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

“Of course you were. He’s good. He’s back to the way he was when I first brought him back home.”


“Looking for you. Everywhere. Sitting by the front door again.”


“He probably just wants to go outside.”


“At four in the morning?” Flynn laughed. “It’s okay. I know he loves us both.”


And it was on the tip of Mac’s tongue to say “I love youboth.” But he caught himself, questioning from where the notion had come. Why do we do that?he wondered. Why do we stifle ourselves when we feel love? Why do we ask if it’s too soon? Or if it’s inappropriate? Or that we might scare the other person away? Why?


Before Mac could say what was in his head, Flynn moved on. “So, uh, when do you think you’ll be back? We can pick you up at the airport if you want.”


Mac was all ready to say no, it was too much trouble, but he caught himself and held back the impulse to be self-defeating. “Thinking day after tomorrow.”


Chapter 67