As an exchange student from Scotland, a whole new world opens up to Darren Green when he moves to the United States. He'll live with a host family, start at a new school, and he'll have to make new friends. However, what won't be a part of this new...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
AFTER JOSÉ HAD COME TO the table several times to stress that it was time for Dakota to get to work again and Rebecca had left, it was just Dakota and Darren sitting at a table in the back of Juice. She was looking at him with glittering eyes, shining brighter than he'd ever seen them shine before.
"So?" she asked.
"So?" he repeated.
"Was this worth coming to Juice's for?"
He nodded. "More than." When he'd left the McCosta home, he had never expected this to happen.
Then, his joyful expression faltered, and he decided to ask her something in a serious tone. The long conversation with Rebecca hadn't been able to answer this question for him. "Does this mean..." He bit his lip and looked Dakota in the eyes. Hers stood honest, curious, and they invited him to continue. "Does this mean you've forgiven me?"
She was quiet and took her eyes off him. She stared at the grooves in the table, very well aware she was playing with his emotions every second she remained quiet. Then, she laid her hand on his. "Yes." Then, she laughed.
He let out a relieved breath.
"I wanted to tell you," she said. "It just wouldn't be cool if I did it over text. It needed to be bigger than that, and since you were in Scotland, I figured I would wait."
"And this was spectacular enough?" Darren asked, gesturing to Juice and referring to the whole scene that had just gone down here.
"I think so." She smiled. "Don't you?"
He could only nod. It would take him a few more days to let the shock of this moment subside and take the reality of it all in.
"Actually, I was really surprised when you came to me yesterday," Dakota continued. "Here I was, planning this whole thing for when you'd come back – and you know how bad I am at planning – and then you just show up at my doorstep?" From her theatrical tone, he knew she was faking her disappointment. "I didn't know when you'd come back, but I figured today would be as good a day as ever to pull off my plan. I decided not to tell you anything besides the instructions to come here, and I called Rebecca right after you left to get here to come here."
"She came here just for this moment?" Darren's jaw dropped. "Isn't Seaside really far away?"
She nodded. "A four-hour car drive. But she's done it before, and I figured if I planned the meet at noon, she had enough time to get up here."
"She didn't have to do that just for me, though..."
Dakota waved his comment away. "Don't be silly. She's been talking about you every day that we got together. She couldn't wait to meet you – she was probably more excited to meet you than me."
Darren rolled his eyes. "Sure she wasn't. You're her daughter, I'm a stranger."
She tilted her head and stretched out her arm across the table. "Are you aware you just changed two lives for the good?"
