The Marriage Intervention by Hilary Dartt Page A

turned me toward him, his hands on my shoulders. He looked so intense all of a sudden.  
    “I want to marry you,” he said, still looking straight into my eyes. “I want to be with you forever. Will you marry me?”  
    “Yes” came right out of my mouth. I didn’t even have to think about it. I wasn’t even surprised or shocked. I think I somehow knew our relationship would come to this. I knew we were meant to be together. I knew I wanted to marry him. Even if he’d tried to kill me by dragging me on that ridiculous hike.  
    We were giddy all the way down that mountainside.  
    He later told me he hadn’t planned to propose that day. He had thought about asking me, but wanted to do something more romantic. Something with candles and flowers and a fancy dinner. But the moment was so perfect, he asked me right then.  
    And you know what? I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  
    How did I feel at that moment? I felt happy. Over-the-top happy. I felt surprised. I felt out of breath. Not only because I’d hiked up that damned mountain, but also because I was so in love with this man and I couldn’t wait to begin our life together.  
     

CHAPTER EIGHT

    Josie couldn’t believe she’d almost slipped and told Scott Smith she once believed they were soul mates. The Romeo and Juliet of Juniper. Each of them should want to die rather than be apart (yes, Mama would be turning over in her proverbial grave).  
    Surely Scott would have latched onto that, begged her to reexamine the possibility over drinks, to consider being with him now.  
    How could she be so stupid?  
    Of course they weren’t star-crossed lovers. Scott Smith was a secretive man (a charming man, too, she’d give him that), and she never knew what he was really thinking. For all she knew, his whispered proclamations of never-ending love were simply pre-planned steps to make his contrived story of heartbreak more realistic.  
    She had to give him a firm “no” to the drinks invitation. She had to tell him their personal relationship was completely over, that she couldn’t and wouldn’t talk to him about anything unrelated to Juniper Elementary School.  
    It was Thursday morning, and she put on a crisp, light blue button-up shirt and a black pencil skirt with high black heels and a string of pearls. She knew she looked as serious and determined as she felt, and she strode into Scott Smith’s office ten minutes before school with her heart pounding in her throat.  
    He looked up, surprised, and she couldn’t help but smile. When he smiled back at her, she felt like she was the only woman in the world.  
    Well, you are the only woman in Scott’s office, Josie. So it’s nothing special. Don’t let that one smile blow up your skirt.  
    “I need to talk to you,” she said.  
    “Coffee?”  
    Josie glanced quickly around her. The front office ladies, Cheryl and Tammy, made a big show of not listening, but she knew their ears were pricked by the way their hands were poised over their keyboards and their backs were razor-straight.  
    “Um, no. But can I shut the door?” Josie said.  
    He inclined his head toward the door, and she shut it behind her. For some reason, being this close to him still made her nervous. Scott motioned to one of the chairs in front of his desk, but Josie shook her head. He looked at her as if she were a tiger who might attack at any moment.  
    Not in a sexy, I’m-wearing-silk-boxers way, but in an I’m-slightly-scared-you-might-kill-me way.
    Josie blew out the breath she was holding and said, “I just came to tell you that I can’t talk to you anymore. About personal things. I can’t have drinks with you. I can’t have coffee with you in the morning when the moon is still up. My marriage is very important to me, and I don’t want to do anything to threaten it.”  
    When he didn’t answer, and instead continued to stare at her with his eyebrows raised, she said, “Okay?”  
    He nodded. “I