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

“I’d hoped when I got older, maybe things would improve. But they haven’t, and I kind of believe they never will. My parents are who they are, and I respect that in a way. They weren’t put down on this earth to be mom and dad to me, after all. But, but…”


“It’s all right, Flynn. You turned out so well in spite of them.”


“I don’t know about that, but I do feel pretty hopeless that I’ll ever really be any more to them than just an obligation. I heard them arguing one night—about me—I couldn’t have been more than ten. And you know what my dad said?”


“He told my mom they should have aborted when they had the chance.”


The words hung in the air. Mac sucked in a breath and moved slightly back. Simply saying the words out loud, words Flynn had never spoken to a single human being because he was so ashamed, allowed Flynn to understand how they shocked Mac. They stung Flynn—even now. It didn’t seem conceivable he could have overheard such a thing.


Chapter 57