Authors: Claire Matthews
CHAPTER SIX
AARON
Packing his laptop and peripherals in his backpack, Aaron scanned his office to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. He and Janie had decided to leave a mere 48 hours after their dinner, and he had spent a full day tying up loose ends around the office before he was ready to go home and start packing. As he was leaving his office, he was summoned by a call from deep inside Mark’s office.
“Yep?” He popped his head in, but didn’t take a seat. He had a full list of errands to run before his departure the next day.
“So you and Janie are taking a road trip, I hear.” Mark grinned a little too broadly, and Aaron wondered what exactly he made of their plans.
“Yep. So?”
“So, I hope it goes well. I really appreciate what you’re doing. Janie deserves to know what happened to her father.” Mark seemed sincere, but Aaron was still skeptical.
“You seem like you have something else on your mind.”
“Not really. I just couldn’t help but notice the new haircut, and the expensive clothes, and the name ‘Janie’ coming out of your mouth virtually every time you speak. Are we working on a crush here?” Aaron bristled at Mark’s condescending tone.
“We’re working on the case you asked me to work on. As a favor. To you.”
Mark gave Aaron a look of mock innocence. “Hey, Jane’s awesome. If something developed between the two of you, I’d be thrilled. I will say, though, that I’m not sure you’re her type.”
“Yeah? Exactly what
type
does Janie go for?” Aaron was embarrassed to even ask, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to know what Mark thought he was lacking in the ‘potential partner’ department.
“Oh, I don’t know. Her boyfriends tend to be a bit flashier than you. A bit more extroverted. But that doesn’t mean anything. It’s possible that she’s ready to try another flavor.”
“So you think she’s willing to switch from double chocolate toffee crunch to plain vanilla?” Aaron asked sarcastically.
“Hey. Plain vanilla is the most popular flavor in the world. And for good reason. You can’t go wrong with a classic.” Mark slapped him on the shoulder and sent him on his way. As he stepped into the hall and waited for the elevator, Aaron couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d just received the most hackneyed pep-talk of all time.
***
At noon the next day, Aaron parked in the visitor’s spot in Janie’s condo complex. He was just stepping out of the car when he saw her emerge from her front door, laden with two large suitcases and a backpack.
“We’re going for three days, tops,” Aaron said, jogging up to take the heaviest bag from her hands. “What did you pack in here? A body?”
“Men. You want us to look stunning, but complain when faced with the fact that it actually takes effort.” Janie gave him a lopsided grin to let him know that she was kidding.
“You always look stunning.” His simple words made Janie come up short. She paused for a minute, then felt herself blush.
“Thanks,” she muttered, then walked deliberately to the trunk of his car. He followed, gesturing for her to move aside as he lifted her substantial bags into the back of the car with a muffled grunt. Slamming the trunk, he wiped his hands down the front of his jeans and looked into her clear blue eyes. “Have you had lunch?” He asked.
“No. But I brought snacks.” She slipped the backpack from her shoulder and opened it to show him the main compartment, which was full of Swedish Fish and blueberry Pop Tarts. Aaron’s broad grin made her glow with delight. “You like?”
“I
love.”
He grabbed the bag and installed it between the two front seats, then grabbed his iPhone and plugged it into the auxiliary speaker system in the car. “Do you mind? I brought some music. I fall asleep if I don’t have music to drive with.”
“Not at all, lemme see,” Janie said, grabbing the phone and scrolling through his music list. “Hmm. Nelly Furtado. I approve. Jury’s still out on Tenacious D…”
“Give me that,” Aaron murmured, grabbing for the phone. Janie jerked her hand away and turned her back to him. “The Cure, classic...Eminem, okay.” She stopped and turned towards him slowly. “Boy Kill Boy? Oh my God, I’m stealing your phone. Let’s go, hurry, we’ve got a lot of music to cover.” She got in the car and began fidgeting in her seat. Aaron shook his head in amusement.
“Alright, alright. We’re going. Cue up a playlist. And open a package of Swedish Fish, okay?”
***
Four hours later, they stopped for a gas break. They’d spent a good two hours talking about music, Janie’s childhood, their respective jobs, and finally, comic books. Janie had started reading graphic novels when she realized they helped some of her kids read aloud with more confidence. She’d found them surprisingly compelling, and was soon reading them for pleasure. Aaron was a fan as well, and by the time they hit the Texas/Louisiana border, they’d discussed several of their favorite authors. Finally, Janie fell asleep against the window while Aaron listened to music and grinned at the way she snuggled into her pillow, chewing her thumbnail and snoring softly.
