Page 30 of Three Hockey Hotties

I do hear her say, “Magda and I can share a room. I don’t want you to get two rooms for us, that’s too much.”

That makes me frown.

It makes Magda frown too.

We lock eyes.

I give a little head shake to indicate I do not want them sharing a room.

Hell, Abby isn’t even staying here. But that’s phase two. Phase one is getting her neighbor solidly on our side.

Magda gives me a nod in return and pats my knee. “Abby,” she calls out. “Just so you know, I sleep naked.”

Dash coughs into his free hand as he reaches to help Magda out of the SUV.

She barely spares him a glance as she leaps out with a dexterity I hope to have at her age. She has spotted the bellman reaching into the back of the SUV for the bags, and clearly this is more important than waiting for a hand to help her down.

“Hey, not that one,” she tells the bellman, pointing to Abby’s gray suitcase. “Just the black one with the busted handle. You can leave the other one.”

Magda is clearly supportive of our pursuit of Abby, but it’s also abundantly clear she wants her own room.

“Magda,” Abby says. “We really should share a room. They’re already being really generous. You know that we won’t get reimbursed for this by the building, don’t you?”

I’m out of the car and slipping the bellman a twenty, waiting for the right moment to intervene and tell Abby that the four of us are going to Benjamin’s house.

Benjamin has purposefully strode inside the hotel lobby to get Magda a room.

“Of course we won’t get reimbursed for a hotel, are you kidding me? The building is owned by corporate slumlords now. We’ll be lucky if they find us units to move to in another one of their crappy rundown buildings.” Magda shakes her head. “I haven’t lived anywhere else in forty-five years. It used to be nice back in the beginning. Families lived there.” She shrugs. “Now it’s full of convicted felons.”

All the blood leaves my face. “What?” I roar. “Felons?”

Our sweet, sexy, single Abby has been living in a building filled with ex-cons?

Dash looks exactly like I feel. His hands are making fists repeatedly and his nostrils are flaring. He is struggling to control his anger and outrage.

“That is not true,” Abby protests. “You’re exaggerating, Mrs. Litwinski.”

“Call me Magda,” Magda says with a sigh, like she’s had this conversation with Abby many times before. “And you don’t know if it’s true or not. It could be. Ralph in 2A spent a year in the joint for kiting checks in ‘88. Marcy in 1B has that son-in-law who doesn’t like cats. I bet he’s done time.”

Abby actually starts laughing as the four of us head toward the lobby. “If Ralph has kept his nose clean since ‘88 I’m not worried about it. And Marcy’s son-in-law is allergic to cats. He doesn’t dislike them. They just cause his throat to close.” She loops her arm through Magda’s and gives her a side hug. “So I don’t blame him for not wanting to pet your cat before she passed.”

Magda does the sign of the cross. “God rest her soul. Donut was a great cat.”

“She was,” Abby agrees.

It’s then I realize that Magda was intentionally trying to rile me and Dash up and it worked.

Magda disengages herself from Abby. “Run along with Dash, sweetheart. I need a smoke before we check in. Kane can keep me company.”

Abby glances back at me. “Is that okay?” she asks.

I nod. “Of course.”

I would love to be the one leading her by the elbow into the lobby but I’m not jealous that Dash is, which is further confirmation this is the right decision. Besides, all three of us guys do not need to be charging up to that front desk demanding the hotel’s best suite for Magda.

“We’re not the ones you need to work on,” I tell her under my breath. “We’re all in.”

She doesn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Good,” she retorts. “That girl needs some attention. Known her a year and she just goes to work and comes home. No social life at all except for when her friend Sadie drops by to hang out.”