Page 91 of Game Changer

Anger is racing through me, but I don’t blame him for any of this. Every ounce of frustration I’m feeling is self-directed. I never should have taken Opal to my apartment in Brooklyn. It was a mistake that’s costing me now.

She told me she wanted things between us to stay casual, but the last time I saw her, she said she had never met anyone like me. She looked into my eyes, and I swear I saw something there; something that spoke to the unmistakable deep connection we share.

I face Myra again. “Tell me where I can find Opal.”

Her gaze darts over my face. “She’s the woman you told him about, isn’t she? You care about Opal, don’t you?”

“What?” Chuck asks, but I don’t have time to offer him an answer.

I’m a man on a mission, and that mission is telling the woman I’m falling for that I’m not the lying cheat she thinks I am.

“I care very deeply for her,” I explain to Myra as I hold her gaze with mine. “If you have any idea whereshe might be, please tell me.”

“She went to get a coffee hours ago.” She points toward the door. “There’s a coffee shop around the corner that she likes. I don’t know if she’s still there, but it’s worth a try.”

55

Opal

I enterthe small apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Hildy’s heel. Percy arranged for a rideshare to bring us here, and as the driver expertly maneuvered his SUV through the bustling New York City traffic, Hildy regaled Percy and me with stories about her past with Louie.

It didn’t take me long to realize that Louie Howells was indeed the same Louie that Hildy once loved deeply. They spent countless hours together discussing a potential future decades ago.

When she mentioned they played Seven Rolls to Bliss, I smiled. Percy turned his head to look out the car window. He was silent then and barely spoke for most of the journey here.

I still haven’t been able to understand why he didn’t mention knowing Aunt Hildy when we first met at the coffee shop. As soon as I told him the name of my bar, he should have said he knew who Hildy was. He had the chance then to tell me about his grandfather, but he didn’t.

I need to know why, but now is not the time to press him on that.

“I’ll check with his nurse to see if he’s up for visitors,” Percy says as he points at a spot in the center of a small living room. “You two can wait here.”

Aunt Hildy grabs my hand for a squeeze. I know it’s not to comfort me. It’s to quiet her emotions.

Since Percy mentioned his grandfather to her, unshed tears have sat in her eyes. I can’t tell if they’re born from happiness or sorrow. Maybe it’s a combination of both.

“I loved him so,” she whispers. “Oh, Opal, how I loved Louie.”

I squeeze her hand. “When’s the last time you spoke to him?”

It’s not my business, but I want it to be. I want to know everything there is to know about the man who once owned her heart.

“Right after Percy was born,” she says with a sigh. “I was going into a restaurant in the West Village. Louie was on his way out with his daughter, Emily, and her newborn son. Emily’s husband, Raymond Haines, was there too.”

That has to be almost thirty years ago if not more. I have no clue how old Percy is, but I’d guess he’s slightly older than I am.

“Louie’s wife was with him, too,” she whispers. “His third wife.”

Since Aunt Hildy has never been married, I know she wasn’t Louie’s first or second wife. I hope she was someone who mattered to him because it’s obvious he mattered to her.

Percy steps back into view from a hallway. “He’s tired, but he’ll see you now. You can both come, but his nurse said we need to make it quick.”

Hildy’s hand slides from mine as she rushes to where Percy is. I follow slowly, wanting to give my aunt a chance to see the man she loved without me hovering over her.

Percy points down the hallway. “It’s the second door on the left, Ms. Wallner.”

“Hildy.” She looks up and into his face. “Please call me Hildy.”

* * *

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