The Dating Intervention: Book 1 in the Intervention Series (18 page)

“Oh, you know. Just a change of pace, I guess.”
 

“Well, I’ll tell you what, Delaney Collins. When I met you outside of Porky’s, I thought, here’s a girl I’ve got to get to know. But I shut down. I was nervous as hell. Which, by the way, never happens.”
 

Delaney wondered if Jake could see the glow of happiness radiating out of her heart. Then she wondered if he’d think that analogy was as lame as it sounded.
 

Jake continued, “Then I saw you at Rowdy’s. But the nerves kicked in again. All my friends were there. It’s a man thing. I couldn’t ask for your number. So when I saw your picture on that profile, I was pleased. Actually, I was ecstatic. I thought, here’s my chance. So I’m going to go all out, here. Prepare to be wooed.”

“‘Prepare to be wooed?’ He actually said that? I think I’m in love!” Summer said.
 

An overcast sky made everything look bright and surreal, especially the black pyramid that was Muscles Gym.
 

Summer wrapped a hair tie around the end of her braid and said, “Okay, I’m ready to go.”

“Now that you’ve spent ten minutes braiding your hair?” Josie said. She infused her voice with a honey-like sweetness that belied the angry crease between her eyebrows.
 

“Geez. If you’re going to be like this all afternoon, spare me the tongue lashing and go work out by yourself,” Summer said.

“Whoa. I’m not hanging out with you two,” Delaney muttered, even as they started walking across the parking lot. “A cat fight’s about to break out.”
 

“Want to give us an update on the principal stuff before we head in and I’m forced to lock you in the steam room for a time out?” Summer said, injecting her voice with a saccharine tone to rival Josie’s. They’d reached the entrance. Josie stopped.
 

“I’m sorry, Summer.” Her eyes filled with tears. After an initial shock-related pause, Summer hugged her. “I’m sorry,” Josie said again. “Today I saw that snot, Blair Upton, flirting with Scott Smith. Which means they’re probably sleeping together. I mean, it’s shameless. She’s a teacher and he’s the principal. He’s flirting right back. In public. It’s ridiculous. You should see it.”
 

“But he’s leaving. What good will it do her to flirt with him?” Delaney asked.
 

“Oh, I can guarantee you she’s not stopping at flirting,” Josie said. “And he’s on the hiring committee. Of course.”
 

She yanked the door open and stalked into the gym – holding it for the others as an afterthought. Summer shrugged at Delaney behind Josie’s back as they walked in.

“Sorry, Josie,” Delaney said. “Want us to beat her up?”
 

Josie’s laugh came out short and harsh. “Yes, please.”
 

They arrived at the free weights. Each of them took a set off the rack.
 

“So can I message Jake Rhoades today? Set up another date?” Delaney said.

“Oh, no, sister,” Summer said. “You’re not messaging anybody. We do that. What about Mitchell?”
 

“True,” Josie said. “During the Mitchell and Jake-slash-Sebastian dates, we barely heard from you. Except, ‘Guys! You won’t believe this! It’s the hot car accident guy!’” Josie said.
 

“Right,” Summer said. “So that means they were successful. I think you need to go out with both of them again. But no kissing, no sex.”
 

“So do I contact them? Or wait for them to contact me?”

Delaney, unsure of what to do with her weights, mimicked Josie’s position and began doing bicep curls, too.
 

“I checked your profile right before I got here,” Summer said. “Mitchell already sent you a message. And Sebastian, or Jake, hasn’t. I think that’s enough on the bicep curls, Josie.”
 

“He’s probably testing me,” Delaney said. “I told him I don’t get guys’ numbers. So he probably wants me to make the next move.”
 

“Do you want to?” Josie asked. She put her weights away and grabbed a lighter set for tricep extensions.

“Hell, yeah, I want to.”
 

“Okay,” Josie said. “I’ll log into your profile and write him a note.”
 

“What will it say?”
 

“Probably something like, ‘Hey, big guy, I enjoyed our time in the backseat of your big truck. Wanna do it again?’”
 

