Chapter 76 The Father's Watch

• The diner smelled of burnt bacon and lemon-scented bleach, the kind of place where the coffee was bitter and the waitresses called everyone “honey.”
• Lily spun slowly on a cracked vinyl stool, her feet barely grazing the floor, while Clara doodled on a napkin—stick figures with too many teeth.
• Outside, rain slashed against the neon *Open* sign, casting a sickly green glow over Adam’s exhausted face as he stirred sugar into his third cup of coffee.