What if you had to risk losing the people you love to become your true self? What if you had to make the choice between losing everything or being true to yourself? The Choice explores the difficult struggle Mina Thomas, a nurse with a loving husband and a successful career, endures after meeting Regan Martin, an attractive new nurse she is assigned to mentor. Long-buried desires are awakened within Mina, pushing her toward the need to finally make the choice that, in one way or another, will forever change her world.
Mina's life is comfortable and successful, though unfulfilling. She and her loving husband contemplate having a child, to help build a happy family. Regan enters her life, beautiful, intelligent--and incredibly desirable. Mina must somehow work through her own feelings to discover just who she is inside, and the choice she finds herself faced with threatens all she knows and has worked for. The Choice is a novel of love and loss--and surviving the tough journey one must take to be true to ourselves.
An excerpt from The Choice:
We walked back to the car in heavy silence. I'd had a golden opportunity to tell Regan how I felt about her and I blew it. My mind was a churning sea of thoughts and emotions: hope, regret and disappointment all crashing into each other. A sense of urgency took over and I was certain that if I didn't say something now I would never have another chance. My feelings for Regan had come to the boiling point and I couldn't contain them any longer.
"Regan, wait a minute," I said.
Regan stopped and turned toward me.
"What if I told you I have been thinking about the same thing...about you and me?"
Regan's eyes searched mine. My heart beat wildly in my chest. I didn't want to scare her away, sending her off running back to the nursing home and telling everyone what a pervert I was. But I wanted this, and something inside of me sensed that she wanted it, too. That feeling gave me all the courage I needed.
"Wait a minute," Regan protested feebly. "You don't think I meant that you and I...I meant it in a hypothetical way; if one of us was a guy, this would be a perfect relationship. I'm not a lesbian Mina and neither are you. You have a husband, remember?"
Without a word, I leaned in toward her and gently kissed her full on the lips. The kiss was slow and thoughtful and nothing like I have ever experienced in my life. Her lips were warm and soft with a faint taste of merlot. But, that wasn't the best part. The best part was that Regan kissed me back.
Life's important choices take the most courage and define who we are. The Choice is an intelligent, moving look at what coming out really means.
