The Dating Intervention: Book 1 in the Intervention Series

by Hilary Dartt

  Delaney raised an eyebrow at Josie, but chose the high road and remained silent.

  After moving her eyes from Delaney to Summer and back again, Josie said, “Are we here to work out, or pick on me?”

  “Prickly again, I see,” Summer said. “Let’s hit the treadmill.”

  “I forgot my water bottle,” Josie said. “In the car. I’ll be right back. You guys can get started.”

  “If you don’t come back in three minutes, we will hunt you down,” Summer said as Josie marched out, exasperation emanating from her back.

  “We have to do something,” Delaney said as she and Summer walked into the gym. “We can’t let her back out of this one.”

  “You’re right..”

  In the free weight section, burly men in short shorts grunted as they curled twice their body weight.

  “That is just unnatural,” Delaney said. “Look at that guy’s legs. They’re, like, as big around as a wine barrel.”

  Summer wrinkled her nose. “I think that guy shaves his chest.”

  Delaney nodded toward a guy who was doing squats with a huge bar across his back. “But that guy’s not bad to look at. Let’s focus on him.”

  They lifted weights for a few seconds.

  “I know!” Delaney said. “After this, I’ll come over to your house and we can send in her application.”

  “But how will we get into it? It’s all online, right? We don’t have her password.”

  “You know she always uses bigpenis.”

  Delaney and Summer racked their weights and walked over to the first two treadmills in the cardio room. Summer nodded.

  “Dial it up,” Delaney said. “I’ll meet you at your house after this.”

  “Perfect,” Summer said.

  By the time Josie returned, they were both wearing their headphones. Summer walked at her pregnancy-friendly pace and Delaney jogged. Neither of them acknowledged Josie when she stepped onto her own treadmill. They didn’t want to give anything away.

  After exactly thirty minutes, Josie made a big show of turning off her treadmill and stretching.

  “That sucked,” she said when they gathered in the locker room after cooling down. “I hated it.”

  “It’ll get easier,” Delaney and Summer said at the same time.

  “Whatever. I’m out. Love you guys.”

  They waited for her to leave the room, even giving her a few extra seconds. Summer turned to Delaney. “Well, it was easier to get rid of her than I expected. I thought we were going to have to stand around trying not to act suspicious.”

  “I know. I just remembered I have cooking class. So I’ll come over after and we can do her application on your computer.”

  “Sounds good,” Summer said. “Bring me leftovers. Baby’s hungry. My tummy’s grumbling.”

  ***

  The students in the How to Boil Water class chattered, bustling around the kitchen as Delaney walked in, just a minute early.

  “Change of plans,” Beth announced. “We’re doing a dessert tonight!”

  “No wonder everyone’s so excited,” Delaney said. “What are we making?”

  “Whatever it is, there’s lots of chocolate,” Beth said, pointing to a stack of chocolate cubes on the counter.

  “My mouth is watering.”

  “I know. Mine, too.”

  “So I have some exciting news,” Beth said. “I finally have a date.”

  “FindLove.com?”

  “Actually, no. Blind date.” She winced. “My mom set it up. One of her co-workers has a son that’s also single and they decided we should go on a date.”

  “Have you ever met the guy?” Delaney said.

  “Nope. We’re going for ice cream.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Josh.”

  “Good name,” Delaney said.

  “I don’t care what his name is,” Beth said. “I just hope he has that smoldering, I-want-to-devour-you look your boyfriend had when he was standing outside the window licking you with his eyes. That’s not everything, but it’s a fine start.”

  Delaney flinched at Beth’s cavalier use of the term “boyfriend,” but before she could respond, Wendy clapped her hands.

  “Time to begin,” she said from the front of the kitchen area. “I decided to surprise you today with a sour cream chocolate cake recipe. It’s a bit complicated, but I have confidence you can pull it together. It’s my birthday and this is my favorite chocolate cake recipe. So don’t mess it up.”