“Hey. Janie. Hey, wake up,” Aaron whispered after he’d stopped the car by the gas pump.
“Hmm?” She stretched languorously, and Aaron swallowed hard. “Oh, sorry. Did I snore?”
“Oh, yeah. And if I’m not mistaken, you sucked your thumb.”
“What? No, I didn’t.”
“I’m pretty sure you did.” He touched her upper arm gently. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.”
“There’s no secret. I
don’t
suck my thumb.” Her face was pink, and Aaron came up short. He turned to face her, looking serious.
“Janie, I was just joking. I mean, I don’t care what you suck.” She stared at him, her eyes wide as saucers. “No, wait--that didn’t sound right at all. I just mean…you should never be embarrassed around me. I’m the weirdo, remember?”
“Aaron?”
“What.”
“Shut up. Go put gas in the car. Here’s my credit card,” she said, reaching for her wallet.
“Nope, you brought lunch. I’ll pay for the gas.”
“Speaking of lunch, as a fully functioning human, I’m going to need more than gelatinous sugar at some point today. Can we stop for real food?”
“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘real food’. I’m pretty sure everything in a Pop Tart is one hundred percent edible.”
“And part of a balanced diet,” Janie added.
“Obviously. But if you insist, there’s a Denny’s across the highway. Will that do?”
“Yep. Will you eat something there?”
“Will you suck your thumb there?”
There was a pregnant pause as they stared at each other. “Touché,” Janie said. Aaron gave her a lopsided smile and stepped out to fill up the car.
Dinner was another silly affair, and they put nine dollars in the crane game at the front of the restaurant before Aaron won her a stuffed minion from the Despicable Me movies. He presented it to her with a flourish.
“You shouldn’t have,” she gushed. “Well, actually, I kind of made you.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“You’re kind of cool like that,” Janie said, leaning against his shoulder as they walked to the parking lot. “It’s another four hours to Mobile. Do you want me to drive?”
“No, I’m good,” Aaron said. “Why don’t you get on your phone and see if you can find us a hotel near downtown. I’d like to hit the courthouse in the morning and see if we can get copies of a few title documents. Kenneth Brown may or may not have owned a house in Mobile in the late 80s. If we can find out where it was, we may be able to scout out the neighborhood and see if anyone remembers him.”
As they got back on the road, Janie was silent for several minutes, staring at the landscape speeding by.
“Are you nervous?” Aaron finally asked.
Janie nodded, keeping her back to him. She wasn’t ready to talk about the conflicting emotions roiling through her brain. The thought of meeting her father was simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying, and it made her want to sit and stew in her thoughts for a while.
Aaron seemed to sense this, and placed his hand reassuringly on her thigh for a moment, then reached to start a new playlist. They drove in silence for over an hour, until Janie finally turned and picked up her phone.
“On a scale of halfway house to the Ritz-Carlton, what kind of hotel were you shooting for?”
“Well, I’d say beds are a plus. And a shower. Clearly I won’t be availing myself of any on-site dining establishments.”
“So you really don’t ever eat at restaurants? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, I just can’t understand a world without food prepared and served to me.”
“My mom’s a little
unique
,” Aaron said carefully. “And a bit of a germaphobe. I think some of her phobias rubbed off on me. I don’t like eating food that I didn’t prepare.”
“But pre-packaged food is okay? I mean, people prepared that as well, right?”
“I figure most prepackaged food is prepared on assembly lines. Less human contact. For some reason that makes me feel better.” He snuck a look at Janie and shrugged. “I know it doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, I can see it. But don’t you ever get hungry for real food?”
“Sure, that’s why I cook. It’s one of my hobbies. But I don’t do it often, because it’s so time consuming. And it’s kind of difficult to cook big meals for just myself.”
“That’s great that you cook. You have to make something for me one day,” Janie turned in her seat to face him. She seemed genuinely interested in his life. It made his head spin in a not unpleasant way.
“I’d like that.” His eyes were on the road, but she could see him glance at her occasionally. She shook her head slightly and concentrated on her phone. There was a reasonable hotel close to the center of town, but when she called the registration desk, she was shocked to find that the rooms were over two hundred dollars. “It’s not the damn Ritz,” she complained to Aaron, covering the bottom of her phone with her palm.