“Shut up, Josie,” Delaney said. “There was no backseat. No truck, either. Say something good.”
 

“I will.”
 

An hour later, sweaty and red-faced from their cardio workouts, the girls gathered in the gym’s foyer.
 

“First gym day: success,” Summer said.
 

“My legs are going to fall off,” Josie said. “I walked for an hour and I feel like I’m going to die. But it did improve my mood.”
 

“Thank goodness for that,” Delaney said.
 

“I failed to mention, too, that I got a nasty call from a parent today,” Josie said. “A dad. His damn kid is always punching the other boys in the arm. It’s like a greeting or something, I don’t know. But a few of them have bruises. So anyway, I sent a note home with the kid yesterday and the dad called me in the middle of class today and started yelling at me that I won’t tell his kid whether he can say hello to his friends. Or something. He, of course, launched into everything that’s wrong with the school system and how teachers are glorified babysitters and how his son isn’t learning anything anyway.”
 

Summer shuddered. Delaney grimaced.
 

“Oh, yeah. It was that good. I didn’t mention that his son is also a disrespectful asshole and I now have a very clear picture of where he gets it.”
 

“So what did you say?”
 

“You know what I said, Dee? I said, ‘I don’t have time for this shit in the middle of my class. Go see the principal.’ And I hung up. I could still hear him spluttering.”
 

After a pause, Josie went on, “Then I realized that next year, I could be the principal. I could be dealing with assholes all the time.”
 

“Not all the time, surely,” Summer said.
 

“No. But it made me reconsider applying. I’m not sure I can do it, guys.”
 

***

The students in Country Kitchen’s How to Boil Water class bustled around the back of the store, taking out their aprons, setting up their dishes and perusing the evening’s menu. Delaney and Beth, done with their prep work, stood behind their island.

“So, the day after our last class, my mom calls, wanting to know if my new cooking skills have landed me a new guy,” Beth said.
 

“Well, have they?”
 

Beth snorted. “I don’t think I’m going to put ‘How to Boil Water Graduate’ on my FindLove.com profile, thank you very much.”
 

“I know. Seriously. I’m putting it on mine, though.”
 

“You’re on FindLove.com?”
 

Delaney cringed. “Yeah. Why? Should I not be?”
 

“It’s not that, it’s just that you seem so outgoing and friendly. I wouldn’t think you’d need online dating. You’re probably great in person.”

“My best friends again.” Delaney shrugged. “I’m
too
good in person. Too approachable. Losers just love me. So my friends, Summer and Josie, they’re screening everybody on my profile.”
 

“You’re letting them?”
 

“I hate to say it, but they’re doing better for me than I am for myself.”
 

At that moment, Delaney glanced up at the storefront window and saw Jake Rhoades on the sidewalk, staring at her with an intensity that bordered on scary, but mostly just made her want to strip him down right there where he stood.
 

Beth followed her gaze and said, “Ooh. Who is
that
? He looks like he wants to eat you up. Right now.”
 

“Ahhh,” Delaney sighed, “Jake Rhoades. Jake Rhoades the Dreamy. A FindLove.com find.”
 

“No!”
 

“Yes. Yes, indeed.”
 

As they stared at each other, Delaney felt a slow, sexy smile spreading across her face. She also heard a tiny voice wondering if he’d ever looked at The-One-Who-Got-Away Brittany like that. Shaking it off, she gave Jake a little wave. He smiled, then, sudden and bright, before waving and going on his way.

“Let’s begin,” Wendy said then, and the moment was gone.
 

That evening during class, Delaney worked through the roasted chicken and grilled steak, pretending she was cooking for Jake.
 

“Would you like some rosemary on your chicken?” she’d ask. He’d respond, “Of course, sugar lips.”
 

They’d sip cold white wine from sparkling wine glasses and she’d feed him a taste of the chicken, which he’d nibble sensually from the tips of her fingers.
 

“You’re burning the steak,” Beth said, nudging Delaney with her elbow and popping the bubble of fantasy she’d been living in.
 

