Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the...

"Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it--the exact amount of time they will be together. She has been receiving the papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite restaurant, there's only a name: Jake. But as Jake and Daphne's story unfolds, Daphne...