Free Entertaining Angels by JUDY DUARTE Page A

occasional children who stop in for a meal with their parents.”
    “Do you have any success stories?” he asked, thinking he might want a few of those to relate during that city council meeting.
    “Quite a few of them, actually. And that helps us keep our perspective.”
    The elderly women, who’d picked up after themselves, stopped by to say hello to Dawn.
    “I loved that meatloaf,” Kathryn said. “It tasted almost as good as my mother used to make.”
    Dawn smiled, yet her eyes grew watery. “It was my mom’s recipe, and today was her birthday. So I fixed it in her memory. I’m glad you liked it.”
    The other woman, the one whose hair was matted in back, patted Dawn’s upper arm. “No baby yet?”
    “I’m afraid not, Ellie.”
    “Well, I’m still praying for you.”
    Dawn offered the woman a warm but wistful smile. “Thanks. Prayers are always appreciated. But Joe and I have resigned ourselves to not having children.”
    “That’s too bad,” Ellie said. “Everyone needs a family when they get older.”
    Craig wondered if Ellie had a family. And if she did, whether they took time to visit, to invite her for home-cooked meals.
    Dawn slipped an arm around the stooped woman and gave her a gentle squeeze. “You’re right about that, Ellie. But don’t worry about Joe and me. You and the others who come to eat here each day are our family.”
    Craig scanned the tables, noting those who’d gathered for a free meal.
    Would these people ever feel like family to him?
    He looked forward to working with them and helping them any way he could, but he didn’t think he’d go so far as to claim them as friends and family.

Chapter 5
    Paddy’s Pub was really hopping, which was typical for a Wednesday. The happy-hour patrons who had been gathering since about four o’clock were quenching their thirst and grazing on Irish potato wedges and Belfast buffalo wings.
    Some of them were also morphing into jerks.
    “Get me two house chardonnays and a Guinness,” Kristy told Randy, the bartender.
    “You got it.”
    While she waited for her order, she slipped off her right shoe and rubbed her arch against the built-in footrest on the bar. She didn’t need to look at her watch to know it was time to clock out. But she wouldn’t get to for a while.
    On days like this, she hated her job, hated the blisters on her feet, the ache in her back.
    She’d only been working at Paddy’s since the grand reopening a few months back, and if the pay wasn’t better than the diner where she used to work, she would have quit by now.
    At one time, Paddy’s was just a seedy bar, but a year or so ago, a couple of investors bought the place and remodeled by expanding the kitchen and adding a dining room. There’d been a few changes to the outside, too, but the biggest improvement had been within. The walls were now covered with mock white plaster and trimmed with dark timber beams.
    The primary decorative focus was a rock wall that displayed a large, open fireplace, complete with grate, bellows and a suspended cast iron kettle. Next to it, wooden benches and settle seats provided the patrons a place to sit amidst the Gaelic ambiance.
    When Kristy had learned the employees would be required to dress in period clothing, which was intended to add to the ambiance, she’d almost backed out of the job offer. But the new owners explained that they were providing lockers in the break room, where the hired help could keep their street clothes and personal belongings.
    It would have been a pain to trek through town dressed as a seventeenth-century tavern wench.
    Even though no one had said anything, Kristy suspected her red hair had been a real selling point when it came to landing the job, but that was okay with her, especially if it meant more tips. She needed the money to make ends meet.
    Still, she preferred to work the dining room, which was easier and less stressful. She’d already put in more than eight hours serving food today, but