It only takes a few days for Ollie D'Angelo to lose his boyfriend, his job, and his home. Instead of mourning what he doesn't have, Ollie celebrates what he does: the freedom to pursue his real passion -- cooking. He begins Dinner at Home, a home-catering business, and it takes off.<br><br>Late one night, Ollie catches Hank Mellinger, a streetwise hood down on his luck, about to rob his car. Ollie soon discovers that appearances aren't necessarily what they seem. Hank isn't a criminal caught red-handed, but a hungry young man trying to make a life for himself and the four-year-old niece he's trying desperately to take care of.<br><br>Instead of calling the cops, Ollie offers Hank a job and a way to pull himself up by his bootstraps. Together, they discover they can really cook ... and that their shared passion for food just might lead to a passion for each other.

Dinner at Home

His mother and father were on a Mediterranean cruise, and it was almost impossible to reach them. Oh sure, Ollie had managed a few minutes here and there with his parents, listening to them babble on about Madrid, Barcelona, and the Parthenon in their excited voices, sharing with their son this trip of a lifetime.


He didn’t have the heart to be Debbie Downer. They would be home later this week.


His parents were rich by most anyone’s standards, yet they still behaved like the simple housewife and welder they had been when Ollie was the little boy in his dream. His father, Domenic, although everyone called him Chick, had turned his fascination for metals into a kind of alchemy, building on his ability to work tirelessly to transform a small metal-fabricating plant into something that eventually employed hundreds in the town north of Chicago where Ollie had grown up.


Chapter 19