Indirect Route Read Online Free PDF

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,