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

“We go Del?” Wyatt asked hopefully as he peeled his crusts off and ate them.


“Not today, Wyatt,” Justin told him. “Del is busy today.”


Wyatt nodded solemnly, and Harper shot Justin a narrow look.


Justin took the opportunity to check his messages:


Hey. Everything okay in there? Missed you guys at breakfast.


His heart clenched as he typed out his response:


We’re ok. Have fun with Abigail. Ttyl.


They lingered as long as they could over their picnic, and then headed back to the house. It was lunch time, and Scarlett was due for a nap. Justin hoped that Wyatt would want one too, and that maybe Harper would stay in the room with them with a book or something. The less Uncle Steve saw of the kids, the less likely they’d do something to trigger his temper.


Chapter 61