Page 2 of The Road Ahead
I adored the old cabin at Pathfinders Lake, and I hadn’t been to a festival in years, so the more I thought about it, the more I looked forward to it. Hanging out with my cousins, dancing, drinking, and letting loose sounded exactly like what I needed. I could take the week to just have fun and reconnect with them, and then after that I could start piecing my life back together.
The timing might have been perfect for the festival, but it was totally out of whack for everything else. I’d already arranged a moving company, and they’d arrive while I was at the cabin. I phoned Uncle Emmett, and he assured me he could meet the moving company when they arrived, and then urged me to enjoy myself.
I was planning on it.
Not only did I miss the mountains and the lakes of Minnesota, but I missed my cousins terribly. Especially Cooper. I might have been closer in age to Teresa, but it was Cooper who I had bonded with. We’d always looked a sight together, since I was tiny and he had always been big for his age, but our physical differences never mattered to either of us. We shared the same sense of humor and a lot of the same interests. He even danced as well. I mean, I’ll never enjoy line dancing like Cooper does, but it was nice that he didn’t judge me for my hobby.
As kids we’d both been obsessed with the anime,Initial D,which is where I’d fallen in love with the ’86. It was about a teenager, Takumi, who had been secretly driving the mountain roads of Mount Akina since he was fourteen to help his dad deliver tofu. He’d become a skilled drifter, and soon became a street racer. Cooper and I watched it on repeat, and we’d ride our bikes around town, pretending to drift around corners, shouting out quotes to each other, and debating who was the best driver in the show.
We both agreed the ’86 was the best car.
I’d never expected to own one, given their rarity and hefty price. When my abuelo died, he’d left some money to each of his grandkids, accessible to us when we turned eighteen. I’d been searching car listings for months leading up to my birthday, but no one in the States was selling, so I knew I’d have to go the import route. It was a few months after my birthday that I finally found my very own ’86 at an online auction, and the wait for her to be shipped from Japan almost killed me.
I couldn’twaitto take Coop out for a drive on the mountain roads around Pathfinders Lake. I hadn’t seen him in person for six years—not since my eighteenth birthday. My aunt and uncle had only come to visit us once in Georgia after that, by themselves, and when I’d been to visit them, Cooper was away with friends. I couldn’t lie, I’d been a little bit heartbroken tofind he was on vacation. Around my early teens, I’d developed atinybit of a crush on Cooper. It wasn’t just that he was absolutely gorgeous, with the prettiest hazel eyes, a sharp jawline, and thick brown hair, but he was the sweetest, most down-to-earth person I knew. I’d never stood a chance.
When my mom died, Cooper had been taking the exams for his associate degree for his paramedic course and couldn’t get time away. He called me when he heard the news, though, and stayed on the phone for hours as I cried. I would have given anything for him to have been there to hold me. Every day from then until two weeks after the funeral he called me, just to offer his support. Some days we talked, other times I’d cry, and some of those phone calls were spent in total silence. Just knowing he was on the other end of the line was a comfort to me. Knowing that he cared so much made me long for him even more, and caused my crush to deepen.
Keeping in touch via texting and socials over the years just wasn’t the same as getting to bask in his actual presence. It wouldn’t be long and I’d be living with him, though, even if it was just until I found a place of my own. Maybe this was the universe’s way of making up for being disowned by my dad? Giving me time to reconnect with Cooper. Getting to wake up in the same house, share the chores, cook dinner together, and spend our free time rewatching our favorite episodes ofInitial D.
Hell, I’d take it. In fact, I was fucking living for it.
As I climbed higher and higher into the mountains, taking the route towards Pathfinders Lake, I smiled as I looked forward to the next week and what was beyond. It kind of felt like going home.
Chapter 2
Cooper
Istood in the middle of the open-plan kitchen and living area of our family cabin with my hands on my hips, assessing the space. We’d come up to the lake straight after work yesterday evening so we could spend this morning cleaning and airing out the cabin, since no one had stayed here in over six months.
When I say “we” spent the morning cleaning, I meant my sister Teresa and me. Her boyfriend, Brad, had half-heartedly wiped down the kitchen counter and then conveniently remembered he’d had to make a phone call. He’d disappeared outside and only returned a few minutes ago, after we’d finished all the cleaning.
