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

The significance of that long-ago night with his grandma, dream or not, came back to him—it was the day of his parents’ burial at the cemetery on the hill overlooking the Ohio River.


“I thought you’d like to have it,” Grandma said. “So I got it for you. I can do stuff like that now.” She smiled and squatted a little beside his bed to hold him. He closed his eyes and let himself fall into the comfort of her embrace. He didn’t want to let go.


When he opened his eyes, he was once more back in the wooded park, back in Flynn’s arms. A dog was barking, and it wasn’t Barley. This bark was faster and more high-pitched. Just as Mac started looking around to identify the barker, he woke up.


Morning sunlight streamed into his boyhood bedroom. His cheeks were damp with tears, yet he felt no sadness. It was like sunlight surrounded him both inside and out.


Chapter 64