Dress Rehearsal

For most of her twenty-something years, Lily Breit has been comfortable living life in the wings. Not much has changed for her since college -- she's been living in the same Charles Village apartment in Baltimore, has been dedicated to the same theater gig since she interned as an undergrad, and hasn’t really dated anyone since her senior year sweetheart joined the Peace Corps. The non-dating situation isn't ideal, but seriously, what's a girl to do when her best friends are married and many of her weekends are eaten up by family gatherings and work obligations? There are always plenty of men around, but she’s either related to them or they just don’t go for the XX-chromosome.

All of that changes on New Year's Eve. Her best friend's life-altering news inspires Lily to take some risks. Enter Mitch Graybill, a promising paramour. Promising, except for one thing: his explicit policy against “strings” in a relationship. Normally, Lily would heed her screaming instincts and run far, far away from a public relations executive who compares relationships to selling used cars. But her resolution is to try new things, so she gives it a shot. Four months later, she’s exploring the benefits of ice cream-and-pajamas therapy.

Determined to get over the epic fail with Mitch, Lily, slides off the futon, trades in her pajamas for a slinky red dress, and stumbles into David Kent at her cousin's wedding. He's a tall, dark politico who caught her eye at a theatre shindig many moons and one pseudo-boyfriend ago. David wants more than a rebounding Lily thinks she can give, and when Mitch knocks on Lily's door saying that he wants more too, she needs to choose between the devil she knows and the one that she doesn't.