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

Justin’s heart had tripped over a few beats when he heard the word last night when he was doing the recording, and it did the same now. Del called them family


He paused the video and dragged his finger along the screen to rewind it a few seconds.


“…know what?” Del asked, smiling at the camera. “It’s a lot more chaotic—and a lot more fun—cooking with family.”


Justin closed his eyes as warmth washed over him and clasped his phone tightly in his hands


Del was excited about Abigail’s upcoming visit. So was Harper. With Wyatt it was kind of impossible to tell, and Scarlett didn’t give a damn. Justin liked seeing the way Del’s eyes lit up when he talked about Abigail. Still, as the days drew closer to her visit, Justin found those old anxieties creeping in again.


“What’s with you tonight?” Del asked one night as they sat together on the couch, the kids in bed already.


“Nothing,” Justin said, flashing him a smile. “Just thinking about some stuff.”


Chapter 52