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“Where is she?”

Myra brushes past me before turning to face me. “Not here, I’m afraid.”

“Dammit,” I don’t try to mask the disappointment in my voice. “Do you know where she is?”

A knock at the bar’s door steals her attention away from me. Without a word, she sets off toward it.

I use the opportunity to rid myself of the roses. I plop them down on the nearest table before raking my hands through my hair in frustration. As I’m tugging my phone from my suit jacket pocket to send Opal yet another text message, I hear a familiar voice greet Myra.

I turn to see Chuck handing a cardboard box to her. As soon as he does, his gaze wanders over her shoulder and lands on my face. “Hey, William!”

“Chuck.” I raise a hand in greeting.

I’m not in the mood for small talk. I need to get out of here and search for Opal. The fucking problem with that is I have no idea where to look.

“How are your kids?” he questions with his eyes still pinned on me.

I tap my chest. “You’re asking me that?”

Myra inserts herself into the conversation, luring Chuck’s gaze to her. “You have kids, William?”

I’m shaking my head, but neither of these people is aware of that because Myra is now looking at Chuck as he answers the question she posed to me. “He has two little ones. Girls, I think. Maybe a year and a half or so.”

“You’re wrong,” I say, trying not to sound as frustrated as I feel. “I don’t have children.”

Chuck chuckles. “I saw you last night with them outside your building. You and the woman you were telling me about.”

The only woman I discussed with him was Opal, and I sure as hell wasn’t with her last night. I wanted to be, but it didn’t happen.

He goes on, likely because I’m staring at him with a blank look, “I saw you go into that building in Tribeca after we met up at the bar, and you gave me that advice. I was walking across the street with Jan last night and saw you helping your family get into an SUV outside of that same building.”

“That was one of the women I work with and her kids. They’re twins. Super sweet little girls.”

He smiles. “That’s what I get for watching from afar.”

“You could have come over and said hi,” I tell him, turning my attention back to my phone so I can finish the message I was typing out for Opal.

“I would have, but I was with Jan and Opal.”

My head snaps up as he continues talking, “I’m actually glad I ran into you, William. I took your advice about the early morning proposal. She said yes.”

“Someone said yes?” Myra asks as realization sweeps over me. “As in a marriage proposal?”

Opal saw me with Aleena and her kids. Does Opal think I’m a father, too? Does she believe I’m involved with someone else while I’ve been sleeping with her?

“I popped the question, and my girlfriend said yes,” Chuck tells her. “We saw Opal on the sidewalk and told her the news.”

“Did she see me with Aleena?” I question Chuck. “Did Opal see me with the girls?”

“She did,” he acknowledges with a nod. “I told her what you said about being knee deep in it with a woman, so she jumped to the same assumption as me. She thought you were crazy about the woman with the kids.”

“I’m not,” I point out.

“Yeah, I get that.” He laughs it off. “There seems to be a lot of misinformation floating around. For some reason, Opal thinks you live in Brooklyn. She brought it up a couple of times while we were watching you with your co-worker and her kids.”

Fuck. Just fuck.

“I told her you lived in Tribeca since we hit up your neighborhood bar.”