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

Harper took a mouthful and then stuck her tongue out. Bits of lasagna dropped back down onto her plate, and Justin wanted to wince at her bad manners.


“It’s stinky,” she said firmly, eyeing him as though she was trying to goad him into a fight.


“Oh, that’s because there’s garlic in it,” Del said easily. “My nonna was from Italy, so there’s kind of a lot of garlic in it. You know what garlic does, right?”


“Keeps away the vampires,” Del said.


“There’s no such thing as vampires,” Harper said.


“See?” Del said. “It’s working.”


Harper’s face screwed up as she fought what might have been a smile and won. She scowled and glowered down at her plate. Then, after checking Del wasn’t watching, she ate another mouthful.


Justin caught Del’s gaze over the rickety table, and Del winked at him.


Chapter 18