Standing Outside of Life

Twenty-seven-year-old Alexandra "ZeeZee" Hayward and her older brother, Mitchell, live in their childhood home, drifting aimlessly through existence. Mitchell works in a furniture warehouse, while ZeeZee is an assistant manager at the Gingerbread Cottage day care-a job with few challenges or demands. Theirs is a curiously isolated existence.

The world, however, is about to intrude on the siblings' aimless routine.

A casual flirtation with the father of one of her day care charges plunges ZeeZee into a series of clandestine meetings-which become more problematic as she befriends her lover's soon-to-be ex-wife.

Even as ZeeZee juggles her emotionally conflicted new relationships, she and Mitchell are blindsided by the return of their long-absent father. Mitchell's response is angry and unforgiving, while ZeeZee's initial hostility changes to curiosity about the parent she never knew.

When Mitchell eventually tries to bribe their father into disappearing, ZeeZee wonders where her brother found the money. Is he connected to the series of armed robberies plaguing the town? And if so, what can a loving sister do about it?

Told from ZeeZee's often bemused perspective, "Standing Outside of Life" recounts the pleasure, perils, and glorious messiness of learning to live.