A Family Affair: The List

Book excerpt: Can her free-spirited ways fit into his plan? Radford Keller is a successful businessman who sees life as a corporation. He’s guided by structure, facts, and deadlines. He has no time or interest in concepts like serendipity, destiny, or ever-after. In fact, he doesn’t believe they exist. Marisela Ricci is a talented, kind-hearted free spirit with an unfortunate past that’s left her filled with self-doubt and an inability to commit to long term or anything resembling a plan. And relationships? Too much hurt, too much exposure. Not happening. Ever. They’re from different worlds but they share one very strong common interest—Radford’s Aunt Lina. Lina Keller has lived in the small town of Magdalena, New York, for over fifty years but she’s known her share of heartache, loss, and the repercussions of not taking a chance. That’s why she’s determined that the two people who mean the most to her—her city-boy nephew and the woman who’s like a daughter to her—don’t experience those same mistakes. She devises a twenty-one-day list that will force them to work together, develop new skills, and maybe learn about each other. Will they want to do it? Of course not. Will they do it for her? Absolutely. And perhaps what they’ll discover along the way will change how they view each other, the world, and their take on commitment and happily-ever-after. What happens when the twenty-one-day list is completed? Well, that depends on them, with a little help from the residents of Magdalena...