I guess if you never give up and keep fighting, eventually you find the one meant for you. Or the ones.

“Robert?”

I picked up my head. Daddy’s arms linked around Mommy’s waist. He held up two bags of treats. “Peanut butter or bacon?”

I barked once.

“Bacon it is.”

Daddy walked over, patted me on the head, and gave me my treat. I munched on the crunchy treat, pulled Bunny Squeak closer, and felt happy. I guess sometimes you can’t give up hope, even if you are broken.

I hope other dogs and other humans realize it and take their shot.

With a big sigh, I dropped my head back on the mat and slept.

acknowledgments

THANKS TO MY editor, Lauren McKenna, for getting me to the finish line and making this story shine. Also to the team at Gallery for all your support and expertise.

Thanks to my agent, Kevan Lyon, for all her support.

Finally, everyone who knows me realizes I dream of happy ever afters for ALL my characters—both human and canine. Thankfully, the story of Robert is based on truth.

My local shelter, Pets Alive, posted a picture of Robert, who was slated to be euthanized. His legs had been crushed when he’d been thrown from a car. He was a paraplegic and needed critical surgery. He was on death row.

But something in his face spoke to the shelter volunteer. A look that haunted all of us, captured in a photo and posted on the Internet. This dog hoped. He believed. And though he’d been beaten, abused, and neglected, something within him longed for something better.

This was the look that saved him. Pets Alive took him, gave him surgery, fit him with a cart to walk again, and now Robert is adopted and living happily ever after. He even has his own Facebook page, Rockin’ Robert. I like to check in on him, see his happy, lolling grin, posing outside with his cart, and know one angelic soul was saved.

Robert taught me the most important lesson in life: Disabled doesn’t mean disposable. Everyone should be given a second or third chance. And no one should ever give up.

Thank you, Robert and Pets Alive, for reminding me of what’s important. Here’s the link if you’d like to visit Robert and see what he’s up to:

https://www.facebook.com/RobertPetsAlive