Free The Firefighter Daddy by Margaret Daley Page A

Since finding Gabe, he’d seen Sarah more often than most people. At least with her here, he knew three people on the fund-raiser committee, although it might make it harder to back off from Sarah.
    There were empty chairs at the second table. Maybe it would be better to sit apart from her. “I see some places—”
    â€œLet’s go,” Brandon interrupted when he spied Pastor Collins.
    His friend headed for the empty seats across from the pastor, and Liam had no choice but to accompany Brandon, especially when Sarah caught sight of Liam and smiled. The warmth in her expression, followed by Liam’s heartbeat quickening, shouted to him to run away before he let her into his life too much.
    â€œI didn’t know you would be on the committee,” Sarah said as he sat directly across from her.
    â€œI just found out a few days ago.”
    â€œSo did I. Mom usually represents the church with Pastor Collins, but she has her hands full with Nana these days.”
    Pastor Collins inclined his head. “It’s nice to see you again, Liam. Brandon and I are old hands at this.”
    After pleasantries were exchanged, Liam dug into his chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes while Brandon carried on a conversation with the pastor. He satisfied himself with several bites before he looked up to see the seats were filling up. Then he made the mistake of glancing at Sarah.
    Her dark brown eyes gleamed at him. There was no way to avoid Sarah. Even if she’d been sitting across the room, he’d be drawn to her. “How is your grandmother doing?”
    Sarah took a sip of her iced tea then set it down. “Actually the past couple of days she has been doing well, but we never know when she’ll go through a ‘spell,’ as my mom refers to her forgetfulness. How about your nieces? Since you’re working today, I gather they won’t come by this afternoon.”
    â€œNo, unless they can talk Aunt Betty into it. I told them if they didn’t say anything to Aunt Betty, I’d make sure we visited Wednesday, Thursday and then Saturday.”
    â€œGreat. I know Gabe and the kittens will like it. I was out in the backyard yesterday, and they had a ball.”
    â€œAnyone contact you about them?”
    â€œNo, except one lady told me she’d love to have a kitten. Recently one of her cats died. She’s coming this weekend to pick one out.”
    Liam cut another piece of his meat. “That’s good. One down and four to go.”
    â€œAre you going to take one?”
    â€œI hate to ask Aunt Betty to take on one more thing. She doesn’t complain, but she’s so tired when the girls leave her.” He sipped his iced tea. “So I’m assuming no one has come forward about the mama.”
    Sarah ate the last of her chicken potpie. “No, that’s why I think the stray cat that used to come by is their mama. Nana particularly liked her visiting. She had a cat before moving in with Mom. I think it would be good for Nana.”
    â€œHas your mother thought about getting allergy shots, or maybe you can keep one of the kittens as an outside cat?”
    â€œThen, in cold weather, it could stay in the garage.”
    â€œIt might work. See, you’ll have the kittens taken care of in no time,” Liam said as an older gentleman stood, walked to the head of the room and raised his hands to indicate everyone be quiet.
    The fiftyish man turned out to be the mayor. From the crowd in the meeting room, Liam gathered this fund-raiser was important to the townspeople.
    â€œFor the new people on the committee, the first thing we need to decide is what kind of fund-raiser we’re going to have,” Mayor Adams started off. “In recent years we’ve had a rodeo, an arts-and-crafts fair and a carnival. We don’t want to repeat those, so we need some new suggestions.”
    â€œA talent contest,” a lady in the back