Julian Junk was often teased about his last name and his father's occupation as a garbageman. Mackensie Keller grew up privileged and spoiled. As teens, Junk and Mickey make plans for their future, but when Mickey is sent off to boarding school, he tells Junk their parents are probably right -- they just don't belong together.<br><br>Back in town ten years later, Mickey is all grown up. He and Junk reconnect as adults, but so much was said, and so much has changed. Though he asks for forgiveness, which Junk grants, though old romantic feelings are quickly rekindled, Mickey is reluctant to bring a new man into his young daughter's life after his last relationship's failure. He's also harboring a secret, one that threatens to spoil upcoming Thanksgiving plans.<br><br>Once Junk discovers the source of Mickey's dilemma, he devises a crafty plan to make everything right. Will it work out? Will Mickey accept his help, and can the two of them make a go of it with so much stacked against them?

One Man's Junk

“Daphne must have thought…Damn it!” He sat back down and put his head in his hands. I might have heard a sniffle.


“Hey.” I put my arms around him. “It’s okay. I have it. It’s at my house.”


Mickey slid down onto his knees. “The whole box?”


“Yeah.” I got down there with him, down on the rug, our backs against the bottom of the couch. “You didn’t mean to throw it all away?”


Mickey took my hands. “Of course not. I kept all that stuff through my marriage, Junk, some of it from over twenty years ago. The toaster, the clock…all of it…those things mean the world to me.”


“You, Junk. You mean the world to me.”


“That makes me feel better,” I said, “that your junk wasn’t…junk.”


“For as long as you want me to be.” We kissed again, and then I stood to go. “I’m gonna take off.”


Was there an invitation to spend the night in his voice? “I think I should…before I can’t.”


Chapter 32