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

But the one thing both women had in common—they had good, kind hearts, and that attribute manifested in both pairs of eyes. They always put others, especially Mac, first. As he stared at Aunt Virginia, he felt a ball form in his throat and the tears gather. He didn’t want her first time seeing him after several years to be a vision of him as a snotty, sobbing mess, so he drew in several deep breaths, clenching and unclenching his fists, trying to remain calm.


At last Aunt Virginia looked up from her book and spied him. She closed the book, and her lips went up in a smile that belied the sadness in her eyes. She stood, somewhat unsteadily, and began moving toward him. She had a little limp.


Mac hurried to meet her, not wanting her to walk any farther than she had to.


She grabbed him and hugged him fiercely once he was within reach. “I love you, dear boy,” she whispered in his ear. “I’m so glad you’re here.”


Chapter 60