Page 4 of Letter for Two
“Good idea.” She nodded. “How about the 1960 census?”
“Sounds good to me.” He watched her as she typed. Did that make him a stalker?
Sophia’s forehead scrunched up as she read the words on the screen. It made him smile. She was even cuter that way than usual, and that was saying something.
“Hmm.”
“What?” he asked.
“Doesn’t look like the 1960 census is available online.” She looked over at him, disappointment heavy in her brown eyes. “Should we try 1950?”
“It’s worth a try. If Eleanor was here in ’66, she might have been there in ’50.”
Sophia leaned back. She typed a new search in. After a few more clicks, her face lit up. “Here we go.”
She turned a little so the screen faced him more. Ethan hesitantly took that as an invitation. He moved ever so slightly closer but made sure she could tell he was doing so to get a better look at the computer. For all he knew, she thought of him as nothing more than a friend. Pushing that wouldn’t do his cause any good.
Sophia filled in the state, county, city information then the street name and nearest crossroad.
Ethan let out a long whistle when the search completed. “Thirty-six pages of results.”
She scrolled up and down on the census image. “This isn’t exactly straight forward. We’ll have to scroll through to find the right street.”
“I’ve got time.” Did that sound casual enough?
They scrolled through page after page searching for their street name and house number. He’d never looked through census records before but kind of enjoyed it. They got caught up reading about people’s occupations, where they’d lived before coming to Phoenix, how many children they had. They found unique names they’d never heard before and tried to pronounce them.
“Here it is.” Sophia sat up straight, her eyes darting from him to the computer screen and back again. “Our address. Right here.”
He scooted a little closer. Man, she smelled good.Focus, Ethan.
“Is there an Eleanor?” he asked.
She moved her finger along the screen, not quite touching it. She went from one line to the other, shaking her head as she did.
“No Eleanor.” She sounded as disappointed as he felt.
“Her family could have moved in after 1950.” That seemed more and more like the case.
Sophia leaned back against the couch again, watching him. “Where should we look next? We can’t get to the 1960 census or the one from 1970.”
Ethan gave it as much thought as he could while sitting this close to her. “Tax records?” It was the first thing that came to mind.
She typed in a new search. Then another. Part of him was glad the task hadn’t proven quick and easy. He’d spend the whole evening with her, looking for Eleanor. Once they found her, Sophia would leave.
“The county assessor’s site is down,” Sophia said.
“Sounds like they need an IT professional.” Ethan gave her a pointed look.
“They can’t afford me,” she answered.
“I’ll have to remember that next time I have a computer emergency.”
“Nah.” She pushed his shoulder with hers. “I won’t charge you for consultations if you’ll check out my next sore throat.”
“Deal.” A very welcome deal, in fact.
“And maybe we can check the assessor’s site tomorrow.”
