The Dating Intervention: Book 1 in the Intervention Series Read Online Free

dishtowel to wipe the sweat off his head. Delaney wondered first if he’d keep using that towel to dry cups, and then she wondered if he was eavesdropping. She closed her eyes.  
    “Delaney,” Zach said again, “you know I really enjoy our conversations, right? I really enjoy our time together. But the thing is, I need to close this chapter of my life. I’m going for my tenure at the college, and I need to focus on my work. It’s very important.”  
    “And I’m not important?” she whisper-yelled, opening her eyes to glare at him.
    Blake resumed his cup-drying. Sure enough, he continued using the towel he’d used to wipe his head. Delaney made a mental note to order bottled drinks from now on.  
    “Of course you are, Del. But that’s exactly why you deserve someone who can devote more time and energy to you. More spirit.”  
    “Of course you’d say something like that,” she said.  
    Hating herself for the bitterness in her voice, she stood up, almost knocking over the tiny table, covered in its green and white checkered cloth. She threw her greasy, balled-up napkin onto her greasy paper plate.
    “Forget my offer to walk you home,” she said, infusing her voice with as much coldness as she could. She pulled her coat off the back of the chair, which tipped over. She scrambled to pick it up.  
    Just as she shoved through the glass door, making the bells jingle wildly, Zachary caught up with her.  
    “You’re a free spirit, Del. You deserve to fly.”  
    The door shut behind them.  
    “Oh, give me a break,” she said, whirling around to face him. “Just give me a break. What is it, really? Why don’t you want to be with me?”
    Zachary looked down. Either he was looking at his feet, or he’d discovered a new bug species, Delaney wasn’t sure. She just knew he wasn’t looking at her.  
    “Del, when we first met, you were a breath of fresh air.”  
    “King of clichés today,” she muttered, struggling to get her coat on, annoyed that Zachary wasn’t helping her. He’d never been big on manners, though. That was one of the things she’d so loved about Mark. Her eyes burned with the threat of tears.
    “You were so fun, so full of life. Your eyes! They’re so green. They just sparkle with mirth. I loved arguing with you, debating with you, just being around your … energy.”  
    Sparkle with mirth? How lame is that? “But?”  
    “But you’re exhausting. I can’t keep up with you. I was telling the truth, before, when I said I need to focus on my work. I really do. If you weren’t so … argumentative, so … challenging, I could do both. But you drain me.”  
    Ouch.  
    For the briefest of moments, Delaney felt like crying—again. Zachary was dumping her. Dumping her! And he was like a tiny flea on the ass of an elephant. Which made her even smaller. This was bad. And very depressing.
    Am I really draining?  
    She pushed the thought out of her mind before it could take any kind of shape, and replaced it with anger.
    “Well, as long as we’re being honest, Zachary,” she said, “you bore me to tears. You’re ridiculous, self-righteous and self-centered. You want to save the world, but you don’t actually do anything to help anyone. You sit home and write papers all day! About pragmatism! Who actually reads them? And what the hell is pragmatism, anyway? I find you equally exhausting. And the sex wasn’t even that good!”  
    She spun around and almost ran into a bundled-up couple walking arm-in-arm down the sidewalk. As soon as they’d passed, she whirled back around to look at Zachary. He stood in the same spot, his hands in his pockets, his thrift store clothes hanging loosely on his thin frame, his eyes downcast and the lines around his mouth etched deeply into a frown.
    “Ridiculous!” she called again.
    He didn’t respond. The fight left her.

CHAPTER THREE

    She should have seen it coming. But what would she have done? Avoided Xander completely? Beaten him to