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

The box of clothes from Del’s sister Bernie arrived the same day as Justin’s first social security payment for the kids, and just like that a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. The next day the kids marched over to Del’s house wearing their new-to-them clothes, and Del watched over them while Justin borrowed his car and went grocery shopping. Things were going good.


Even Emily the social worker thought so when she came for her visit. She asked about Scarlett’s ear infection, and Justin flushed when he admitted he hadn’t got his car fixed yet and didn’t know when he would, but he’d borrowed his neighbor’s car that night—he made no mention of borrowing the neighbor too—and had permission to do it again when he needed.


“Your neighbor?” Emily asked, raising her brows. “I didn’t know any of them were on good terms with your family.”


Chapter 31