They're just a couple of people fighting to stay single.Natalie East and Evan Lee refuse to meet. Their parents, excited that Evan's transfer to Houston puts him in Natalie's orbit, aren't taking no for an answer. But if they let their parents push them into meeting, next they'll want them to date. If they date, next they'll want them to marry. They'll escalate until there are grandchildren to spoil. Natalie, still reeling from the abrupt end of her three-year relationship, needs to show her mother that they are both capable of leading successful, independent lives, but no kickboxing class or online video about changing a flat tire makes an impression. She's determined to prove her point by example, and her mother's plans to match her to a man who seems self-indulgent and status-obsessed are driving her wild.

Evan spent his twenties scaling educational and corporate ladders, and he's finally ready to play. It's time for the casual, consensual fun he promised himself during all the hundred-hour workweeks that landed him in a window office on the nineteenth floor. His parents won't stop gushing about Natalie's sweet, steady, settling-down nature, and his siblings won't stop teasing him about her. It's enough to threaten his reputation as the easygoing one in the family. When Natalie and Evan connect over coffee, neither is what the other expected. If they indulge in a discrete friendship--and maybe something a little more passionate--will they find that their independent goals aren't as essential as they'd dreamed?.