Trace was glad that she hadn't interrupted him, he didn't think he could have started talking again if she had. But she'd waited until he was finished pouring out what he wanted to say. And then she'd just held him closer giving him what he couldn't put in words to ask for: comfort. His parents had tried but they'd learned years ago with him that he wouldn't take anything until he was ready for it and he was willing to bet that his brothers would try in their own ways but he wasn't ready for that yet. For them yet. It was enough for now just knowing they'd come home.
"I want it to be a dream. I want to wake up from it and I can't. And I know that it's my fault. If she hadn't been on the phone with me, she wouldn't have been distracted and she wouldn't be gone," he told her, his voice fading to a whisper as he got to the end. He hadn't told anybody that he was blaming himself but this was Caelee. He couldn't keep things from her. Especially not this.