We are the stories we tell, and our relationships tell all.In these nine compelling stories, Cly Boehs captures people caught in the crosshairs of a dilemma-a twist of fate, an opportunity missed, a chance meeting with a stranger, a lover's betrayal-a turn of events that leaves no choice for emotional retreat. They must decide for or against a change in their lives. Their world of past perceptions, of predictability, security and permanence can no longer save them. They are imperfect, ordinary, and completely human, but they must rise to the challenge or be lost forever to themselves and others. A writer who seeks an answer to the question of how she can balance her life as an author and still remain true to herself, a quest that leads her to some very turbulent, surreal experiences. A group of book club readers who search for the underlying truths, not only in the stories they read, but in the stories they tell about happenings in their own lives. A man who is known in town by everybody and nobody. The narrator of his story attempts to discover from his past what he intends for her to know about him in the present. A veteran of war who confronts a fundamentalist tent revival evangelist in order to restore equanimity in his life. But the over-the-top intensity of his self-protection shows him a humorous view of himself and religion that he didn't truly realize until that confrontation. A young woman who can't accept the indicators of an ill-suited relationship until she reaches the end of what life will allow and gives herself permission to deal a death blow to her attachment, thereby gaining a second chance on love and life. A Siamese cat-like Dorothy's Toto-accompanies her on that journey.A closeted woman who, on a bus trip back to the home of her childhood, meets a woman who seems to be an angel sent to rescue her from herself. What this stranger has to offer changes the narrator of this story forever.