  She winked, and then began to demonstrate how to use a double broiler to melt the chocolate.

  As Delaney filled the bottom pot and Beth unwrapped the chocolate squares and added them to the top pot, Beth asked, “So how is it going with Jake?”

  “He’s dreamy,” Delaney said, setting the top pot inside of the bottom pot and turning on the burner. “Really dreamy. I know it’s crazy, but I like him. Like, a lot. My friends are doing this thing, The Dating Intervention, and they want me to stop seeing other people. But I always feel like I need a backup, you know?”

  “I totally know,” Beth said. “I get it. But your friends are right – and let me just say it sounds like you have awesome friends. The thing is, if you’re always looking for something else, you’re putting the wrong message out there. Then of course it’s not going to work out with Jake.”

  “Why is everyone saying this to me?” Delaney said.

  “Maybe because it’s true. I guess we should start mixing the dry ingredients. Grab that bowl.”

  An hour later, Beth said (through a mouthful of chocolate cake), “This is, like, the best cake, ever. So decadent.”

  “Agreed,” Delaney said, wiping chocolate off her lips.

  “What a wonderful birthday,” Wendy said at the end of the session. “This is absolutely divine, everyone.”

  She’d spent a good ten minutes walking from island to island, tasting each pair’s cake, closing her eyes in ecstasy every time she tasted a piece.

  “Now package up the rest of this cake and take it home to share. If I take it all, I’ll gain a good thirty pounds tonight.”

  Summer’s kids would love the cake, and so would Summer, Delaney thought as she wrapped her half in plastic wrap.

  “Save some of this for Josh,” Delaney said to Beth, winking. “He’ll fall in love with you instantly.”

  Beth nodded. “Great idea.”

  ***

  Even though she always left Summer’s house exhausted from sensory overload, Delaney loved being there. Most of the time, chaos reigned. Always happy chaos, but chaos nonetheless. Tonight was no different. When she walked in the front door, she was pelted with foam darts and cries of “Invader! Invader! Shoot ’er!”

  Delaney screamed, grabbed her heart and fell to the floor where she lay flat on her back, motionless. Summer, immune to foam darts, chased after the boys, trying to wrestle them into pajamas, while Hannah squealed and climbed onto Delaney’s stomach. Sarah sat on the couch, reading quietly amidst all the action.

  “Hi Dee,” Summer’s husband Derek said as he scooped Hannah up and offered Delaney a hand. “Want a late dinner? We already ate, but there’s plenty left.”

  “What’d you have?” She took his hand and he pulled her to standing.

  “Spaghetti,” he said.

  “Who cooked it?”

  “Sarah.”

  “Is it safe, Sarah?” Delaney said.

  Sarah emerged from her book long enough to nod at Delaney.

  “All right. I’ll eat. I made dessert.”

  They sat down to the table a few minutes later, the kids descending like hungry vultures when they realized they were getting chocolate cake.

  “Wait. You cooked dessert?” Nate said.

  “Nathan.” Summer said, the warning tone thick in her voice.

  “Sorry, Aunt Dee. Why are you here?” Nate asked.

  Summer rolled her eyes.

  “Your mom and I are going to work on a project on the computer.”<
br />
  Derek looked at Summer, his eyebrows raised.

  “We’re applying for Josie’s principal position,” Summer said.

  Derek shook his head.

  “Are you amused or do you think we’re crazy?” Summer said.

  “Both,” Derek said. “Definitely both. But mostly the latter.”

  “Why aren’t you in bed?” Delaney asked the kids.

  “Movie night!” they chorused.

  “We just finished ‘The Fox and the Hound,’” Summer said.

  “You’re going to be a principal?” Luke said.

  “No, we’re filling out Josie’s application for her,” Delaney said.

  “Why can’t she do it herself?” Nate wanted to know.

  “She’s scared,” Summer answered.

  “So we’re helping her,” Delaney said.

  Sarah put in, “You mean, you’re interfering in her life.”

