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 and Wyatt were waiting at the front door by the time Del and Justin reached them, Justin tugging his hand out of Del’s to get the keys. The porch light wasn’t on—it had been busted for as long as Justin could remember—but the moonlight was bright enough that he didn’t need it to get the key in the lock. And then Harper was shoving through the door first and turning the hallway light on anyway.


It flickered garishly for a moment before it filled the hallway with light.


“Go brush your teeth!” Justin called at Harper as she veered toward the living room. She huffed and headed for the bathroom with Wyatt at her heels.


“You want me to get Scarlett ready for bed?” Del asked.


“Yeah, that’d be great,” Justin said. He leaned in and kissed Scarlett’s forehead. “Goodnight, Scarlett.”


Chapter 39