Indirect Route

by Matthews, Claire

  “You’re so bossy. And in my face. You were so shy and awkward when we first met.” She eyed him critically. “What’s happened to you?”

  “Nothing. I’m only shy when I first meet people. If I decide to like them, I tend to loosen up a bit.”

  “Obviously.” Her dry delivery made him stop. Was she really angry? The possibility didn’t sit well with him.

  “I hope you know I’m just teasing you. I’m not really an oaf. I just…I don’t know, I could just tell you were nervous, and I wanted to distract you, try to put you at ease.” He cleared his throat and looked down into her eyes. “I’m sorry if that didn’t come through. Remember, I’m not exactly Mr. Smooth.”

  “You do pretty well.” She nudged his shoulder with hers, then moved to the desk chair. Aaron stared at the empty space beside him, feeling inexplicably bereft.

  “What do you want to do now? We don’t have to leave for another…” Aaron glanced at his cell phone. “Two hours.”

  “I say we find some lunch, then grab a nap.”

  “A nap?” Aaron was incredulous. No one between the ages of four and eighty took a nap.

  “Sure—good way to recharge the old battery.” Janie flashed him a serene smile.

  “Is that what is says in your AARP magazine?”

  “Laugh if you want, nerd boy. Napping is a very healthy. It’s part of a comprehensive self-care plan that I follow religiously.”

  “I don’t know what the hell you’re going on about, but naps are for babies and shift workers.” He stood and flexed his muscles. “I’ll have no part of your malingering.”

  “Fine, then take me out and feed me.”

  They ended up in the lobby restaurant, splitting a burger roughly the size of a dinner plate.

  “This thing is so bloody, I feel like we’re on the set of The Vampire Diaries.” Aaron pushed his untouched half towards the middle of the table.

  “Won’t you eat anything?” Janie whined.

  “Believe me, if I’m going to dip my toe into the world of restaurant eating, it’s not going to be at this crime scene.”

  “I can get them to make you one that’s well-done.”

  Aaron smiled. “No thanks. But I promise, when we get back home, I’m going to make you a spaghetti bolognaise that will blow your socks off. And you can watch me eat every bite.”

  “It’s on like Donkey Kong,” Janie said, stuffing the last bite of burger in her mouth. “God, it’s so good, Aaron, you don’t know what you’re missing.”

  “E coli? Listeria?”

  “Oh, shut up. Are you ready for your nap? You seem kinda cranky.”

  Aaron picked up his napkin and threw it at her. Janie grabbed it and threw it back at him. “No fooling around in the restaurant—you’ll get us kicked out of here. Let’s pay the check and go.”

  After they returned to the room, Janie fell to her bed and cuddled under the covers. Aaron went back to his laptop, but noticed that she was asleep within five minutes. He waited to wake her until the very last moment.

  “Janie,” he whispered, pushing her shoulder. “C’mon, time to go.” She moaned and turned her back to him.

  “Janie,” he said, louder this time. “Come on. Our appointment’s at four. We’ve got half an hour to get there.”

  Her eyes fluttered open, and before she was able to focus, she broke into a sleepy smile and hugged Aaron’s arm.

  “Hey, sleepyhead,” he whispered.

  “Hey, yourself.” She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Aaron continued to stare at her, not quite able to look away. The rise and fall of her breasts as she yawned did something to his chest, and he swallowed, hard.

  “Okay, I’m awake. I promise.” She shook her arms out in front of her, then stood and walked into the bathroom, leaving the door open. Aaron watched as she splashed water on her face and fluffed her hair with her fingers.

  “Good to go,” she said, emerging to retrieve her purse and slide the room key into the side pocket.

  “You’re low maintenance.”

  “I’m going to take that as a compliment,” she said, laughing.

  “Good, ‘cause that’s how I meant it.” Aaron dropped his car keys in his pocket and opened the door. “Let’s roll.”

  At precisely four o’clock, they were walking down the corridors of JPI’s corporate office suite towards the HR department. Aaron had his laptop, his documents at the ready. Sitting in the reception area, Aaron reached across and placed his hand on Janie’s leg, which was tapping nervously against the side of his chair. “Relax. This’ll be easy-peasy,” Aaron murmured from the side of his mouth.

