Beth Byers turns to women's fiction and indulges in her Jane Austen obsession with a modern setting. This series asks "what-if" you took the side characters from Jane Austen's era and gave them the freedom of a modern world. Would they have found their own midlife happily-ever-afters? Charlotte Lucas-William has spent a life usefully employed and making sensible and non-romantic choices. In one startling moment, she realizes she can no longer carry on with things as they are. Only her decision to say no to her marriage to Collins William is not accepted, drawing in her friends, her sons, and even strangers. Now she has to face the consequences of the first choice made just for herself while also determining what her fate should be, what’s next, and the price of being alone.