The Dating Intervention: Book 1 in the Intervention Series

by Hilary Dartt

  Relief shot through Delaney’s veins as Jenny walked away.

  “Well, she seems nice,” Delaney said into the silence that followed.

  “Yeah, if you want to call it that,” Jake said.

  He ran a hand through his hair. Delaney wanted to run her hands over the skin on his bare torso, so she clasped them behind her back.

  “I thought you came to the rodeo dance with someone else,” she blurted out.

  “I thought you decided you didn’t want to see me anymore,” Jake said.

  “Well, you didn’t tell me she was your sister!”

  “I didn’t get a chance,” Jake said, his voice rising. “Jenny’s like one of those firecrackers. Once you light them, they fly around like crazy until they burn out. She came tearing into town Saturday to surprise us for her twenty-first birthday. She wanted to go to the rodeo dance, and she was even more excited when I told her you’d be there. Before I knew it, it was late, you were gone and you weren’t answering my texts.”

  Delaney cringed. “Lost my phone. Outhouse.”

  “Really?” Jake said. The mood lightened a bit.

  “Really. Just got a new one.” She held it up to illustrate.

  “So you didn’t get any of my messages?”

  “Not since Saturday.”

  “The ones on Saturday said stuff like, ‘come over here and meet my sister so she can finally stop harassing me about meeting you,’ and, ‘are you ignoring me?’ and stuff like that.”

  Delaney shifted her weight and scratched her head. “Why didn’t you just come over and introduce us?”

  “I was nervous.”

  “Jake Rhoades the Dreamy, breaker of many hearts, nervous?”

  “Yes, I was nervous.” Jake threw his hands up in exasperation. “Saturday morning, I mentioned your name to Jenny – a first, I guess. I didn’t realize that, but she apparently keeps careful track of how I talk about the women I date.”

  He ran a hand over the back of his head and continued. “Anyway, I mentioned your name and she made this huge deal of it, all day. And then I didn’t want to tell her you were at the dance, because I knew she’d say something to embarrass me, and you, and I didn’t want you to leave, thinking I was an idiot. Shot myself in the foot, though, didn’t I? Because you thought I was there with someone else! I guess I am an idiot.”

  He’d dropped his hands at his sides, and he was breathing fast. He was still nervous, Delaney realized with some interest. He was nervous because he liked her. He wanted to be with her.

  “I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy right now,” she said. She felt the smile spreading across her face.

  “You are? You don’t think I’m an idiot?”

  “Well, I do, a little. I mean, of course I’d have wanted to meet your sister, and of course I wouldn’t have held her antics against you. I know how siblings can be.”

  He shrugged. “So, we’re okay?”

  “We’re better than okay,” Delaney said, stepping forward and putting her arms around his waist.

  He took her face in his hands and tilted it up for a kiss.

  “Aw, get a room, you two!”

  Jenny’s voice echoed down the alley, and Jake deepened the kiss before releasing Delaney, who stood there trembling with the desire to rip his pajama pants off. Shouldn’t be too hard. They’re pretty thin.

  As if he could read her mind, Jake retied his waistband.

  “Want me to stand in for you at work so you guys can stay here and have it out?” she asked with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

  “Ah, no. Thanks. I’ve got to get back. Doctor Kat’s waiting for me.”

  “Oh, speaking of Doctor Kat, there’s something I need to tell you,” Jake said.

  ***

  Jake looked down at the ground and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

  “Well, that’s my cue,” Jenny said. She handed Jake his coffee. “It was nice to finally meet you, Delaney. I couldn’t have taken the suspense for much longer. Jake blushes like a teenage girl every time he talks about you. I had to see you for myself.”

  Jake rolled his eyes as she bounded up the stairs.

  “So? What’d you need to tell me?” Delaney asked. Just when she started feeling calm, nerves returned and her heart started racing.

  “Doctor Rick, your new boss?”

  “She’s your wife,” Delaney said.

  “No!” Jake said.

