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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