“I’ll pay, don’t worry about it.”
“Absolutely not. I’m covering expenses. I’ll call around and see if I can find a cheaper place.” Preparing to hang up, she stopped short when Aaron interrupted her.
“Get one room, then. I’ll sleep on in a chair. Or on the floor.”
Janie hesitated. Aaron figured that the thinness of her wallet made her pause. “Do you have any doubles available?’ She asked.
By nine that evening, they were pulling into the Doubletree parking lot. Aaron was exhausted, but he realized that Janie must feel just as bad. “I’ll get your bags,” he said firmly when she tried to pull her largest suitcase from the trunk. “
Thanks. I think I only need the small one for now. I’ll get the rest in the morning.”
Aaron nodded, too tired to argue. Once they’d checked in at the front desk, they found their room on the 7
th
floor and collapsed on the pair of navy blue-clad mattresses.
“Did you want the bed by the window?” Aaron asked, chagrined. He’d plopped down without asking him his preference.
“I just want a bed with pillows.” Janie stretched and put her hands behind her head. In doing so, her t-shirt hitched up, revealing a stripe of flat stomach. Aaron stared for a moment, before catching himself and sitting up with a jerk.
“Right, well, I’m going to unpack and then freshen up a bit.” Janie nodded in response, her eyes still closed.
“Then I think I’ll hit the vending machine and see if they have any pretzels.” Why was he still talking? He realized that his nerves were making him ramble, but he was unable to stop himself.
“Boy, you need some protein,” Janie said, opening her right eye and staring at him harshly.
“Peanuts, then.”
“Better.” He left and pulled the door closed behind him, lost in his thoughts. And one hundred percent of those thoughts were focused on that two inch stripe of skin that had just burned itself into his retinas.
CHAPTER SEVEN
JANIE
The next morning, Janie woke with a start. It took her a moment to realize that she’d been startled out of sleep by the sound of children screeching with delight as they ran down the hall outside their door. She tried for a few minutes to go back to sleep, but it was too late. Once she reached a certain level of consciousness, trying to doze again was hopeless.
She turned her head and saw that Aaron was still asleep. He was shirtless (when did that happen?), and was splayed on his back across the bed. One arm was slung over his eyes, and the other was hanging over the side of the mattress. She watched the rise and fall of his chest as he slept. He didn’t snore, but she could hear the steady rhythm of his breathing over the low hum of the air conditioner. His chest was covered with a light spattering of brown hair. He was broader than he seemed, and that pleased her for some reason. He seemed sturdy, and reliable, and kind. Maybe not the most exciting qualities in a man, but ones she valued heavily, given her past.
“Are you staring at me?”
Janie yelped, the sat up quickly, her hand covering her chest. His arm still covered his eyes. She could have sworn he was asleep.
“No! I mean, I was looking in your direction, but I wasn’t staring at you.” That sounded kind of lame. “Sorry.”
Aaron grinned and sat up, too. “It was just a guess. I couldn’t see you.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling annoyed. “Well, I wasn’t. I mean, not really.”
“It’s okay. I stared at your last night when you were resting before bed.”
“I doubt that.”
“No, I did. You have a bunch of freckles on the back of your neck. How do you get freckles there? I mean, with your long hair and everything.”
Janie let out a surprised chuckle. “I swim in the outdoor pool at the Y, and I put my hair in a cap. I’ve got freckles all down my back.”
“Oh. Well, I couldn’t see your back, just your neck. Nice Wonder Woman pajamas, by the way.”
“Nice hairy chest. Very manly. Do you not wear pajamas?”
Janie took perverse pleasure at the splotches of red that rose on his cheeks. “I don’t own pajamas. I’m not eleven. Or a girl.”
“So I see,” she teased, wiggling her eyebrows playfully in the direction of his bare chest.
Aaron pulled up his sheets and gave his pillow a few beats with his fist before setting his head back against it. “If you’re done ogling me, maybe we could go grab some breakfast and get to business.”
“Yes, sir.” She saluted him, then grabbed her clothes and made her way to the bathroom. “I’m gonna shower real quick, okay?”
“Sure,” he said, clearing his throat and reaching for a bottle of water on the nightstand. Janie grinned and added just the slightest swing to her step as she left the room.
***
An hour later they were at the hotel restaurant. Aaron had managed to find some prepackaged cereal on the breakfast buffet, while Janie sat down to a plate of bacon and eggs, with a side of pancakes.
