Tossed (A Recipe for Love)

Tossed is a standalone novella.No cliffhanger.
Zeke “Tank” Sherman and Shelby Mullins meet at the end of Sifted

Zeke
Home? I haven't had one of those in a very long time. Six years to be exact. It's not that I didn't want to go back; it was that I didn't know how. I'm still not sure how; the memory and feelings that came with being tossed out like yesterday’s trash are still fresh and something I struggle with daily. I’ve always heard that home is where the heart is, and when I met Shelby, I thought maybe, just maybe I had found a new home. I just never expected her to toss me away just as quickly. I used to believe that one man's trash was another one's treasure. Now I'm not so sure I'll ever be anything more than debris, left behind and quickly forgotten. Regardless of how much of a man I am, when I got the call from my mama, I knew what I had to do. I'm no longer the kid that left Liberty Falls with his tail between his legs. I'm a man or at least I’m trying to be, but having to go back somewhere that you don’t belong is enough to make even the strongest man, feel like a child. Yet I had no choice; I had to go home.
Shelby
Perfection, I've always strived for it. I have to; it’s what my parents expect from me, always. Never anything less than perfect will be accepted. The truth is until recently perfection was an unreachable goal, something that just didn’t exist. That was until I met him, Zeke "Tank" Sherman. Everything about him was exquisite; especially the way he made me feel. For once in my life, I was enough. Just as I was, flaws and all. Zeke saw me, and then I went and screwed everything up. I didn't mean to. It just happened. It was simply habit, and I didn't even realize what I had done until it was too late. Zeke gave me a taste of the perfectly imperfect I’ve been looking for, and without knowing, I tossed it away. Now, I'll do anything to make things right because, without him, nothing in my life will ever be right. I don’t know his entire story, but I do know that he’s estranged from his family. So when I heard he had to go home, I knew he’d need someone who cared about him, by his side. I’d stand by his side forever, with him I know I can have what I’ve always dreamed of having, a place to belong, a home.