  At this, Derek shrugged and nodded. So that’s what he’d been thinking.

  “You’re already so cynical,” Delaney said. “And at such a young age, too.”

  After dessert, someone (was it Nate?) assigned Delaney to dish duty, and as Derek cleared the table and brought her plates, she scraped them and loaded the dishwasher. Summer supervised baths and Derek started reading to the kids. As she did every time she came over, Delaney marveled at how smoothly the household ran. A sudden silence fell like a blanket when all four kids were washed, read to and in bed.

  “All right,” Summer said. “Let’s do this.”

  In the Employment section of the school district’s web site, Summer clicked on “Apply for Open Positions.”

  “Oh, this is so user friendly,” Delaney said. “‘Continue existing application.’”

  Summer nodded. “Perfect.”

  Getting in was easy enough using Josie’s school email address and, of course, bigpenis as a password.

  “She’s almost done,” Summer said. “Look at this. Almost every section is filled in.”

  “Why didn’t she just finish up?” Delaney said. “She kills me.”

  “I know.”

  Summer clicked through the online application. Window after window, section after section, Josie had filled out the application meticulously.

  “She needs one more letter of reference,” Delaney said.

  “You write that,” Summer said. “It’ll sound more professional coming from a veterinarian than it will from a graphic designer and aspiring musician.”

  “But I’m not a practicing veterinarian. I’m a bartender. Besides, you have four kids and one more on the way. You know what you want when it comes to educating actual children.”

  “Okay, we’ll write it together,” Summer said.

  They spent an hour writing the letter, then uploaded it to Josie’s human resources file. “There’s just one more thing,” Summer said. “Her statement of purpose. It says, ‘Please explain why you believe you’re a good fit for this position. Include your professional reasons for being an educator as well as your personal reasons for applying for this job.”

  “Oh, geez. That’s hard,” Delaney said. “I mean, she comes across as so hard-edged and …”

  “Bitchy?” Summer said.

  “Yeah, sometimes.” Delaney said. “But she loves those kids.”

  “Remember that story she told us once?” Summer said. “The story about her first teacher here in the States?”

  “The one who basically taught her English when her family first moved here?”

  “Yeah,” Summer said. “Remember, the teacher was bilingual and taught the entire first semester in Spanish and English so Josie could learn?”

  “Yes!” Delaney slapped her palm on the desk. “You’re right! That’s perfect.”

  “All right. Let’s write it up and send it off.”

  “When are we going to tell her we applied for her?” Delaney asked after Summer pressed “Submit.”

  “We’ll wait until they call her and tell her she’s a finalist. If they don’t, she’ll never know we did it. No harm done.”

  ***

  Driving home that night, Delaney thought about what had just unfolded with Josie’s application. Specifically, she thought about what she had said to Josie.

  You want this position. You’ll be great at it.

  Josie hadn’t applied because she was scared. Until recently, fear had kept Delaney from doing something she wanted to do. Something at which she had the potential to be great. Why was it so easy for her to push Josie past the fear, even though she couldn’t get past it, herself?

  It was time to move forward, she decided. She’d received a handful of rejections so far, but she would resume the job hunt on Monday with renewed energy and focus. It was time to listen to her own advice. She deserved it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  The Blue was everything Rowdy’s was not: sophisticated and classy, smooth and sleek. The patrons were mostly women, and the wine list miles long. Velvet cushions lined the booths and chairs carved with the utmost intricacy sat around low tables.

  Summer, who had arrived an hour early, was adjusting her microphone when Delaney and Josie walked in. She glanced up as their shadows blocked the sunlight coming in the door, and squinted for a moment before waving.

  “Isn’t this great?” she said as they approached her.

  “Stop bouncing, you’re shaking the baby!” Josie said.

  Summer rubbed her belly. “Oh, the baby’s fine, I’m just so excited! I saved you a table right over here. Front row seating. I’m nervous. I wanted to be able to see your faces. I ordered your drinks already, too.”