  Delaney started to relax. “She’s one of my best friends, though. When you told me you were applying for vet jobs and you mentioned her clinic, I told her she had to hire you.”

  “What?”

  He hung his head, sheepish.

  “I thought you had spunk. Kat’d like that. I figured you must be smart. I’ve seen you work the bar at Rowdy’s a hundred times. You were really good. Quick. Great under pressure. Terrific, actually.”

  “A hundred times?” Delaney was shocked. She felt her head tilting to the side as she searched her Rowdy’s memories for visions of Jake. Surely she’d have noticed him. “Why haven’t I seen you there a hundred times?”

  Jake shrugged. “I had a crush on you. So I was shy. I stayed in the back. And you were always flirting with people. I knew you wouldn’t take me seriously if I tried to hit on you at the bar, of all places.”

  “Oh, my God.” Delaney slapped a hand to her forehead. “This is a comedy of errors.”

  A sudden realization struck her. “Wait a minute,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “It’s all coming together. You saw me with Mitchell at Eddie’s, didn’t you? Out your window.” She pointed up at the window and could have sworn she saw Jenny jump away from it. “And you told Doctor Kat. You told her I had a date with someone else.”

  Jake grimaced. “Mitchell? He’s the puppy-dog-eyed, dopey-faced, frowning guy who looked like all he wanted to do was die, right there at the table?” He slapped his hand to his forehead. “He’s the guy you hit it off with? Thank goodness the sparks died out.”

  Now she was laughing. “Yes! But that’s beside the point! You were spying on me. And you didn’t even tell me!”

  “I wasn’t spying, exactly. I just happened to see you. And wonder who that dumpy looking guy was. That’s all.”

  “And then you told my new boss about it?” She shook her head, incredulous.

  “Well, I was thinking of her more as my best friend from high school, to whom I turn for answers to all questions pertaining to the ladies. But yes.”

  Delaney covered her face with her hands, then dropped them. She said, “Well, since we’re having a confessional, I have something to tell you, too.”

  “You’re married with nine kids at home.”

  “Ha. No. I should have told you this on one of our other dates,” Delaney began. “But I was embarrassed. And sworn to secrecy.”

  “I’m intrigued.”

  “A few weeks ago, my friends, Summer and Josie, staged an intervention. The Dating Intervention.”

  “Are you kidding?” he said, his reaction guarded.

  “Nope.” She winced.

  Now his face transformed. “Why? Are you an addict?”

  “Well,” she said, paused and then plowed ahead. “Remember I told you I’d entitled my own dating life, ‘eclectic clearance’?”

  “Yeah,” he said.

  “So Summer and Josie decided they’d had enough of me finding crappy guys and then sticking with them despite no prospects for a healthy long-term relationship. I think they’d also decided they’d had enough of me dating two or three guys at a time, all the time. Maybe they couldn’t keep them all straight, I don’t know. In any event, they took control of my love life. I mean, I agreed, but it was their idea. So they created my profile on FindLove.com, and they sent me to a speed dating event where they wired me and gave me instructions as I talked to different people.”

  “How’d that go?”

  “It was a disaster. Instead of coaching me, like they’d promised, they ended up making fun of the people I
was talking to, in my ear, the whole time.”

  “Meddlesome friends,” Jake said.

  “I know. I know. They do it out of love. In fact, Rule Eight is something like, ‘Remember we love you.’”

  “So anyway, they selected you for me on FindLove.com without even knowing who you were. I mean, obviously, I wouldn’t have known since you used a different name and didn’t post a picture. But I wanted you to know. They had me date a couple other people, and they selected you as their Number One Pick.”

  “I’m honored,” he said. “But was I your Number One Pick, also?”

  “Like I told you, I’ve been thinking about you since you came to my rescue when that guy rear-ended us in Summer’s van.”

  “With all those kids.”

  “Great kids, but not mine,” they both said at the same time.

  “So anyway,” she continued, “they’ve been coaching me all along. They’ve been telling me what to do. I didn’t want to tell you because most of this has been their idea. Actually, I’m pretty sure not telling you was one of the rules. I like you, and you’re totally my Number One Pick, but I’m not sure if I’d have acted the same way if they hadn’t been looking over my shoulder the whole time.”

