leave.”

Thomas had a point. It was a grand opportunity for folks to celebrate the man who put the idea together. Nevertheless, Ivan remained hesitant. He tried to shake it off with a grin.

“I don’t mind if they don’t know. As long as they all signed the email list at the door and they know that I.D. Promotions was behind it, I can continue to be a mystery,” he commented.

Thomas stared at him and didn’t go for it. He said, “Ivan, if your ass don’t get up in front of all these people and let them know you and like you, then you’s a damn fool. I thought you told me you wanted to be the San Diego mixer man. Well, you better get ready to act like it.”

Ivan argued, “They’ll find out eventually. This is just the first one. Let’s just let them talk about how much of a good time they had.”

Thomas continued to stare at him. He couldn’t believe it. So he backed up and tried another route.

He said, “Well, that’s real humble of you and everything, young man, but you at least need to thank the people for coming out here tonight, Ivan. And what about thanking the host, Carol’s restaurant, and that fine daughter of hers? Hell, you can even thank me and the members of the Urban League for coming out here tonight, and for sending out email blasts about it.”

Shit! Ivan thought. Thomas had him. He couldn’t back away from thanking everyone. It was the right thing to do.

Just as he got ready to accept his fate, Ida stopped by to talk to him.

“Can I borrow Ivan for one minute?” she said to Thomas.

Thomas told her, “Yeah, after he introduces himself to the crowd and thanks everybody for coming out here tonight.”

Ida said, “Perfect. So you have the DJ stop the music, and I’ll go in with Ivan to bring my mother out, and we’ll do it all together.”

Thomas looked at Ivan and grinned, knowing that he had him now.

“That sounds like a plan to me,” he told Ida.

“Good. We’ll be right back out.”