I nearly dialed 911 on the tattooed teenager holding a screaming baby inside an empty 1 AM laundromat. Then his bag tore open, and my stomach sank with utter shame.

a small notebook across the table.

“I started writing letters to Emma when I left,” she said.

Jackson stiffened.

“I didn’t send them because I was ashamed. Then I didn’t send them because I thought you’d throw them away. Then I kept writing because it was the only way I could tell the truth somewhere.”

He did not touch the notebook.

Rachel pulled it back continue reading …