On a bright autumn day, Flynn Marlowe lost his best friend, a beagle named Barley, while out on a hike in Seattle’s Discovery Park. On a cold winter day, Mac Bowersox found his best friend, a lost, scared, and emaciated beagle, on the streets of Seattle. Two men. One dog. When Flynn and Mac meet by chance in a park the next summer, there’s a problem -- who does Barley really belong to? Flynn wants him back, but he can see that Mac rescued him and loves him just as much as he does. Mac wants to keep the dog, and he can imagine how heartbreaking losing him would be -- but that's just what Flynn experienced. A “shared custody” compromise might be just the way to work things out. But will the arrangement be successful? Mac and Flynn are willing to try it ... and along the way, they just might fall in love.

Lost and Found

“Oh no. I poked holes in the lid. And when I was asleep, my mom or my dad would sneak in, and they would release them. I never minded. I didn’t want to keep them prisoner for long anyway. But I still have fine memories of drifting off to sleep as I watched the lightning bugs flitting around in my jar.”


“You sound like you had good parents.”


“Oh, I did. But I lost them early on. Remember? I told you before. They died in a car crash. I was twelve.” Mac looked away. “I don’t like to talk about it.”


Chapter 52