"We'll ask Uncle Wyatt. He'll help us," Riley said as soon as Wyatt and Sam stepped outside the café doors.
The boys looked up at both of them with pleading expressions. "We lost our dog," DJ claimed.
Sam and Wyatt both looked from DJ to Barney right there at the end of the leash he was holding, then back at DJ.
"Not him, that's Barney," Riley said. "Our other dog."
"I didn't know you had one," Wyatt said, obviously confused.
"We have to find Brownie," DJ said.
"Sorry. Who is Brownie?" Wyatt asked.
"Our dog," DJ said, explaining nothing. "He ran away."
"I didn't know you had another dog," Sam told them to try and get more information.
"He isn't their dog," Shawn said. "He's just a stray."
Hannah explained. "The kids saw this little dog wandering by the side of the road then he ran off. It's a stray that's been spotted around here these last few weeks. He sometimes hangs out in those fields around your house."
"He's our dog. We have to find him," Riley insisted then he got down and hugged Barney for consolation.
"Mr. Miller's truck scared him," DJ said. "That's why he ran away."
Sam knew which truck they were talking about. It was an old one and it rattled like a monster. "If he got scared, maybe he went to hide somewhere," Sam said.
"OK. We'll find him," Wyatt decided. "What does Brownie look like?"
"He's a dog. And he looks like a dog," Riley told him.
"He's brown," DJ said, being a tiny, little bit more helpful. "That's why we call him Brownie."
"OK, where do we look?" Wyatt asked.
Since the boys were about as good at giving directions as they were with descriptions, Hannah told them where to go. She and her brother went into the café, and Sam joined the search for the lost dog.
"I promised you lunch, and now we're recruiting you for our search party," Wyatt said. "Sorry, and thanks for coming along."
"It's no problem," Sam told him.
They started out by walking toward the river cottages then they turned off the path. Now they were walking through the brush between the river and the road. That's where the dog had been seen last.
"Should we walk and eat?" Sam asked and held up the takeout bag with their lunch.
"Sure. Those sandwiches smell good. They might bring that dog running," Wyatt said.
"Dogs like sandwiches?" Riley asked.
"I gonna give him mine," DJ decided on the spot as Sam started getting out the sandwiches.
"No, you eat yours. When we find Brownie, I'll share some of my sandwich with him," Wyatt said and helped Sam hand them out.
"I thought the boys might like these sweet and sour chicken sandwiches. And this is a meatloaf sandwich for you. I thought you should have something purely American after all your time in Europe. It comes on a potato roll. I got the same thing for me," Sam told him.
"It all looks good. Thanks," Wyatt said and took a big bite.
"Did you make the sandwiches, Sam?" DJ asked him.
