In the Company of Women by Kari Kilgore

Through the distant past and forward into the future

A hot July night. An American Midwestern town, steeped in traditional values.
A group of seventeen-year-old girls, on the brink of their new lives as women.
Only one resists, longing for another choice. A path to her own future.
Can she break free from all who passed before her?

An excerpt from In the Company of Women:

Facing Down Fate
After years of dreaming of this night, since she was old enough to understand the words spoken in the service the week before, it was all Cathy could do to stop herself from running out the door.

The women would be waiting, of course.
But maybe she could dart through. Brian had a car, a blue late Seventies Chevette in really good shape. They could go right now and never look back.

Except Brian wouldn't.

And even more so, Cathy wouldn't.

She could only hope, and maybe even pray, that she would not be the one after all. That she'd walk out of here the same as she walked in. That she'd get the time she still needed to figure out all the rest.

"Come on, Cathy," Rhonda said, her voice soft and shaky. "Time's up."