Chapter 46 Lost Bonds

• Rachel POV
• I was sitting in the diner, my soda glass sweating in my hand, as Cody spoke. His voice, rough and full of pauses, seemed to carry the weight of a lifetime of regrets. Each word was like a stone dropping into the calm lake of my mind, creating ripples I didn’t know how to control.
• I was still in shock, my heart beating out of rhythm, trying to process that this man — this stranger with a scruffy beard, dull eyes, and worn clothes — was my father. My father. A word that, until yesterday, had no shape, no face.