Making choices. How do we decide? By the edicts of religion? By public opinion? By the heart itself, which wavers and wobbles and bends and harbors mysteries we hardly understand?

A middle-aged family man longs to change his life but doesn't know how.

Two strangers, dining at neighboring tables in an historical tavern, find their lives are altered by watching each other although not a single word is exchanged.

A lonely Asian woman tends a public garden and faces a crucial life choice arising from an unexpected encounter.

An older woman who is married to an abusive man lives on an isolated farm in western Maryland and yearns to visit Positano, Italy.

The bond between twin girls turns deadly as their personalities collide.

One of two brothers commits an egregious act on the other and regrets it all his life.

Read to explore the emotional dilemmas common to all relationships no matter the age, status, or gender. Read to unearth each character's struggle with a destiny in whose clutches he or she flails around for control. On these pages are written stories of greed, deceit, loneliness, joy, regret, awe, doubt, discretion, and more, twenty-four stories that unravel lives in which you may find elements of your own.

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong in the broken places."

-Ernest Hemingway

"I never lose. Either I win or learn."

-Nelson Mandela

Between stimulus and response is the freedom to choose.

-Viktor E. Frankl