Front Cover

Also by Debbie Burns

Rescue Me

A New Leash on Love

Sit, Stay, Love

My Forever Home

Love at First Bark

Title Page

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Books. Change. Lives.

Copyright

Copyright © 2020 by Debbie Burns

Cover and internal design © 2020 by Sourcebooks

Cover design by Dawn Adams/Sourcebooks

Cover image © Birte Moller/EyeEm/Getty Images; Predragimages/Getty Images

Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks

P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

(630) 961-3900

sourcebooks.com

Contents

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Back Cover

For you, Mom,

and for all the support along the way

“The bond with a true dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth will ever be.”

—Konrad Lorenz, Man Meets Dog

Chapter 1

Olivia Graham flicked on her blinker and locked her hands around the steering wheel of her ten-year-old Chevy Cruze. Nervous excitement pressed against her ribs.

While waiting for a break in traffic on the Great River Road, she stared through the fat drops of rain at the choppy waves of the swollen river. Thanks to an unusually wet spring, the muddy Mississippi reminded her of a peacock puffing out its chest and fluffing its feathers. With any luck, the rains would end earlier than predicted, and the river would stay confined within its sturdy banks.

She pulled out onto the Great River Road, the Cruze’s engine whirring and knocking in protest as she kicked it up to highway speed. She gave the dashboard a quick pat. “Come on, girl. You’ve got this.” All the miles she’d spent commuting the last few months had the engine sounding like its own percussion band until it warmed up.