  “You are nervous!” Delaney said. “You’re talking a mile a minute.”

  “Eeee!”

  “And you’re squealing,” Josie added. “Break a leg.”

  The girls embraced one more time before Summer returned to the stage and Josie and Delaney sat down at their table.

  “So I’m bummed I didn’t apply for that position,” Josie said to Delaney. “I don’t know why I chickened out. God only knows when another principal slot will open up. And probably not for a long time at the school where I work. I probably had an advantage for this one.”

  Delaney sipped her beer, took a deep breath, purposely making eye contact with Josie so she wouldn’t suspect Delaney was keeping a secret. “You know, it’ll work out for the best. It always does, right?”

  “I guess so,” Josie said. “But not if you chicken out at the last minute, every time.”

  People were starting to come into The Blue now. Sleek women whose curled hair, matched accessories and applied makeup made the place look even more stylish.

  “You don’t do it every time, Josie. You showed up at the gym earlier this week. Ran on the treadmill like you were being chased by a bobcat.”

  “Coyote,” Josie said. “It was a coyote. I was visualizing.”

  “Hey, whatever works. Oh, look. They’re starting. Now perk up. It’s Summer’s special day. You don’t want her to look over here and see you sulking. She’d say everything happens for a reason. And you know it’s true.”

  Delaney reached over to give Josie a quick squeeze around the shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.

  “It’ll all work out. Besides, you love teaching.”

  “I know. I do. It’s just that I could create new programs that would reach even more kids. You know?”

  “I do know. I get it. But maybe you’re just not ready,” Delaney said. When Josie rolled her eyes, Delaney continued, “Now, that’s enough moping. Here they go.”

  Summer beamed at them as her guitarist started to strum, and then she began to sing.

  ***

  “Brilliant!” Josie and Delaney yelled when Summer came over to their table after several encore songs.

  “It was perfect,” Delaney said. “How’d it feel?”

  “You guys, it was so great. It was so much fun. I want to do it all over again!”

  Lily Blue, her silver-white hair i
n a beehive and her lips painted bright fuchsia, came billowing over. The tails of her periwinkle sweater trailed behind her and a cloud of cigarette smoke enveloped them all. She wrapped her arms around Summer, inhaled deeply and breathed out in a smoky voice, “Wonderful, my dear, just wonderful. I can’t wait to have you back! Call me, honey. Next week. We’ll set up another date for you to play.”

  As soon as she was out of earshot, Delaney and Josie hugged Summer, too.

  “You’re better than a strawberry shake,” they said to her.

  “Can we celebrate?!” Summer said.

  “To The Teeter Totter?” Josie asked.

  “To The Teeter Totter,” Delaney and Summer chorused.

  ***

  The sound of The Teeter Totter’s throbbing music poured out onto the street, bringing with it a mix of good-looking young people wearing way too much cologne and too little clothing.

  “Ready to hit it hard, girls?” Josie asked, turning to face them and wiggling her eyebrows like a lascivious teenage boy.

  “So ready!” Summer said. “Let’s do this.”

  They pushed through the crowd at the front door and headed for the bar.

  “Is it seriously eighties night?” Summer asked, her voice rising several octaves with excitement. “It is!”

  The girls in the crowd wore bright layered tops, leggings, lace-edged bobby socks and lace gloves. Fluorescent scrunchies held side ponytails in place, while bangs stood high, teased into colossal waves.

  “Hey, Dee, I don’t think I mentioned this earlier,” Josie said, yelling over “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” as it blared through the bar. “But you’re limited to two drinks tonight. Got it? Two.”

  “What? Five? Okay.”

  Josie rolled her eyes, handed Delaney a beer and jerked her head toward the dance floor.

  Eighties night was always popular at The Teeter Totter. The music was good, the outfits were better and the drinks were half-price. The girls joined the writhing mass of bodies and cheered when Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” came on.

  “This is awesome!” Summer yelled.