Page 42 of Confessions of a High School Guidance Counselor

“Turn to the left and I will.”

I looked over and saw him in his sexy car with the window rolled down.

“Show me your ankle, and I’ll give you a ride,” he said.

“Oh mercy me.” I covered my chest with my hands. “What will my father say when he finds out?”

With a chuckle, he reached across the console and pushed the door open. “Get in.”

“So forceful,” I said in the same breathy voice as I climbed into the car. “Where’s the ice cream?”

“I threw it away.”

My mouth fell open. “You threw awayfour-and-a-half-starice cream? How could you?”

“I wasn’t about to get it in my car!”

“Uh huh. Well, now this not-date has been ruined.”

With a sexy smile, he said, “Luckily for you, I know a few places with mint chocolate chip. And plenty of napkins.”

“My hero.” I folded my hands over my chest again and let out a dreamy sigh.

“Happy to be of service, ma’am.”

He stopped at a fast-food place and got us mint chocolate chip shakes. “Much less messy,” he said, handing my cup and straw to me.

The lined paper cup was cold and moist under my fingertips, the perfect contrast to the evening sun hitting me through the tinted window. “Where’s Ollie tonight?” I asked as he pulled into a parking spot so we could sit together in the privacy of his car.

“With his mom.”

I noticed how he called her Ollie’s mom instead of his ex. The difference may have seemed subtle to most, but to me, it was massive. Calling her “Ollie’s mom” was like honoring her role in their child’s life instead of her part in his past.

I took a sip of my shake and said, “She told me she didn’t know what was going on with him, but she’ll keep an eye out. I can’t tell what’s going on at school, but he does seem withdrawn.”

Cohen nodded slowly and took another pull from his shake. “I’m worried about him.”

My heart wrenched for him. I could feel his worry in every word. “We’ll figure it out,” I said, although I had no idea how.

“I hope so.” He turned his gaze on me. “You know, when Ollie told us he was interested in men, my first thought was what the kids at school would think of him.” He shook his head, looking back at his drink and adjusting the straw. “I never even worried about what Ollie thought of himself.”

Maybe it was the tone in his voice or how close we were sitting, but I reached out and put my hand atop his thigh. I wanted to comfort him, erase the lines forming on his forehead and the worry in his darkening eyes. “You’re a good dad, Cohen.”

He lifted his eyebrows. “How can you tell?”

“I can hear it in your voice.”

His lips turned up slightly. “What about you? Have you ever thought of having kids?”

“I used to,” I said, deciding to lay it all out there. “My fiancé left me right before I met you, and I thought I’d do the whole thing, you know, house, car, 2.5 kids. But now that we’ve been apart, I keep wondering if I actually wanted that or if I just thought I should want that.”

He nodded. “I never thought I’d have kids. Ollie was a surprise, and his mom and I got married as soon as we found out. But, as it turns out, when you get married, you need to be in love with your spouse and not just your child. The second I saw him, I knew I was meant to be a father. Meant to behisfather.”

I smiled softly. “And what about when Ollie leaves for college?”

“I’ll have all his plants to take care of,” Cohen said. “And my house will be a lot messier. I thought teens were supposed to be gross, but he makes me feel bad about my cleaning habits.”

Laughing, I said, “I can relate. When I moved out of my parents’ house, I had no idea how to manage a house without a maid.”

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