  “What about that message you sent me after The Teeter Totter?”

  “They were so pissed about that. That is totally something I would normally do. Stupid, but true.”

  “So you meant it?”

  “Every word.”

  Jake chuckled. “So if you’re normally a two-or-three-at-a-time type of girl, then who else received messages?”

  Feeling a little less embarrassed, Delaney related the stories of Jesse the Rancher and Craig the Kindergarten teacher. She even threw in a tiny tidbit about Mitchell.

  “Online dating is brutal,” Jake said. “I admit, I never expected you to be on FindLove.com. I looked for you on there, actually, right after we met. I even searched FriendZoo, but was too afraid to make a friend request when I found you. So when you messaged me there, I thought it was funny.”

  “So that’s why you didn’t say anything!”

  “Caught.”

  After a beat, she asked, “So you’re not mad? About The Dating Intervention? Summer and Josie know pretty much everything. They’re the ones who’ve been sending you messages.”

  “Nah,” he said. “I have a whole bunch of sisters, remember? So I know how women work. Besides, they weren’t actually with us when we were out.”

  “Well…” Delaney started to pace. “They spied on us. Twice.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope.”

  Seconds ticked by. Neither of them said anything. Delaney continued her pacing at an increased speed. Jake came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He kissed the back of her neck.

  “Meddlesome friends,” he said again. “But it’s cute. They obviously just want the best for you.”

  She turned to face him and tilted her head back so she could kiss him.

  “Obviously,” she said.

  “So, are you mad? That I told Kathryn to hire you?”

  “I don’t know,” Delaney answered. “Honestly, I thought she’d hired me because I have potential. But regardless, she hired me and I’m grateful for the job. I think I’ve proven myself, at this point. So I guess I’m not mad.”

  “Oh, good,” Jake said, “because I’d hate to have to earn your forgiveness.”

  “On second thought, maybe I am mad. But I’ve got to get back to work. You’ll have to earn my forgiveness later. I’m not letting you off the hook.”

  Jake shrugged, kissed Delaney one more time, then pointed at her phone and walked back up the stairs to his apartment. Grinning, Delaney walked back to her car. As she drove back to work, still smiling, her phone chirped.

  Jake: Want to go steady?

  She was going to be grinning all day.

  Delaney: You bet I do.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  “I take it from that stupid smile you’ve got on your face,” Doctor Kat said, “that you talked to Jake.”

  Delaney nodded, but didn’t look up from the chart she was studying. Doctor Kat chuckled and turned to walk away.

  “So why didn’t you tell me you knew Jake?” Delaney said to her back. “More importantly, why didn’t you tell me he was the reason you hired me?”

  Doctor Kat froze, then turned around.

  “I guess I just didn’t want you to know I’d hired you because he told me to,” Doctor Kat said. “I mean, I trust his judgment, so I figured you’d work out.”

  “Would you have hired me if he hadn’t told you to?”

  Doctor Kat looked paused. “Okay, no. I wouldn’t have. I mean, you graduated vet school. But c’mon, Doc. It’s weird you’ve worked at a bar for so long. Right? Six years or something?”

  “Right,” Delaney said.

  “Don’t get all huffy. I’m serious.”

  “Well thanks for hiring me, anyway.”

  “You’re welcome,” Doctor Kat said. “I get a kick out of you, that’s for sure. And it’s been fun hassling you about your love life on Jake’s account. You know, he must be real interested if he’s having me pester you about it.”

  That was good to hear.

  “And you’re real interested in him, too. I can tell. You guys make a cute couple. Now stop grinning like the coyote that raided the hen house and get this dog back in the crate.”

  “Am I grinning?” An embarrassed heat marched its way up Delaney’s neck and spread to her face.

  Doctor Kat rolled her eyes.

  “Are we a couple?” asked Delaney.

