Azure’s phone dinged. She picked it up from the arm of the chair and read the message. After a moment she held it out to Brian. “Uh, you might want to look at this.”

He took the phone. He and Azure had a joint social media account. He didn’t pay much attention to it, letting her post photos and memes and animals and whatever else she wanted. Her phone alerted her to any messages.

On the screen he read, David Colton wants to send you a message.

He stared at the words and it felt like something beneath him gave way, like he was falling and there was no way to stop. Finally he handed the phone back to Azure.

“I can respond if you want,” she said.

Brian put another piece of firewood in the pit. He watched it catch and flame up.

David left Nate alone in his room to get it ready for the shoot. He was glad he had responded to Melissa and reached out to Brian, but there were so many unanswered questions. Even if both of them wanted to meet, he wasn’t sure he could go through with it. Part of him wanted to, another part wanted to avoid any possible conflict. That made talking about all of this on camera even more difficult.

David returned to his room and saw the phone pointed at the chair and a lamp positioned toward his face.

“I just need to see if this is enough light before we start,” Nate said.

“Look, I don’t think I can do this,” David said.

“Dude, you have to do this. It’s going to be gold. Think about it. This could be—”

“Nate,” David said. “This is not like jumping into the river because you want the shot to go viral. Okay? This is my life, not a social media post. I’m not your sister fighting with her boyfriend. You get it?”

Nate’s jaw dropped. “You should say that. Seriously, that passion right there, the way you delivered that, was powerful. People need to see that side of you.”

“You don’t get it,” David said. “All of this is not real to you. It’s just something you capture on video. Life’s not like that. You don’t live it in front of a camera.”

Nate held up both hands and backed away, closing the door. David sat on his bed and ran a hand through his hair as Nate leaned against the wall.

“We’ve been friends a long time,” Nate said. “You know me better than my family does. Okay? And I’ll admit I’m a video nut. It’s in my blood. But ever since this came up with your birth mom, I’ve just had this sense that there’s something bigger going on. This is not just about you and your adoption and your mom and dad. There’s more to it than that.”