Free Desperately Seeking Dad by Marta Perry Page A

she’d agree.
    â€œGrace Church…isn’t that where Kate belongs?”
    He nodded.
    â€œKate’s invited me to go to a church potluck supper with her tonight. I’m sure I’ll have a chance tomeet your Pastor Richie. I can bring up the subject casually.”
    He pictured her mentioning it in front of several of the most notorious gossips in town. She was determined, so there was only one thing he could do.
    â€œFine.” He smiled. “I’ll pick you up at ten to six, then.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
    â€œDidn’t Kate tell you? We often go to the church suppers together.” Sometimes, anyway.
    He was doing what he had to. If he expected to stay in control of this situation, he needed to keep tabs on Anne.
    Unfortunately, he had a strong suspicion he had another motivation.
    â€œWell, don’t you look nice.” Kate turned from the kitchen stove to assess Anne and Emilie. “Both of you.”
    Anne brushed one hand down the soft wool of her emerald skirt. It matched the green of Emilie’s jumper, so she’d decided to wear it. “Is it too dressy?”
    Kate shook her head. “You look as pretty as a picture. I’m sure Mitch will say the same.”
    Oh, dear. There it was again: Kate’s insistence on pairing the two of them up like bookends.
    When she’d returned to the house earlier and told Kate they were going to the potluck, the elderly woman had been delighted. Anne had tried to dissuade Kate’s all-too-obvious matchmaking, to no avail.
    Well, what should she say? That Mitch wouldn’t care how she looked? That the only reason he’d decided to take them to the potluck was to keep her from blurting out something indiscreet to Pastor Richie? It was only too obvious that that was behind his sudden desire to go with them.
    There wasn’t a thing she could do about Kate’s misapprehension, so she might just as well change the subject. “Are you sure I can’t fix something? Or stop at the bakery and buy a cake?”
    â€œGoodness, no. There’ll be more food than we can eat in a week, as it is. Everyone brings way too much stuff to these suppers.”
    Anne had to smile. Kate’s righteous assertion was undercut by the fact that she’d prepared an enormous chicken-and-broccoli casserole, and even now was putting a pumpkin pie into her picnic basket.
    â€œYou don’t think you’re taking quite a bit yourself?”
    â€œThis little thing? Why, Mitch will probably eat half my casserole himself. That boy does love home cooking…probably because his mother never had time to cook much for them.” Kate’s eyes were filled with sympathy. “You do know about Mitch’s family, don’t you?”
    â€œI know his mother died when he was in high school.” She held Emilie a little closer.
    â€œWell, his father had left before that. Poorwoman worked to take care of those two boys. I’m sure no one could blame her if she wasn’t there to cook supper every night. Or if she went out now and then, just to cheer herself up.” Kate yanked open a drawer, muttering to herself about potholders.
    Reading between the lines, it sounded as if Mitch had pretty much raised himself. Probably that, along with the military, had made him the person he was.
    And what kind of person was that? Anne stared out the window above the sink, where dusk had begun to close in on Kate’s terraced hillside garden. A man who’d buried his emotions—that’s what she’d thought the first time she’d seen him, and nothing had changed her mind about that. A man who had to be in control, whatever the situation.
    That might make him a good cop. But it wasn’t a quality, given her strong independent streak, that she’d ever found appealing in a man. Besides, she wasn’t interested. In future, her family would consist of Emilie and her, that was