WHAT SHOULD ONE WRITE TO a stranger whom you don't know but who gave her daughter to an orphanage eighteen years ago and hasn't seen her child since, but whose child has now gotten a means of contacting her mother but doesn't want to meet her but does have a friend who wants to contact her?

That was exactly the question Darren was facing as he got behind his laptop that same Friday evening. He wanted to consult Liam, but Liam had just left to hang out with his friends from the football team. Because of Liam's accident, it had been a long time since he'd hung out with them, so Darren decided it was better not to interrupt his night out.

Which left him uninspired at his desk, staring at the Facebook profile of one Rebecca Kingsley, mother to Dakota, trying to think of a message to type up.

"Hi, my name is Darren. I'm from Scotland, but am living abroad for a year..."

Delete. This wasn't about him, and she didn't need to know who he was, he figured; he should try to keep it short and to the point, while at the same time not overwhelming her. However, he thought to himself, how could you not overwhelm someone with news about her long-lost daughter?

He started typing again. "Hi, my name is Darren. I'm sorry for suddenly writing to you like this, but it concerns your daughter..."

No, that was not it either. "Concern" made it sound like Rebecca should worry, and Darren sounded much more formal than he wanted.

"Hi, you don't know me, but..."

Way of stating the obvious.

"Hi, my name is Darren. I currently live in Jacksonville, where I met a friend..."

Nope.

Darren sighed and threw his head back. He never had this much trouble writing, but writing to Rebecca felt different in every way. If only Liam was here... Liam would know what to write. He wouldn't make it too difficult.

Maybe he should try it another time, he thought to himself. He could do it when Liam was home too, and they would sit down and write something together.

But no. He shouldn't wait any longer than he already had. Dakota deserved to know her moher, and Rebecca should know her child was still alive. So, Darren took a deep breath and turned to his laptop screen again. The small pop-up in the right corner where he was supposed to write his message was empty, but he made another attempt.

"Hi, Rebecca." That already sounded better, Darren thought. Much friendlier, and not as if Darren was some random stranger writing to the wrong person. "You probably don't know me, but let me introduce myself: my name is Darren. For the past few months, I've been living in Jacksonville, where I met a girl." Did that sound like he was about to write a romance?

Darren shook his head and told himself to keep writing. "She told me she's an orphan, recently adopted, and she's just turned eighteen. On her birthday, she got to know the names of her parents.

"That's why I'm writing to you: she got your name. She didn't want to approach you herself, but I scoured the Internet to find you. The girl's name is Dakota Sheely, and eighteen years ago, she was brought to the Daniel Home and Orphanage in Jacksonville. I believe she's your daughter."

A breath escaped Darren's lips. He'd said it, but now more than ever, he started doubting whether to send this message without Dakota's approval. At the same time, Liam's words came back to him: "Send the message."

So, he continued typing. "I understand it if I'm surprising you with this news, but I hope you take this opportunity to reach out and get to know her. I'm awaiting your reply. Greetings, Darren."

He read over his message once more and decided that the last sentence needed to be less formal, so he replaced "I'm awaiting your reply" with "I'm looking forward to your reply". He also tried to rewrite some other sentences, but nothing sounded good, so eventually he settled on the message he'd already written.

When it dawned on him he was supposed to send the message, he felt his heartbeat quicken. Shouldn't he write Dakota a quick text, telling her what he was about to do? He couldn't shake the nervous feeling, but he also heard Liam's voice again: "Send the message."

So, he did.

✩

The first thing Darren did the following morning was check his phone. The opening screen showed some notifications for text messages from his family, sharing pictures from their Friday dinner that had become a staple for the family. He decided to check those out later and opened up the blue Facebook app instead, refreshing his inbox. The page loaded much too slowly for his liking, but then it appeared all at once.

No new messages.

The reply from Rebecca Kingsley Darren was waiting for wouldn't come that entire weekend either. Darren was on his phone more than usual, so much so that Isaiah joked he'd become a true American and that Adelaide had pulled him aside to ask him if everything was alright with his family. The amount of time he spent on his phone had got her worrying something was wrong, but Darren was just refreshing his incoming messages or typed up a message to Dakota explaining what he'd done while never actually sending that message. As much time as he spent on his phone, as little actually happened, and when Monday came around, Darren still hadn't heard back from Rebecca or sent Dakota a text telling her what he'd done. That's why he told himself, right before he walked into English class, that he should tell her. English was a class they shared, and because it was a class in which relatively little teaching happened, it was the opportune time to tell Dakota face to face he'd found her mother.

"Remember that the book review is due next week Monday. No, there might not be a minimum word count for the review, and no, I might not be able to check whether you actually read the book, but don't think you can bullshit your way out of this assignment. I see right through you." The English teacher put the instructions on the board, but Darren didn't bother reading them over: he'd already finished writing his review. While he was planning to reread it a few more times before handing it in next week, the vague instructions the teacher was giving right now wouldn't help him with that.

Dakota, on the other hand, hadn't started her review yet. "What book do you think I should do?" she asked. "I was thinking To All The Boys I've Loved Before, then I'll just watch the movie."

"Sounds perfect," Darren said. Meanwhile, his mind screamed at him to say it now. I found your mother. No, perhaps he should take a softer approach. Do you remember when you told me you found out the names of your parents? No, too random.

"I'm just not in the mood for something sappy, though," Dakota complained. She rested her chin on her hand and looked past Darren into the distance. Her blue eyes had a sad hint to them.

