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

Hank felt heat rise to his cheeks, as if Ollie had been reading his mind. He didn’t trust himself to speak, seized by an irrational fear that his voice would come out high and squeaky like a little girl’s. He threw his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out.


“Don’t leave that there,” Ollie said.


“Really? Oh for Christ’s sake.” Hank picked the cigarette butt up off the ground, brushed it off, and stuck it in his pocket. “Anything else?”


“Yeah, you can grab the insulated box out of the back. I’ll get the plates and stuff.”


The two lugged everything up to the little neon pink bungalow with its canary yellow front porch. It looked out of place here on 17thin Capitol Hill, not only because of its hey-look-me-over color palette, but also because its neighbors were a mix of apartments and commercial properties.


“What is this guy? A fag?” Hank snickered.


Chapter 39