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

During dinner, Del tried to de-escalate the situation as much as he could, and kept the kids distracted when he was able to. Somehow, that translated into everything going pretty well.


While Justin bathed the little ones, one at a time now that Del was there to watch the others, Del got a peek into the kids’ bedroom. He assumed Scarlett’s crib was wherever Justin slept, but Wyatt and Harper’s room was…barren.


There were some toys, but they were obviously old or broken, and sometimes both. There were a few books, which was nice to see. Curiously, there was one book of stories on top of the dresser that seemed to hold all the kids’ clothing.


That book was bigger and much more well-maintained than the others.


“This book looks nice,” Del commented while the kids were puttering around the room, getting ready for bed.


Justin was in the bathroom, giving Scarlett her bath, and Del wasn’t sure how well that was going based on the sounds coming through the thin walls.


Chapter 20