The big guy spoke up first again. “Five hundred? That ain’t enough people. We’ll fill up that party just with the team and everybody’s girlfriends,” he joked.

They all laughed.

The big guy added, “We need more like three thousand.”

“Yeah, that’s much more like it. He needs a big par-ty, I-van,” Lucina commented. Ivan could read the hint in her language: bigger was better. Then he looked at the silent one to see what he thought.

“What do you think?” Ivan asked him.

Finally, he got the guy to speak. “Well, either way, I feel it should be a controlled setting so things don’t get out of hand. And it’s easier to control the smaller parties.”

He was exactly what Ivan thought he would be, a cautious over-thinker. Just because they were all on the same football team didn’t mean they were cut from the same economic class. Ivan suspected that the silent dissenter was more money and image conscious than the other two players, so he had just the right approach for him. He had just learned the class lesson himself.

Ivan nodded and said, “I know what you mean. There’s different events for different crowds.” Then he pulled out a flyer from his most recent event at the downtown winery.

The silent one looked at it and cracked a grin. He said, “I’ve been to this place with my fiancée before.”

Bingo! He was also getting married soon. The hot women Lucina had surrounded them with after midnight meant this was not his ideal business meeting.

The big guy cut him off. He said, “Look, Jeffrey, just ’cause you’re gettin’ married now don’t mean you should stop Zee-Dog’s fun. He’s just gettin’ his feet wet in the league. You go somewhere and have your own small party and leave his alone.”

Ivan grinned and pulled out his business card from Hutch & Mitchell while the rest of the table laughed and made fun of the party pooper.

“Boooo, a married man is no fun,” one of the hot girls commented.

“Who told you that?” one of the other girls responded.

Ivan ignored it all and handed Jeffrey his card across the table. He said, “I’m an accountant with the Hutch and Mitchell firm. I also work with the San Diego Urban League. We should talk. I could save you a whole lot of tax money.”

Jeffrey took his card and was now impressed with him. Ivan was more than just a slick party promoter.

Jeffrey nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll call you.”

Zachary overheard it and asked him, “You a tax man?”

Lucina bragged, “He’s one of the best.”

Zachary said, “Well, let me get one of your cards, too. I could have you double-check what my agent does,” he joked.