Ivan smiled it off. “Yeah, but Butch Clayborne is more than just a regular player. He’s one of their bona fide stars now.”

The hype was no big deal to Ivan. He had been around plenty of wealthy and famous people. It was part of his job to go out and find new clients who had money. And they were all human. But what he didn’t understand was why Catherine wanted to meet him at Hooters in the first place. They would never have any privacy there.

“You wanna go somewhere else?” he asked her.

Catherine’s dress code surely didn’t fit Hooters. Her lime-green dress was more than casual.

She took a deep breath and calmed her nerves. She asked him, “How do you think my body compares to theirs?”

Ivan stared across the table to make sure that he had heard her right.

“What?”

“You heard me. How does my body compare to theirs?”

She bobbed her head to the left in reference to the Hooters waitresses, who were scampering around the tables, filling orders, and cleaning up.

Ivan couldn’t believe it. He shook his head and smiled. He said, “So that’s why you wanted to meet me here, to do a body check against Hooters waitresses? Are you kidding me?” He was halfway laughing. He said, “If you really wanna do a body check, then let’s go to this Padres party and do it for real. I mean, come on, none of these girls wanna wear the stuff they have to wear in here. It’s just a job.”

Catherine grinned back at him. She said, “I have my reasons.”

Ivan blew it off. “Anyway…next question.”

It was no competition in his book. He was embarrassed to even look at the waitresses. And Catherine was pleased to know it.

“Thank you,” she told him. A nod of confidence meant the world to a woman.

BY THE TIME they had left the place, it was well after ten o’clock, and Catherine was good and tipsy. It became obvious that Ivan would need to help her walk to wherever they were off to next.

“So, what hotel they got you up in?” he asked her.

Catherine was secure in his arms as they walked down Fourth Avenue.

“We’re almost there,” she told him. “And it’s a surprise.”

As they walked, a white stretch Hummer passed them by in the street and turned left down Fifth Avenue.

Catherine watched it and grunted. “Hmmph, I bet you think that’s more of your baseball players, don’t you? But if the Chargers were throwing a party, that would be a real party. I would have been interested in going to that.”