Justin O'Dwyer is 19. Four days ago, his mother died of a drug overdose, and now Justin is back in Enterprise, Oregon, trying to figure out how to raise the younger siblings he's afraid of losing to the foster system. Justin is completely out of his depth. Harper is six, and hates him. Wyatt is four and doesn't remember him. And baby Scarlett, at fourteen months, has never even met her big brother before. When Scarlett gets sick and won't stop screaming, and when Harper runs off in the middle of the night, Justin is at the end of his tether. In desperation, he knocks on a neighbor's door begging for help.<br><br>Del Abbot is 38, and living in his grandparents' old place in Enterprise after his marriage broke down and he lost his restaurant in the divorce. He's a chef, even had his own show on cable for a while, but now he's looking for a new start, if he could just figure out what exactly that entails. When the O'Dwyer family barrels into his life one night, Del can't refuse to help. What begins as a trip to the hospital becomes a regular child-minding gig while Justin struggles to find his feet. And the more time Del spends with Justin, the more they both want more than friendship. But small town life comes with its own bigotry, and, in Justin's case, that bigotry has always been close to home.<br><br>When an act of violence threatens to destroy the small family they've built, both Justin and Del need to put aside their pasts and reach for their future together.

Family Recipe

“Shit!” Del hissed and quickly ground some sea salt on top of the delicate pieces of fish


He slammed down the salt grinder and looked around the kitchen to locate the noise. He managed to find his cell phone under a stack of papers on the counter and grimaced when he had to swipe twice to get the thing to work. Tuna fingers, ugh.


“What?” he barked into the phone, propping it between his shoulder and ear as he moved to the sink to wash his hands.


Del grimaced. “Sorry, sis, you caught me mid-cooking.”


“Apology accepted. Now sit your ass down, I have some interesting news.” Bernice sounded almost gleeful, which immediately perked Del’s interest.


He dried his hands quickly and took the closest seat—an old dining chair by the island. “Oh?”


“Guess who called me tonight?” Before he could answer, she cackled and said, “One Clyde Harding.”


Del’s jaw dropped. What the fuck did his treacherous asshat of an ex-husband want from his sister?


Chapter 5