Ivan watched the reserved football player in a daze for a minute, while ignoring several admirers who hovered nearby for his attention. His eager webmasters were able to break through his haze.

“Hey, Ivan, that was awesome, man!” Jeff shouted at him over the music. “We need to make that your end-of-line slogan: ‘Peace out, party on.’ Did you feel the moment of that? That was out of this world.”

Paul added to his energy with a wide smile of his own. “We have it all on camera.”

Ivan nodded, noticing more people in the crowd who begged for his attention.

He told Paul, “That’s good. We’ll talk about it for the website this week,” and he moved on to meet and greet a few folks. He couldn’t continue to ignore them.

Catherine Boone was there in the crowd as well, dancing with his brother, Derrick, who had driven down from L.A. just to see his brother pull it off. Derrick knew Catherine from Ivan’s college years.

As soon as Ivan approached Catherine and his brother, Derrick told him, “Shit, you the man now, ain’t you?” his open hand extended.

Ivan took his brother’s hand and grinned. “Believe it or not, I didn’t mean for that to happen that way.”

“Yeah, but it did,” Derrick told him. “You shut the shit down and started the party back up again.”

“Actually, Perry Browning shut the party down,” Ivan stated.

“Yeah, and how many of us really wanted to listen to that football shit?” Derrick commented. “This ain’t no football field. These people paid their money for a party, and that’s what the hell you gave them. You saved us all from hearing that bullshit.”

Ivan smiled it off and addressed Catherine. She was looking special as usual, wearing bright colors to pop off of her smooth brown skin.

“How have you been?” he asked her.

She shrugged. “I’m hanging in there.”

Derrick felt the crowded space through their unspoken words. They needed more privacy.

“Yeah, well, let me let you guys catch up while I catch on to something else in here,” he hinted.

When Derrick walked away, Catherine said, “So, you end up with a San Diego Chargers party, and then you go from high yellow to foreign now. I guess blond and blue is next up, hunh?”

Ivan chuckled. He said, “I see you still have your candor. So, who’s been occupying your time lately? And by the way, Lucina and I are strictly business. Even Ida knows that.”

Ivan figured there was no sense in hiding anything from her. They were all adults in the room. And adults made adult decisions.

Catherine said, “Does she really? Because I’ve heard a few things about Lucina,” she insinuated.