Page 9 of Letter for Two
“You really do know how to cook?” Obviously she doubted it.
Ethan leaned his shoulder against the wall near her, close enough for a conversation but with enough distance that she wouldn’t panic if he was interpreting this whole thing differently than she was.
“My brother and sister and I all had to learn to cook growing up,” Ethan said. “It wasn’t optional.”
“That’s smart. Your parents didn’t have to cook every night.” She turned so she was facing him more directly. “And now it makes you popular with your neighbors.”
“Withallmy neighbors?”Worst pick-up line ever.
Sophia shrugged. “Probably not with Mrs. Garcia or her daughter. They can out cook anyone.”
“I’ll give it my best shot,” Ethan said.
She brushed at that same stray hair, which made Ethan wonder if doing so was some kind of signal he didn’t know about.
“So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Sophia said.
Disappointment settled like a weight in his chest. He wasn’t the smoothest guy, but he was making some progress. If she went inside this soon, he’d never get past the standing-near-her-on-the-porch stage to any of the other stages that came next.He’d had his arm around her at Mrs. Garcia’s house, but she hadn’t held his hand on the way home, hadn’t lingered very close by when they got home.
“Yeah.” He did his best to act like it was no big deal. “See you after work tomorrow.”
“See ya.”
She slipped inside, closing the door behind her. Ethan stayed on the porch, telling himself he was an idiot. Either she wasn’t interested and he was chasing after her pointlessly, or shewasinterested, and he just blew it.
Chapter Five
Sophia left work about an hour early so she’d have time to shower and change before walking across the porch to Ethan’s side of the house. Something had gone wrong the night before, but she still had no idea what. He’d sat with his arm around her on Mrs. Garcia’s couch. He’d walked home with her, and a couple of times, she thought he was going to hold her hand. But he never did. Then, on the porch, she’d leaned in a little close to him, fussed with her hair, gave him her bestI’m interestedsmile, and he still didn’t take her hand or try to hug her. He certainly didn’t look like he’d wanted to kiss her.
Though Sophia didn’t think she could blame her personal hygiene, she wasn’t taking any chances. She blow dried her hair and added some curl with her flatiron. She pulled on her favorite pair of jeans, coupling it with a great top she’d found at a boutique nearby.
She gave herself a quick check. Casual but on trend. Nice, but not like she was trying too hard.
“Just don’t blow it,” she told her reflection.
Sophia knocked at Ethan’s door. She was even more nervous than she had been three nights before when she’d first had dinner with him. Had it really only been three days? She’d known him for months, but the past week had seemed the longest part of it, in the best way. She’d started believing it was possible that he returned her feelings. The combination of hope and doubt was exhausting.
The door opened.
“Hey, Sophia.” He always greeted her withHey. Was she just imagining that he’d said it with more feeling than he used to?
“Hey.”
“Are you up for a car trip?” Ethan asked.
She hadn’t seen that coming. “Trying to get out of cooking dinner again?”
He chuckled. She loved the sound of his deep, rumbling laugh. “Nope. Mrs. Garcia’s daughter talked to her friend Norma’s cousin.”
“I hope I’m not expected to repeat that.”
His smile was adorably lopsided. She couldn’t help smiling back.
“This cousin,” he said, “is the daughter of her aunt Ellie, whose full name, as it turns out is Eleanor Gibbons.”
Sophia’s heart leapt at the name. “Is sheourEleanor?”
Ethan stepped onto the porch next to her. “It looks like she is. She did, in fact, live in this house with the Bartletts in 1966 and part of 1967.”
