I had mixed feelings about spending the traditional Christmas at the Parnell family cabin this year. Sure, it was tradition and a chance to see some of the extended family -- aunts, uncles, cousins, Grandma Parnell, and a bunch of my cousins' kids whose names I couldn't remember. The weather was usually snowy, which turned the pines and frozen lake into a winter wonderland. Oh, and the food was typically great and plentiful. No, now that I'd started college, the idea of going up to the cabin felt quaint and perhaps a bit claustrophobic. Worse, it was so remote as to have no cell service. Three plus days of no service, not even internet. I'd need counseling by the time we were done.
Speaking of cell service, I'd just lost the last of mine. Avery, my twin sister, and I had taken advantage of dad's driving to chill in the back and get our fix in on the drive upstate. Judging by her scowl, she'd just lost hers as well.
I leaned across the back seat to speak low enough not to be heard by the parentals up front. "Are we bored yet?"
Avery, her thin face hidden in the depths of the oversized hoodie she wore, gave me a quick smile. "And we're not even there."
I patted her on the knee through her skin-tight jeans. "Don't worry, I'm sure the kiddos are sugaring up for you already."
Avery rolled her eyes and brushed away an errant wisp of dirty blond hair. "Yeah, great. But you get Jorgie."
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes and groan. My cousin Beth had remarried two years back and her new husband had a son of eight or nine. For the last two years, the kid had stuck to me like glue, convinced I was the coolest guy on earth. He wasn't terrible, but a little went a long way and I'd ended up spending a great deal of effort finding ways to hide or otherwise be away from him. Avery, meanwhile, had been the darling of the under-five crowd.
"At least you have Kaia for relief," I said.
Avery's lips tightened and she gave me an unreadable expression, then turned to face out the window. "I guess," she said softly.
What the heck was that? Kaia was the same age as us, making her the only cousin who'd be at the cabin and within five years of our age. The other guys in their late twenties were both married and had kids, which as far as I was concerned pretty much bumped them up into the same weight class as my uncles. Sure, we'd talk a bit, but that was probably the end of it. With Kaia, however, we'd grown up living in the same town and spending most of our Christmas and summer vacations together with the extended family. As we'd reached our teens, she and Avery had bonded as close as sisters or BFF's while I got subtly nudged out of the picture.
Had something happened between the two girls? Nothing that I'd heard of. Maybe with the move on to college, they'd simply drifted apart. Whatever.
Thoughts of Kaia quickly brought me back to last summer's vacation on the beach. It'd been impossible to miss how my cousin had filled out, not when she spent most of the entire week in one revealing bikini after another. Sure, she was my cousin, so I couldn't go there, but she'd fueled my fantasies through that entire trip and most of the six months since.
I looked out my window, taking in the endless miles of snow-covered pines. My mind kept going back to my cousin in her bikinis. It was a damn shame it was too cold to expect another dose of such eye candy.
#
The sun had just dropped below the horizon when dad pulled the Explorer off the country road and onto the gravel drive to the cabin complex. Snow crunched under the tires, despite someone's earlier effort to plow it clear. I couldn't help but feel a little buzz of nostalgia when the cabins came into view -- warm yellow light pouring out of the windows while strands of Christmas lights festooned the porch and dozens of smaller trees in the yard. A handful of other vehicles were parked out front.
Before we were even out of the truck, two of my uncles and a cousin came out to greet us and help carry stuff in. I grabbed my suitcase and a bag of presents and followed the train inside where warm air infused with cinnamon from baking cookies hit me with another shot of nostalgia and reminded my stomach it was dinnertime.
As expected, we were mobbed by the little kids, at least four of them, while my aunts and uncles and cousins all greeted us and offered to take the food and gifts off our hands. I shook hands, hugged grandma, and gave the little ones their obligatory hair mussings. Avery got the same treatment and did a convincing job of acting like she was happy to be there.
"Ave!"
I looked up and saw Kaia standing at the end of the hall, just out of the fray and looking amused. My cousin was tall and lean, mussy shoulder-length brunette locks framed her warm smile and twinkling eyes. While she wasn't in a bikini, the black tights and figure-hugging red sweater were more than sufficient to ping my libido. I tried not to stare or be disappointed that she'd homed in on Avery and not me.
"Hey cuz!" Avery said, slipping out of her boots just in time to accept Kaia's engulfing hug.
"Thank god you're here," Kaia said in Avery's ear. I was just close enough to hear it over the din of the other reunions.
"To your rescue?" Avery said with a smile.
"You have no idea," she said.
Kaia then broke the embrace, turned on me, and gave me the same bear hug treatment. I was completely caught off guard, since I couldn't ever recall getting such attention from my cousin before. Certainly nothing in the last few years. I did my best to hug back, silently cursing that my hands were full.
"Good to see you too, Alex," she said as she pulled back and gave me a once over. "You're looking good."
I was? I felt myself flush a bit under the compliment, all the while hoping she couldn't sense some of the wildly inappropriate thoughts I'd been having about her over the last hour.
"Thanks. You too."
"C'mon," Kaia said, this time to both me and Avery. "Let's get you settled. We're all in New House this year."
It was a relief to get out of the press of bodies and noise. There were so many helping hands, I didn't feel any guilt about not sticking around to unload the rest of our stuff from the truck. In minutes, they'd have gifts under the tree and food sorted and packed away.
"We're both in New House?" I said, falling in behind the two girls as they went through the living room and headed for the side door. I was a little surprised as historically the unmarried boys and girls had been split up between the Old House and New House, the two main buildings of the "Parnell Cabin Complex."
"Yeah," Kaia said. "Mike and Jenn wanted to keep their kids all together this year, so it works out better if they're in the Old House. Don't worry. You were going to be stuck with Jorgie, but he ended up leaving this afternoon to stay with his biological mom or somesuch."
"Gee, that's a shame," I said, allowing the sarcasm to drip out once I was sure no one else was close enough to hear.
Kaia turned, walking backward, and gave me a knowing smile. "So you get the Observatory to yourself, you lucky dog."
The Observatory was the New House's finished attic. Having it to myself would be nice, though it was one of the coldest rooms in the complex. I'd just need more blankets. The privacy and view of the lake would make up for any shortcomings.
"You're in the Duck Room," Kaia said, flipping back around to talk to Avery. "Leaving me the Red Room. Your parents have the first floor bedroom."
Most of the rooms in the complex had earned nicknames. The Duck and Red rooms were named, respectively, for their wallpaper and paint. Both were ugly by modern standards, yet had a certain quaint history to them. And, more importantly, the girls weren't sharing rooms with anyone else, either.
"Who's all doubling up, then?" Avery said.
"Oh, I think this is the first year our numbers have declined," Kaia said. "Some of the cousins are off with their significant others' families. Was bound to happen."
