“You’re on the right track.”

Blake grins, and I can’t help but grin back. There’s something different about this smile than others, nothing physically different… But this time?

This smile makes it hard for me to breathe.

“What else?” I ask.

He glances over at me.

“What else do you think I like in a guy?” I clarify.

He shrugs, his eyes still looking forward. “A good person, I think.”

“You think or you know?” I bite my lip. “Sorry. Thank you.”

“You’re a person who doesn’t take compliments well.” He reaches over with his hand, squeezing my thigh. “Should we unpack that?”

My body freezes and tenses up like petrified wood. Blake notices and moves to shift his hand away, but before he can, I put my hand on top of his.

“I thought this was a date, not a therapy session.”

Blake lets out his deep laugh, a baritone ripple filling the inside of the car. I like that sound. It’s deeper than Michael’s voice.

“Touché,” he replies, and moves his hand back to the wheel.

A part of me wishes he would put it back.

“Is that what you want to be?” I ask. “A therapist?”

Blake shrugs. The zoo comes into view on a hill in the distance, lights glittering. “Maybe?” he says.

“That doesn’t sound confident.”

“I’m not sure my father would support that.” He laughs. “Do you think a psychologist would bring honor to the McIntyre name?”

In this moment, Michael’s words float back into my mind, along with the intention behind them. How we need to decide what type of person we want to be, without worrying about what our parents want. Without worrying about the expectations of the rest of the world. Maybe Blake and I really do have more in common than I thought. The concern that something you want to do doesn’t align with what your parents want resonates with me. Michael doesn’t have that concern. He’s bold, brave, and free-spirited, and he doesn’t take no for an answer. I’m envious of that. But, intrinsically, Blake understands me.

I grin at Blake, reach over, and squeeze his leg in return. “I think you’d make a good psychologist. No, a great one.”

A bright smile covers Blake’s face. A smile that dwarfs the lights from the zoo. It makes his eyes shine a bright green too.

“And you’ll make a good…?”

“Doctor,” I lie. For now, it’s easier, because I don’t have an answer to what I want to be yet.

“Doctor.” Blake nods, finding a parking space. He turns off the car, the warm hum turning into a purr as we sit there in silence.