  “Are you?” When Delaney stared blankly at her, Doctor Kat went on: “I’ll just say this, Doc Collins. I saw Jake the other night, after the two of you went sledding all morning. He came over to help my husband with some foaling. He couldn’t stop grinning. That same stupid grin you’re wearing now. If you’re not a couple yet, you should be. And if you don’t take that advice, you’re missing out. Let’s go. We’ve got a surgery in five.”

  From her purse, which was stuffed into the cabinet on the wall, Delaney’s phone chirped. She put the chart on her desk, dug out her phone and felt a rush of pleasure when she read Josie’s text:

  I got it. Next year, I’ll officially be Principal Garcia. Bow down. Oh, and thanks, ladies. Wouldn’t have done it without you Literally.

  Summer: Way to rock it, Josie. We knew you could do it, didn’t we, D?

  Quickly, Delaney typed back: We did. Congrats, Josie. I mean, Principal Garcia. Can I call an emergency Happy Hour tonight?

  Josie: Everything ok?

  Delaney: Everything’s great. See you at 6?

  Summer: See you then.

  ***

  Benjamin greeted Delaney when she walked into Rowdy’s that evening.

  “Hey, D, which side of the bar are you on tonight?”

  For the first time since she’d stopped working at Rowdy’s, felt a rush of relief. She really hadn’t enjoyed it … but she’d never been brave enough to look forward to doing anything else.

  “Emergency Happy Hour with the girls.”

  “A Guinness, a water and a vodka cranberry,” Benjamin said. “Coming up.”

  Delaney slid onto a stool at the usual table. The place was mostly empty. A man sat at the bar, his elbows up on the counter, his head in his hands, an empty brandy snifter in front of him. Just a few short weeks ago, I would have ended up taking him home. She shuddered.

  From the doorway, a voice called, “Collins. I want to see you in my office, now. The Principal’s office.”

  Delaney giggled, then jumped up to hug Josie. Summer, in her usual fashion, breezed in next and joined them in a group hug.

  “So what’s this emergency Happy Hour all about?” Summer asked as Benjamin put their drinks on the table.

  “Jake and I are going steady,” Delaney answered.

  Her friends looked at her, stunned.

  “But –” Summer sa
id.

  “The girl –” Josie said at the same time.

  “It was his sister!” Delaney said. “I met her this morning.”

  She explained everything: how she’d lost her phone and missed Jake’s texts, how she’d wanted – no, needed – closure, and how she’d shown up at his apartment, met his sister and accepted his invitation to go steady.

  “The thing is,” she finished, “I never would have had the confidence to seek that closure if it weren’t for you guys.”

  “Don’t go getting all emotional on me,” Josie said. “Please.”

  Summer wiped a tear from her eye with the corner of her bar napkin.

  “Seriously,” she said.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Delaney’s bedside clock read five a.m. when her phone chirped Friday morning. After an initial bout of panic (was her mom texting to say something had happened to her dad? Was Summer having problems with the pregnancy? Had something happened to one of the kids?) she felt happiness flood her veins as she read Jake’s message: TGIF. I’m getting started early. Want to come over to my new gallery after work and help me paint? I promise it’ll be romantic.

  Still smiling, she wrote back: Sure! See you around 5:30. :) PS-how could it not be romantic?

  Jake: Have a great day. xo

  Delaney: xo

  She spent the next hour daydreaming about making love to Jake in an empty art gallery, then got up to drink coffee, shower and head to work.

  ***

  As advertised, Jake made the gallery setting romantic. He draped huge white tarps from the ceiling to cover the windows and placed candles in sturdy copper candlesticks on the floor around the room’s perimeter. In the center of the gallery, he set up a little card table. A pizza and a bottle of wine sat on top of it, alongside a red rose in a vase.

  “This is romantic,” Delaney said.

  “I figured you’re coming to help me,” he said, taking her hand and walking with her. “I might as well feed you.”

  Looking around, she said, “This is going to be a beautiful gallery space. The high ceilings, the tall windows. I can’t wait to see your work in here.”