"Why not?" Darren asked just as absent-mindedly. You know what happened to me? This weekend, I accidentally found a woman online with the name Rebecca Kingsley and I remembered you told me... No, he was not a liar, he told himself. And why was he making it so hard? He should just say what he did, and she'd ask him so many questions that he wouldn't even have to think.

"Bennett and I broke up." She sighed. "It happened Saturday. We were supposed to hang out on Friday, but he said he had to work, so we decided to go on a date on Saturday." She put her arm down and looked at Darren with big eyes. "And do you know what he did?"

Darren shook his head and told himself to wait a little longer with telling her. He still thought Dakota should know he contacted her mom, but he couldn't interrupt her in the middle of her story.

"He lied!" Her voice rose in disbelief and her mouth stood wide-open, frozen in disbelief. "He told me he had to work, but then I saw his friend Logan had posted a picture on Instagram of the two of them at some rave."

Darren raised his brows. "Whoa."

"Can you believe that?" she asked. She tilted her head, and her light hair slid down her shoulder to hang loosely, catching the sunlight to make itself seem even lighter, almost white, than it already was.

He shook his head. "That's bloody wrong."

"Exactly!" She sat up straighter, as if she was gaining confidence. "So, naturally, I decided to confront him about it on our date that Saturday."

Naturally, Darren thought to himself with a chuckle. Only a girl as bold as Dakota would do that. He didn't have the bravery.

"He picked me up from home, gave me a kiss on the cheek and told me he was sorry he had to cancel on me the previous day," Dakota told Darren. Her entire body was used to bring the story across in the most entertaining way. "The nerve that guy has! The first thing he said to me was a lie."

"I can't believe it," Darren said. His words told her he was listening, but at the same time, his mind was occupied by thoughts telling him to just say, "I contacted your mom." Why didn't he have that same brave heart Dakota had?

"I didn't say anything and got my phone out of my pocket to show him the picture Logan had posted." She held her phone up in the air with the screen facing Darren, as if she was reenacting the moment right there with him. "He fell silent for a second, so I asked him if some bastards had hijacked the store and hosted a party. Do you know what he said?"

He shook his head.

"'Logan shouldn't have posted that picture.'" Her jaw dropped. "Like, seriously?" She held her hand to her forehead, then shifted in her seat to pull up her knees and make herself more comfortable. All around them, people had started talking and none of the conversations were about the assignment, but the English teacher didn't seem to care. He just sat behind his desk, staring intensely at his computer.

"So, I told him Logan did the right thing and asked why he had lied to me," Dakota continued. "He said, 'I just wanted to hang out with some friends,' so I said, 'You could've just told me that.'"

"It's kind of strange he didn't just say that the first time around," Darren confirmed.

"Right! But he went on, made some excuse that he didn't want to hurt me and that I would've never let him go with friends."

Darren frowned, and Dakota saw it as recognition of the fact she was right in this situation. "Like, where does he even get that idea from? I told him I didn't have a problem with him hanging out with his friends, and he said, 'Why are you mad then?'" She paused for dramatic effect. "That guy, he just – Arrgh!" She moved her hands like she was pulling her hair out. "'I'm mad because you lied and I had to find out from Instagram!' I said. I really had to resist grabbing him by the shirt and knocking some sense into him. I mean, I can't even believe I was together with that guy!"

Darren had just started feeling sorry for her, but she didn't seem to feel sorry for herself. She told her story with an extravagance that could only be defined as excitement.

"I know I'm not always the most punctual girl" – Darren immediately thought back to when he and Dakota had decided to meet up and chuckled – "but at least I'm honest. I won't lie for something as stupid as wanting to go to a party with friends. If he was cheating, I would get why he was lying, but right now..." She gasped as a thought came to mind. "Wait, do you think he was cheating? Logan only posted one picture, and it was of him, Bennett and some guys, but maybe Bennett did go to the party for some girl!"

"I don't think that's why–" Darren began.

Dakota grumbled. "Oh, that guy." She clenched her teeth. "Well, I shouldn't worry about him anyway. I gave him the chance to explain himself, but the only thing he had for me were excuses and lies, so I told him we were over. I'm not even sure if he felt bad." She rolled her eyes and a breath escaped her lips. "So, I told him I wanted someone who would be honest with me, and he said there would be no such person. 'What about Logan?' I asked him. 'Maybe I should get together with Logan.' I gave him one of those smiles" – she showed Darren what she meant – "and that's when he got really mad. We got in a bad fight, right there on the street." She shrugged. "That's when we broke up."

Darren wasn't sure of what to say. "I'm sorry." It came out as a whisper.

"Don't be. I'm happy to be free of him." Her eyebrows shot up. "Now I'm happy single again. To be honest, I've missed single life. Do you know all the benefits of being single?"

Darren shook his head. All he'd ever been was single, so he couldn't compare it to the 'relationship life'.

Dakota took that as approval to start talking more. "First of all, I can go anywhere, anytime, without having to tell anyone where I am." She laughed. "I'm free to do whatever the hell I want!" And soon, she started summing up all the things she wanted to do with her free time now that she didn't have to watch Bennett's matches and spend nights watching action films she didn't enjoy the least bit.

She went on like that for as long as the class lasted, and when the bell rang to announce the end of class, Darren was reminded he still hadn't told her about her mom.