  “Right,” Janie nodded, continuing with the rhythmic tapping of her foot. Aaron sighed.

  “Mr. Dillon?” A tall, grey-haired woman emerged from a corner office and introduced herself as Sharon Kelly. She invited them both back to a conference room and gave them each a bottle of water as Aaron explained their situation. He produced the documents on his laptop in a nonchalant fashion, and wasn’t surprised when Ms. Kelly barely glanced at them. Soon she moved behind her desk, booted up her computer, and began opening several windows.

  “What’s the time frame we’re talking about again?” She asked without glancing from her screen.

  “We know his employment spanned the mid-eighties. We don’t have a start date or a termination date.” Aaron flashed her a charming grin. Janie rolled her eyes.

  “I can run a check with his social. Just a minute.” Within a matter of seconds, pages were spitting out of the laser printer in the corner of the office. Ms. Kelly rose to retrieve them, gave each one a quick glance, and then handed the entire sheaf to Aaron. “That should do it. Have a look when you get back to your office, and if you need anything else, just let me know. Here’s my card.”

  Janie stood, realizing that they were being given a polite heave-ho. Considering it was near the end of the day, she suspected that Ms. Kelly was impatient for the five o’clock whistle to blow.

  “You’ve been very helpful. Thanks so much for your time.” Aaron shook her hand while Janie looked on, only offering a shy ‘thank you’ as they exited the office.

  As they walked silently down the hall, Aaron took Janie’s hand and squeezed it. She squeezed back, and their hands remained entwined as they walked across the parking lot. Aaron wasn’t quite sure why he’d initiated the contact, but he didn’t regret it.

  They were four miles down the road before either of them spoke.

  “I can’t believe that was so easy.” Janie sounded breathless.

  “It’s a relatively standard request. Unless Kenneth Brown was an international man of mystery, there’s nothing earth-shattering in those papers,” Aaron said, gesturing to her lap with a tip of his head.

  “Maybe not to anyone else, but it’s earth-shattering to me.”

  “Yeah, I guess so. I’m sorry to be so blasé. Just habit, I guess.”

  “It’s okay. I mean, you’re right. People deal with family stuff every day. I’m the freak who’s not used to it.”

  “Not a freak.” Aaron shook his head.

  “Maybe a bit of a freak,” Janie said with a chuckle.

  “Well, maybe, but for reasons completely unrelated to your father.”

  Arriving back at the hotel, Aaron suggested that they each get a drink at look at the documents on the covered patio off the lobby. Beers in hand, they relaxed at a beech wood table.

  “You look—I can’t take the suspense.” Janie began peeling the label off the bottle in front of her.

  “Okay.” Aaron began shuffling through the papers, his brows creased together in concentration. He immediately knew that they were going to be here awhile.

  “Well, first things first.”

  “What?”

  “Kenneth and your mom were definitely married. Here’s a copy of their marriage license. I think he had to provide it to get her on his health insurance plan.” He looked up, waiting for a reaction. Janie’s face was surprisingly passive.

/>   “Do you want to see it?”

  “No. Yes. I don’t know. Just…what else is in there?”

  “Let’s see. Your parents were married in 1984. But not in Mobile—looks like the license was issued in Gulf Shores.”

  “Is that close?”

  “Not too far. It’s on the Gulf.” He looked up at her and grinned when she gave him a ‘duh’ look. “Lots of hotels and vacation spots.”

  “Okay. What else?” Janie took another sip of her beer and shivered.

  “Janie, we can look at this later if you like.”

  “Nope, lay it on me. I’m ready.”

  “Okay...” He continued to scan the documents, tapping his fingertip against the edge of the table until Janie covered his hand with her own. Smiling apologetically, he continued. “He started at JPI in July of 1989. Just a few months after the wedding.” When Janie didn’t react, he continued. “It lists your mom’s occupation as ‘homemaker’. Wow, I haven’t heard that term in a long time.”

