A SNEAK PEEK: Second Thoughts …

Buck coughed. “Father, I don’t think—well—I believe Lucy wants no part of me any longer, and really … it’s so soon after Meg to be parading a girl on my arm.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s for the best. Everyone says so. Lucy wouldn’t fit in.” Buck cast his eyes down.

“Fit in?” Graham asked, incredulously. “With whom? Lucy fits in with me just fine.”

“Do you think so?” Buck asked, eager for approval. “I thought so too. I thought it might be nice to have someone to take care of and fuss over.”

Graham laughed. “Lucy’s not a doll, son.”

“Of course, Father. Why is it that everyone believes I’ve no sense about girls?”

Graham smiled but said nothing. The doctor sifted through gone-off oranges left in a bowl by the new housekeeper but grabbed a few Christmas cookies instead and sat at the cook’s tall stool.

Buck leaned with elbows on the counter. “Here’s what concerns me: What if Lucy doesn’t like my friends? I’m a good banker, but there’s a social element and …”

Graham stopped mid-cookie. “Are you saying you want to see other young ladies?”

“My friends have been trying to force a certain girl upon me.”

Graham shook his head.

“Father, I haven’t done a thing. I would never hurt Lucy that way, but this girl is much sought after and her father has friends in banking and government, and for some reason she has taken to me—though I haven’t given her any reason to assume I might care for her in any way other than as a friend.”

Graham shook his head with more emphasis now, dropping the cookie to his plate. “No. You’re going off on the wrong road—again. It’s impossible to have female friends. And I strongly advise you not to marry for banking. Don’t sell your soul for appearances.”

Buck adjusted his prosthetic as he spoke. “The thing is, I don’t really care for this girl in the city.”

“I don’t understand you, son.”

Buck rolled an orange under his hand on the counter. “I wondered if it might be easier.”

“For whom?”

“For me, of course,” Buck said. “I don’t have a good track record—at anything. If things go sour for Lucy and me … the idea of it seems very hard.”

Graham laughed again. “Dear boy, you give me hope yet that one of my sons has a heart. That’s exactly the feeling you should have about Lucy. What would be the point if you didn’t fear losing her?”

PRE-ORDER:

THE ONE MY HEART LOVES & THE GRAND UNION

About The Tenafly Road Series:

“Characters so deep you follow them into the abyss, hoping to come out unscathed, but never returning the same. They will haunt me forever.”

“Rich and colorful page turners. Morris has a fine sense of time and place and brings her memorable characters to life. She also tells a captivating story. You won’t find it easy to put her books down, and her characters will stay with you when you do. We can only hope she keeps writing and gives us more episodes in this fascinating chronicle.”