Page 70 of Body Checked By the Defenseman

Mario comes to open the door. “Hello and welcome.”

We walk into the house, and he kisses Ruby and shakes my hand then Luc’s hand. “Welcome, welcome. Come on in,” he continues.

Abuela walks toward the door with open arms. “My babies are here.” She hugs each of us, including Luc. This woman is so loving there isn’t a bad bone in her body. There is no way she is going to flip at our news I convince myself. “Come in, come in.” She waves us in. “Mario’s family surprised us. The girls had such a great time over Thanksgiving, they wanted to come back and they brought friends, so it is a full house.”

“Girls?” Luc whispers beside me.

“Play nice,” I warn.

“Always.” He winks.

“Come, the kids are staying in the basement this time. There is too many of you. Please be respectful. Mario will have a heart attack if you guys have an orgy,” she declares.

“OMG, Abuela, that’s gross,” Ruby chastises.

Luc grins. I see a spark in his eyes I don’t like.

We head downstairs. The basement is made up of one large room and off to the side is a bathroom with a shower. At the back corner are another two bedrooms.

“Mario’s granddaughters have this room here.” Abuela walks up to the door. I see Riley and Vicky. Just great.

“Hi,” I say.

“Hi, nice to see you again,” Ruby says, being cordial.

“I’m Luc. We haven’t met,” he says, and he waves to them. There are another two girls in the room with them this time, but I don’t pay them any attention.

“This is Summer and Jocelyn,” Vicky introduces.

“Nice to meet you both,” Luc says.

I just wave.

“I play hockey with Mack and Hayden,” Luc continues.

“Oh, you’re a hockey player?” Riley asks.

Luc nods. That is what he just said.

“Watch out for that one,” I whisper.

“Mack, hush,” Abuela warns.

I laugh. Ruby laughs too and Abuela is fighting her smile.

“You guys can stay with Hayden here,” Abuela says. “Ruby, if you’d like I can set you up on the couch upstairs again, or we can set up an air mattress in the main room down here.”

Ruby looks my way. This is weird as fuck. I do not want to be sleeping beside Ruby with Hayden and Luc in the room. Not sure Hayden would like that idea either.

“I’m sorry we are limited for space,” Abuela apologizes.

“It’s totally fine, Abuela. An air mattress in the other room will be just fine,” Ruby assures.

“I’m sorry. I thought it would just be you guys for the holiday. Mario just left to get a ham and another turkey. They really did surprise us,” she apologizes.

I’m kind of annoyed with their surprise visit. It’s going to be hard to speak with Hayden and then Abuela about Ruby with a house full of guests.

Luc and I leave our bags in the bedroom and I help Abuela set up the air mattress for Ruby, while Ruby excuses herself to use the bathroom.

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