  “I wasn’t born yet, so she wasn’t quite a stay-at-home mom.” Janie looked reflective, so Aaron decided to stop talking for a minute. “I wonder if I was planned?”

  “I wonder the same thing sometime,” Aaron mused. “My brother and sisters are way older than me, but my parents always assure me I wasn’t a mistake. Now that I’m an adult, though, I can see that for the lie it is.”

  “Not necessarily,” Janie argued. “Lots of couples decide they want another baby later in life.”

  Aaron laughed. “I’m thinking my parents weren’t wanting anything more than a lake house and a pontoon boat. But I’m not complaining—they were great parents, just a little…I don’t know, tired, I guess.”

  “My mom was always tired, too. First from being a single mother, and then later from her illness.” The stillness in the room was broken by the sound of the air conditioner clicking to life. Janie slapped the table and broke them from their trance. “Enough navel-gazing. What else is in there?”

  “Let’s see.” Aaron continued to leaf through the stack of forms. “He’s an organ donor. He doesn’t smoke. He’s allergic to penicillin. This should all be helpful to you, from a medical standpoint.”

  “I guess. But it’s not very exciting. When did his employment end?”

  “Umm…November of 1993.” Aaron flipped the page quickly. “It says he resigned, so he wasn’t fired or anything.” He was nearing the end of the pages, and he could tell by Janie’s desperate expression that she’d been hoping for more.

  “Whoa, wait a minute,” he called, sitting up straight. “February 1992. Looks like a little Miss Jane Denise Brown was born on the 19th.”

  “Brown? But my birth certificate says Block.”

  “Not this birth certificate,” Aaron said, thrusting the piece of paper in front of her.

  Janie stared at the document with bug eyes. Aaron looked over her shoulder as she perused the fine print. “It’s all exactly the same except for my last name. And the fact that there’s a father listed. On my birth certificate, the father section is marked out with big typewriter ‘X’s’. This is bizarre.”

  “Is there a way to legally remove a father’s name from a birth certificate?”

  “I doubt you can do it without the results of a paternity test,” Aaron said with a sigh. “I’m not sure what the law is, though. I can double check with some people I know.”

  “You sure know a lot of people.” Janie grinned at his look of feigned innocence. “Who knew you were so well-connected?”

  “It’s a small group of nerds who do this kind of trace work. We do favors for each other, that’s all.”

  “Are there any girls in your little circle?” Janie’s eyebrows raised suggestively.

  “A few. Why?”

  “I was just wondering what kind of favors you might be trading.” Her leer made him laugh, but the thought of her asking about his sex life made him blush, as well.

  “Don’t go shy on me. I’m just curious.” Janie downed the last few sips of her beer, clearly needing a rest from the stress of her family drama. “Have you ever slept with someone you work with?”

  “Ninety percent of the people I work with on a daily basis are men.”

  “And ninety percent of the people I work with on a daily basis are in elementary school.”

  “Well, it’s no wonder that we’re both single,” Aaron laughed.

  “Who said I was single?” Janie winked at him, and he felt himself squirm.

  “Mark mentioned it,” he mumbled.

  “Well, he was right. I had one serious boyfriend in college, but once he went off to law school in Maryland, we kinda drifted apart. And then when he slept with a paralegal at the firm where he was clerking, we really drifted apart.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah, but we were kids. It was doomed to failure.” Janie shrugged, and Aaron noted her look of indifference. Clearly she wasn’t still hung up on law-school turd.

  “So, no one since him?”

  “Not really. My work is pretty all-encompassing, and I spent a lot of time caring for my mom. Plus, the people I meet on a daily basis are usually the parents of little kids. Hardly an environment conducive to dating.”

  “Excuses, excuses.” Aaron locked her in his gaze, willing her to go on.

  “So, what’s your excuse?” Janie leaned in towards the table, almost knocking over her empty beer bottle in the process. “Fair’s fair on the romantic history front.”

  “Well, my story’s not that much different than yours, actually. I dated a girl named Katy in high school and college. I assumed we’d get married and have kids. I even had a ring picked out to give her on our six year anniversary. But when she saw the ring, she kind of freaked. Her plans weren’t nearly as permanent as mine. And I was too much of an idiot to even see the signs.”

