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

He lugged the books to the car and then went on his way to the next stop. He ended up getting the kids toys and blankets and some other things. His car was more than half full with stuff by the time he got to the grocery store, and filled to the brim when he got out of there.


Feeling accomplished, he drove back home, humming along with Fall Out Boy on his Spotify playlist.


The evening and the next day went by in a blur of finding recipes he could “fix” and cooking experiments. He was so very into his job, that when he finally got a decent, healthy tomato sauce together and made some meatballs to go with it, he was excited enough to call Justin.


“Del, what’s wrong?” Justin asked, his voice rough with sleep.


Del looked at the time on his microwave. Shit.


“Nothing, shit, sorry, I didn’t—I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”


“No, I’m awake now, what’s going on?” Justin sounded much more awake now, and Del banged his forehead against the kitchen cabinet door.


Chapter 30