Trace just wanted to sleep, to lose himself in the comfort of dreams but he couldn't so he lay there in his bed, surrounded by empty walls since all of his drawings and paintings had been taken down when he'd moved out, hearing the sound of the collision over and over in his head. He couldn't block it out no matter what he tried anymore than he could quit blaming himself because she'd been on the phone with him when it happened. Asking what he wanted her to pick up for dinner. He heard the voices downstairs that told him people were there, maybe even his brothers coming home since their parents had called to tell them what had happened once it was obvious that he wasn't going to. That he couldn't because he just didn't know how to tell anybody without breaking completely.
He heard the door open and he turned halfway to face the door, expecting it to be either Cole or Gage come to see him. But it wasn't. It was Caelee and he couldn't help the relief that showed on his face at seeing her. She was his best friend outside of his brothers and on top of that she'd been Sandra's best friend. If anybody could come anywhere close to understanding how he felt it was Caelee and a part of him realized that was what he needed.
"Caelee..." he said quietly. "I wanted...I didn't know how to...I'm sorry," he said his voice trailing off to almost a whisper as he tried to figure out how to tell her what he wanted to say. Finally he just settled for rolling the rest of the way over and holding his arms out to her as the tears started again, hoping she'd understand that right then he needed to just hold her and cry for a little while with somebody who understood.