I wasn’t exactly sure what Teresa saw in him, to be honest. They’d been together for about a year now, but this was the first time I was really getting to spend time with Brad. Work kept us all busy and I rarely got to hang out with my sister as much as I’d like. I’d met him a few times when we’d all gone to our parents’ house for dinner, and he’d seemed politeenough then. This time, however, there was something justoffabout Brad. He looked like a wholesome boy-next door, with his styled blond hair, blue eyes, and neat clothing. There was an arrogance to him, though, that rubbed me the wrong way. Plus, the way he spoke to Teresa could sometimes be condescending. Teresa seemed happy enough, so it wasn’t my place to judge her relationship, but I was going to be on my guard around him anyway. I wasn’t opposed to putting Brad in his place if need be, even if it would most likely earn me my sister’s wrath.
Spotting a cobweb on the framed portrait Teresa had painted of our parents, I grabbed the duster and swiped it off.
“For crying out loud, Coop. Would you sit down and put your feet up?” Teresa scolded me. “We’re only here for a week, so we don’t need the place to be absolutely spotless. Tell your neat-freak genes to chill, would ya?” She was putting together sandwiches on the kitchen counter while Brad sat at the table, typing away on his phone.
“Sorry,” I muttered, taking the duster over to the cabinet we kept the cleaning supplies in to put away. “Can’t help it.”
It was just a small lie. Yes, I was well known for being particular about cleanliness. I figured that went hand in hand with being a paramedic, though. Everything had a place, and if an item wasn’t put back where it should be, it could spell disaster for the next patient. Plus, I’d seen too many cases of food poisoning due to poor food hygiene to take risks in the kitchen. But that wasn’t why I was going overboard with cleaning the cabin today.
I wanted it to be perfect for Rio.
God, how I’d missed my cousin. I was so excited to finally see them again after so many years apart. I was so proud of Rio for finally embracing their true self. It had been a long time coming, and we’d been there with them from the very start.
When Rio was thirteen, and I was sixteen, they had confided in Teresa and me about their confusion over their gender. The three of us were camped out in the living room at home, mattresses laid out on the floor, empty popcorn bowls pushed aside after a movie marathon. We were supposed to be asleep, but Mom and Dad had gone to bed hours before and wouldn’t notice we were still up if we were quiet enough.
We’d talked for hours, and when Rio had said that their birth name didn’t fit them, we’d thrown around names, trying to find one that did. It was me who suggested Rio at three a.m. when we were beginning to flag. My cousin’s face had lit up in delight and they’d rolled over and hugged me tightly. “It’s perfect,” they’d whispered, and since that day, Teresa and I had only ever called them Rio. When their dad asked about it, we lied and said it was just a nickname, and he never questioned it. I think it helped that my parents picked up on it quickly and used the name as well, which sold the lie to my uncle.
I’d been so happy when Rio had chosen the name I’d suggested, even more so when I got a text last year to tell me they’d legally changed their name. I was ecstatic for them, and proud, but also a little bit possessive. There would forever be a little piece of me entwined with them, and that sparked something primal deep inside of me.
Was that a normal way to think about your cousin? Probably not. Was it how I felt? Yes, and I’d long since passed the point of denial. I’d always been close with Rio. We just got one another. I’d always be grumpy for weeks after they had to leave and go home. I complained to my parents incessantly about the fact we lived a country apart. That distance felt insurmountable at times. Yes, we kept in touch regularly online, but nothing beat being able to hang with them in person.
It was the last time I saw Rio, six years ago on their eighteenth birthday, that I realized I maybe felt a little bit more for themthan I should. They’d hugged me when we’d arrived at the party, and I’d picked them up, twirling them around as they laughed in my ear. By then I had reached my full height of 6'3", which made me tower over Rio almost comically.
It wasn’t until a little later, after we were all on our way to being drunk, that I had my revelation. We were talking with Tomás, one of their cousins on their mom’s side, when Rio mentioned in passing they’d taken up self-defense lessons as a freshman and they’d also just started to learn Krav Maga. I’d known about the self-defense lessons, since I’d been incensed when I’d found out how often Rio got beaten up at school, but it was news to me that they were upskilling to a new discipline. Tomás had arrogantly told Rio that no matter how long they’d been taking classes, or how many styles of martial arts they learned, their diminutive size would always be a disadvantage.
Tomás pointed at me and said, “Like, there’s no way you could take down someone the size of Cooper.”