  “Wow. Derek and I were never that serious. I mean, no rings purchased, or even contemplated. I’m so sorry.” Janie reached across the table and covered his hand with hers. He felt the warmth of her palm, and turned his hand over so that they were able to thread their fingers together.

  “It’s in the past. Plus, it taught me an important lesson about being present in a relationship. I’ll never ignore the signs of a dissatisfied woman again.”

  “Maybe her signs just weren’t that strong.”

  “They didn’t seem to be at the time. Of course, hindsight’s always sharp as a razor.” Aaron said, then froze when she brought his hand to her face and rested his palm on her cheek.

  “She was the idiot,” Janie whispered.

  He felt the heat rise to the tips of his ears. “I don’t know about that,” he whispered back.

  “How ‘bout another round?” The waiter from the bar had finally wandered outside, breaking the moment. Janie pulled away first, clearing her throat.

  “No, I think I’m good. I’m a cheap drunk.” She grinned at the waiter and then at Aaron. She seemed to be enjoying his discomfort, which was distracting him even further.

  “Umm, I’m done…I mean, I’m good. Could you bring us the check, please?”

  “Sure.” As the young man retreated, Janie turned her mocking eyes on him.

  “What’s wrong?” She asked, her face the picture of innocence.

  “Nothing,” he muttered, pulling his wallet from his back pocket and throwing a twenty on the table. “Here, we don’t need the check. That should cover it.”

  “Aaron, it’s happy hour. Those beers were three dollars each. Are you really going to leave a fourteen dollar tip on a six dollar tab?”

  “Sure. He was a good waiter. And you’re supposed to tip on the full price, not the happy hour price.” He stood up, feeling more and more antsy, for reasons he couldn’t identify.

  “Really?” Janie scrunched her nose. “I had no idea. I’ve been stiffing waiters for years.” She covered her mouth with her hand.

  “I think God will forgive you,” Aaron drawled.

  “But I feel terrible. What if they spi
t in my drinks or something?” Janie mused, her eyes growing wider at the thought. Aaron laughed and put his arm around her shoulder as they headed to the hotel lobby. “What’s done is done, Janie. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.”

  “I still feel awful. I’ll just over tip for the next ten years or so. That should even out my karma, right?”

  “I’m sure it will,” he agreed, steering her into the elevator. She hit the button and leaned back, eyeing him curiously.

  “What?” He knew he sounded dubious, but she was still making him nervous.

  “I was just wondering…” Aaron was silent, but raised his eyebrows, signaling her to continue. “If that waiter hadn’t interrupted us at the table…would you have kissed me?” She moved closer, until her hip was touching his. He took a deep breath.

  “Would you have let me?” Wow, where had that come from?

  Janie licked her lips, and Aaron felt the thrum of his pulse all over his body. “Yes.”

  The elevator door churned open slowly. It was their floor. Aaron took a stuttering breath, grabbed Janie’s hand, and led her to their room. Once the door was closed behind them, he took her by both shoulders, placed her firmly against the wall, and dropped his lips to her waiting mouth. Her breath was tinged with the taste of beer, and she quickly dug her fingers into his hair and pulled him closer. He went willingly, moaning in the back of his throat. Holy crap.

  “Aaron, wait,” she mumbled against his lips. He pulled back quickly, a sharp stab of fear tearing through his stomach.

  “What? I’m sorry. I thought…I’m sorry.”

  “God, you idiot.” She smiled and pushed him back gently. “The coat hook is jabbing me between the shoulder blades. Can we move this somewhere a bit more comfortable? Because the last thing I want you to do is stop.” She pulled him by the hand towards the nearest bed, which happened to be his. As they tumbled across the mattress, he tried his best to balance his weight, but Janie kept grabbing him—by the collar, by the hair, by the belt—and soon he was sprawled across her like a blanket.

  “Am I hurting you?” he whispered between kisses.

  “Do I look like I’m in pain?” She reached up and planted her lips on the sensitive skin behind his earlobe, and he jumped at the electric shock it sent through him.