“You make me feel like a pig,” she said around a syrupy mouthful.
“I ate an entire bag of Funions from the convenience store last night. I can’t believe you couldn’t smell them on me. It was like taking a salt bath.”
“Oh, I thought that was your pungent male odor.” She grinned as he threw a sugar packet in her face.
Aaron finished his cereal and moved the bowl aside. “Let’s figure out our schedule. We need to start at the appraisal district and get the tax records on any property owned by Kenneth Brown from 1984 to the present. Based on what we find there, we can visit neighborhoods and ask around about Kenneth and your mom. It’s possible we may get a lead on former employment as well. I’ve also got a friend who’s scanning some genealogy databases for me. He’ll call later this afternoon if anything turns up.”
“Wow,” Janie said, pausing to study his hands as he folded and unfolded a napkin on the table. “You’re really smart.”
Aaron rolled his eyes, which Janie had already noticed was his way of accepting a compliment.
“Hurry up, we’re on a tight schedule,” Aaron ordered, already signaling the waitress for the check. Janie stuffed one last, large bite of pancake in her mouth and threw her napkin on the table. “Let’s do this thing,” she said with enthusiasm.
But by the time they were on their way to the courthouse, Janie began to feel her nerves kicking in.
“So, is all of this information open to the public? What happens if they won’t hand it over?”
Aaron paused for a long second, and then gave her a sheepish look over his sunglasses.
“What?”
“I may have an identification badge that can get us access to some of the more classified documents. If it comes to that,” he added.
“What do you mean? Do you have like a press badge or something?” Aaron looked at her like she may be a bit crazy. “Well, I don’t know! What else would you have?”
Again, he hesitated. “C’mon,” she insisted.
Aaron rolled his eyes, then sighed. “I have a friend with access to replicas of law enforcement IDs.”
“You have a police badge?” Janie gasped.
“FBI, actually,” he mumbled.
“Aaron!” Janie faced him with a look of genuine horror. “Impersonating an FBI agent is, like, a serious crime. No way are you using it.”
“I said I’d only use it as a last resort,” he argued.
“No! No resort! You’ll go to jail, and believe me, they won’t give you any prepackaged food there. It’s like, all cooked in a huge pot and slapped on a tray. You’d be dead in a month.”
“Alright, calm down. We’ll do this on the up and up. But the ID would get us access to a lot more stuff, that’s all I’m sayin’.”
Janie gave him her own version of the eye roll, and they drove in silence until they parked in the visitor lot of the courthouse annex.
“It’s show time,” Aaron said, grabbing her hand and giving it a supportive squeeze. Janie looked into his eyes and was suddenly overcome by gratitude.
“Listen, whatever happens on this little adventure of ours, I just want to thank you. I couldn’t rest knowing that my dad might be out there somewhere, and I couldn’t have even started to find him without your help.” Before she could think better of it, she leaned over the seat and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re so special, Aaron.” Her whispered words hung in the air, until he backed up with a bit of a jerk and opened the car door.
“You’re pretty great yourself,” he said, tugging a lock of her hair. By the time she’d stepped into the parking lot, the moment had passed.
“Look, I’ve dealt with a lot of these county clerk types in the past. Why don’t you let me do the talking, okay?”
Janie frowned, not sure she liked being put in the back seat. “Okay,” she said reluctantly.
“Just because it’s easier to get what you want when you stick to their expected script,” he explained, and she could tell he was trying to take the sting out of his directive.
“Fine. But if you start pulling out any type of bogus identification, we are aborting immediately.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Janie wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but the actual process of standing in line, filling out the records request, and receiving the printed files from the middle-aged, bleached blonde clerk was a lot less dramatic than she’d anticipated.
“That’s it?” She whispered as they took the thin pile of documents and existed into the musty lobby of the courthouse building.
“That’s it.”
“So, what did we get?” Janie was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement.
“I don’t know, you mad woman. Let’s go find out.” They exited the courthouse plaza and found the nearest bench, which was fortuitously under a shade tree.
“Okay.” Aaron spread the sheets across his lap. “Kenneth Brown had a 1985 Chrevrolet Chevette registered in his name in 1990. He renewed it every year until 1994.”
“I was born in 1992,” Janie whispered.
“He’s also listed on the title of a house, at 13867 Cypress Hills Dr. In 1990.” Aaron paused.
