Carpool Confidential — Jessica Benson

Looks like we made it...

From the outside looking in, Cassie Martin's life is storybook perfect. She and her investment banker husband, Rick, have everything -- financial stability, a loving marriage, and a to-die-for apartment overlooking the Manhattan skyline that they share with their two young sons and one stinky but beloved dog. It may not be the height of excitement, but Cassie's content to take care of her family and compete in the superparenting sweepstakes of the New York City private school mom. Then one night, in one instant, everything changes. Rick has been offered an exciting new opportunity involving a...Barry Manilow retrospective? And he wants -- no, needs -- to try to get the feeling again.

I can't smile without you...or can I?

What can a woman do once she's been abandoned for brown polyester leisure suits and an a capella version of "Weekend in New England" other than hope her husband will eventually come to his senses? But as Cassie tries to keep her life afloat among the complications of financial insecurity, warring parents of her own, a mother-in-law who suddenly wants to become best girlfriends 4ever, and the advent of a third child in her life, it becomes clear that there's more to the Manilow story than meets the eye. And as fate would have it, Cassie's new work has her venturing into some of the city's hottest night spots -- definitely not the Copacabana -- and maybe, just maybe, into the arms of a man who will help her try to get the feeling again....