Page 6 of The Road Ahead
“Is the shower free?” Rio asked, snapping me out of my daydream.
“Oh, yeah. Teresa’s just finished.”
“Okay, well I’ll go wash the road off me.” They got gracefully to their feet, and after a soft smile in my direction, made their way down towards the bedrooms.
I ran a hand through my hair, contemplating just how screwed I was. Rio had been back for a handful of hours and I already knew living with them was going to kill me. I was trying to not be obvious about my feelings for them, but I also couldn’t help but reach for them whenever they were close. My family had always been affectionate with one another, but not to this degree. Sure, at the moment it could be explained away by my excitement to see them after so long apart, but after a day or two, Rio would probably start to notice the not-so-casual touches. The last thing I wanted was to make them uncomfortable. I needed to get a grip on my feelings. I couldn’t allow them to ruin what we already had between us—a close friendship and tight cousin bond.
I’d just sat down on the couch after picking up an old gossip magazine my mom had left behind when Teresa came in and slumped down beside me. She looked amazing in skinny jeans and a graphic tee that showed off her curves, but her energy levels were clearly low. “What’s up?” I asked, tossing the magazine back on the coffee table and giving her my full attention.
She shrugged and leaned her head on my shoulder. “I dunno.”
“Where’s Brad?” I asked, suspecting he might be the root of her mood.
“He went down to the lake so he could make some work calls,” she told me tonelessly.
“I thought he said he’d taken some time off?”
Teresa shrugged again. “Apparently there’s some interest in one of the commercial properties that’s been on the market for almost a year. He said he can’t pass up the opportunity to make the sale, so he needs to be in touch regularly with the potential buyer.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I got that the dude worked on commission, and I sympathized, but don’t promise you’ll spend a week off with your girlfriend if you aren’t going to deliver. “I have to ask—”
“Please don’t,” Teresa cut me off, sitting up straight. “I know what you’re going to ask, but I can’t right now. I get that you think Brad’s a dick, but he’s not usually like this, okay? He’s been under pressure to meet sales goals, and it’s not like there’s a hell of a lot of movement on the market in Stony Creek.”
I watched her for a long moment, trying to see if there was something she wasn’t telling me. Finally I said, “Okay, okay, I’ll leave it be. Just promise me you’re happy. And if you stop being happy, you’ll move on from him.”
My sister nodded and leaned her head back on my shoulder. “I promise.”
We took my F-150 into town. I was disappointed that I couldn’t have my first drive in the ’86, but there was no way we’d all squeeze into Rio’s tiny car, and no one wanted to take two vehicles. Teresa and Brad sat in the back, talking quietly to one another, while Rio rode shotgun.
I had to force myself to keep my eyes on the road, since they kept wanting to drift across to take in the sight of my cousin. They were wearing the same wide-leg jeans as this morning, butthey’d paired them with a black cropped tee covered by a lacy white blouse. Their makeup was subtle, but they’d changed the pearl earrings out for dangly silver ones that caught the light as we drove under streetlights and a black choker necklace with a silver metal ring in the center.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as my dick perked up. For fuck’s sake. I wasn’t evenlookingat Rio, just picturing the way they looked as they’d emerged from the bedroom, ready to go. I was going to have to really watch myself tonight, or I was going to give away my feelings for them, and that would just make shit awkward.
“How’s work?” Rio asked.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, it’s okay. I don’t want to jinx it, but it’s been a little qu . . . not very busy lately.”
“Any particular reason? I would have thought medical emergencies would be pretty regular.”
I shrugged. “We usually see a decrease towards summer. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say the number of times we get called out increases in winter? Anyway, we get a lot of calls for car accidents in winter because of how icy the roads get.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense,” Rio said. “That’s not something I’ve had to think about much, but I guess I’ll need to keep it in mind when winter comes.”
The idea of Rio skidding off the road and into a tree made bile rise in my throat, even though I knew they were a skilled driver—I’d seen videos of track days they’d done, and I saw how confident they were behind the wheel. The weather was an unknown factor, though, and black ice wasn’t something to be blasé about. I made a mental note to take Rio out when the first cold snap came so I could give them some pointers and make sure they had the right winter tires fitted.
“You must have seen some pretty horrible things,” they continued. “Does your work have a counseling service or anything to debrief you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, they do. They take our mental health really seriously. Because it’s such a small area we service, there’s a good chance we’ll know the person we’ve been called out to help. That makes it really important not to shirk the debrief.”
Rio shuddered. “Yeah, that would be horrible. I couldn’t even imagine being called out to an accident and finding it’s a friend.”
“Luckily, I’ve not had that yet. Acquaintances, yes, but actual friends who I hang out with? No. Thank fuck.” I glanced over at them. “What about you? Do you have any plans for work here?”
“I got in contact with the gym before I left Georgia,” they explained. “I told them my experience and asked if they’d be happy for me to run some classes from there. The owner, Ahmed, sounded really enthusiastic about the idea. I’ve got a meeting with him next week.”
“That’s great!” I reached over and squeezed their knee. “Congrats.”
“Thanks,” Rio said, their cheeks turning pink.
