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

“No,” Del said firmly. “No, I won’t.” He nodded at Dr. Atchley who was obviously looking for a way out and took it as soon as he expressed they had no further questions. Then he turned his attention to Harper. “I did nothing wrong. I went and helped Justin when he was in trouble. The police just need me to give my statement so that they know what exactly happened. That’s how the law works.”


Harper looked dubious, and Del could understand why. After all, she’d been raised to believe that the police were the enemy and her family—probably Uncle Steve included—had never done anything bad and they’d been unjustly put in jail anyway.


Suddenly she got off the chair and walked to Del, then climbed onto his lap and held on like the little girl she was supposed to be. Del felt tears threatening to fall, and hugged her close, despite the fact that it meant taking his hand off Scarlett.


Chapter 65