“Oops.”
 

“Thinking about The Dreamy, huh?”
 

“You caught me.”
 

***

Delaney didn’t tell the girls about her first official job interview. For starters, they already knew almost every detail of her love life, and she wanted to keep some semblance of control and privacy. Also, she didn’t want them to be disappointed if she didn’t get the job. Mostly, though, if she were being honest with herself (
haha
), she’d be embarrassed if she failed at the job hunt again.
 

The Mountain Top Veterinary Clinic, a tiny stone building with generous windows in front, sat shaded in the trees a mile outside of downtown, within walking distance of her house. Delaney had driven, since the roads were still wet from snowmelt and she didn’t want to risk walking. She’d seen too many commercials where passing cars splashed pedestrians with grimy water and she didn’t want her new gray pinstriped suit to meet that fate.
 

She arrived exactly two minutes early and opted for the cat entrance, figuring it improved her suit’s chances of remaining hair-free. Naturally, as soon as she walked in, a huge, white, fluffy dog made a beeline for Delaney, its whole body trembling with joy. Its owner chuckled like a proud parent would, wearing an
isn’t-he-cute?
expression. It was all Delaney could do to keep from rolling her eyes. Within seconds, her pants were covered in wiry white hair.
 

“Sorry,” the dog’s owner said indulgently. “She just loves people.”

Delaney bit her tongue, literally, and was glad she did. Just then, a door behind the counter opened.
 

“I assume you’re Ms. Collins?”
 

Dr. Alexander Mott, a stern-faced, gray-haired man in jeans, a plaid flannel shirt and a white doctor’s coat, looked over his glasses at Delaney, who was madly trying to brush the hair off her pants.
 

“Uh, yes. I am,” she said. “Dr. Mott?”
 

“Right this way.”
 

Discomfited, she scooted around the counter and followed him back to his office. Why had she worn a suit? What on
Earth
had made her think wearing a suit (a brand new suit) to an interview for a veterinary position was a good idea? She should have known better. Shoving the thought out of her mind, she took in her surroundings. Cluttered. The shelves were packed with pamphlets, binders and books, and paper covered every horizontal surface.
He needs a professional organizer more than he needs another vet
.
 

“You can sit here,” Dr. Mott said, scooping a stack of papers off a rickety-looking office chair.
 

She sat.

“So, your resume shows you’ve been unemployed for the past several years since you finished vet school.”
 

Wow. Cutting right to the chase, Delaney thought.
 

“Actually, I’ve been working, but I didn’t think it was relevant to this position, so I didn’t put it on my resume.”
 

Again, Dr. Mott looked over his glasses at her, his steely gray eyes piercing hers.
 

“What have you been doing, exactly?”
 

“I tend bar at Rowdy’s. Not exactly animal-related.” Her armpits tingled.

“Hm. I see. A word of advice, Ms. Collins?”
 

Delaney doubted he was really asking her permission, so she nodded, simultaneously cringing.

“Never leave a spot on your resume blank if you actually have something to put there. It makes you look like you can’t get or keep a job. Bartending is not, shall we say, the most pertinent experience, I realize. But at least your long-term employment proves you have staying power.”
 

Delaney nodded, too dumbstruck to respond in any other way.

“No internships, then?” Dr. Mott said.

“No.”
 

“So, no veterinary experience at all?”
 

“Not outside of vet school. But I’m a quick learner.”
 

***

That could have gone better
. Delaney replayed the interview in her mind as she drove the short distance home just twenty minutes later. After the first set of scorching questions, Delaney asked Dr. Mott why he even called her for an interview. He responded that she’d been the only applicant. Finding vets in Juniper was difficult, he said.

Then he told her he simply couldn’t hire someone who’d been tending bar for the past seven years. He hadn’t actually said that. He’d said he couldn’t hire someone with no actual in-office experience after vet school. Feeling sullen and sorry for herself, she yanked off her suit the moment she got in the door of her house.
Why did I make myself look like a delinquent?