“What?” Janie asked, taking the sheet of paper from his hand. The title looked official, with the seal of the state of Alabama, and some scratchy signatures on the bottom. Under title holder, she saw the name Kenneth Brown…followed underneath by the name Elaine Brown.
“Elaine Brown? My mom’s name is Elaine Block. Does this mean they were married?” Janie felt her heartbeat kick into overdrive. They were
married
? How could her mother lie to her like that? And why?
“Maybe. Maybe it’s another Elaine. Maybe he lied about being married on the title paperwork. It’s dangerous to assume at this point.”
Janie nodded her head, still too upset to speak. It seemed like her mother’s life had been a lie. That meant
her
life was a lie. What if her father had been looking for her all this time? What if her mother had kept him from her? She shook her head, physically trying to rid herself of the crazy thoughts roiling through her mind.
“C’mon,” Aaron said, taking her upper arm and gently leading her to the car. “We don’t know enough yet to come to any conclusions. Let’s go drive by this house on Cypress Hills and see what it looks like now.” Janie nodded again.
“Hey. You okay?” Aaron’s voice was soft, and he seemed concerned. She gave him a shaky smile.
“Sure. It’s just, you know, a shock. But you’re right. Let’s see what else we find before we get ahead of ourselves.”
Aaron gave her an encouraging chin-lift as they got in the car. He set her to work finding the address on her phone’s GPS app, and within ten minutes they were stopped in front of a one-story house with light gray brick in a lower-middle class part of town. They yard was large but unkempt, and there was an old plastic kiddie pool full of brown water under an oak tree.
“This is it,” Aaron said. “Looks lived-in. Should we go knock on the door?”
“What?” Janie was horrified. “We can’t just walk up and knock. These people will think we’re freaks.”
“I could flash the FBI badge,” Aaron said with a smirk. Janie whacked him in the chest and continued her fretting. “And anyway, what would we say when they opened the door? ‘We’re looking for a man who may have lived here 30 years ago, who may be my father, who may have been married to my mother? Or he may not even exist.’ They’d slam the door in our faces.”
“No they wouldn’t,” Aaron said with a scoff. “We’re normal looking people. For the most part,” he said, eyebrows raised pointedly. “We can explain clearly and without emotion. We won’t make a move to go into the house unless they invite us in. We’ll come across as interested, but not obsessed. It’ll be fine.”
“You go without me,” Janie said suddenly. “I can’t do it.”
“It’ll sound better if you are involved. People always trust women more than men. Plus, he’s you’re alleged father, so—“
“No, Aaron, please. I can’t. I’ll get all tongue-tied, or weepy. It’ll be a disaster. I’m horrible when I’m nervous.” She stopped and gave him a doleful gaze. “Please?”
Aaron closed his eyes and sighed. “Fine. But stay in the car. And when I point at you, wave through the window. I’ll tell them you’re sick with the flu, and don’t want to infect their kids.”
“Should it scare me that you’re such a good liar?”
“Probably,” Aaron murmured as he stepped out of the car. Janie held her breath and watched as he side-stepped a tricycle on the sidewalk and made it to the front step. He knocked, and after a considerable amount of time, the door opened to reveal a short woman with a baby slung over one hip. She looked impossibly young. Aaron talked for a little while, and Janie noticed the girl/woman looking increasingly skeptical as he told his story. Oh God, please let this go well.
Aaron turned suddenly and pointed to her. Janie sat up straight and waived like an idiot through the closed window. The young mother waved back, looking perplexed, but not unfriendly. Aaron said something, and the girl laughed. Janie was almost sure he’d made a joke at her expense, but the kept the smile plastered on her face, trying to look as un-crazy as possible.
Before it registered what was happening, the girl stepped back and let Aaron inside. After the door closed, Janie was suddenly furious with herself for not going with him. He was inside the house, the house that her mother and father possibly lived in. The house that
she
very well might have lived in when she was a baby. Urgh, why was she such a wimp?
She took out her phone to distract herself. There were a few texts from Mia, one asking if she was okay, and the other a dirty joke circulating amongst their college friends. She typed a quick answer to the first message.
We are at the house that my father (?) used to own. He and my mom may have been married!
Janie didn’t really expect an immediate response, as Mia was probably in a therapy session at this time in the morning. However, her message chime went off almost immediately.
WTF? Are you serious? What’s the house like?
IDK. I was too chicken to go in. Aaron’s talking to the current owner.