"It's not, Trace. This is NOT your fault." Caelee's voice managed to be soft and firm at the same time. She spoke barely loud enough to be heard and yet there was a fierceness to her words that practically dared him to argue with her. Or that suggested arguing would be futile. Caelee knew how he felt. She understood why he felt that way. There was no way in hell that she was going to let him keep blaming himself, though.
They were both pretty stubborn, but this was one thing Caelee was pretty sure she could out-stubborn him on. "She wouldn't want you to blame yourself," she added, a little more gently. A part of her knew she wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise if he really wanted to believe this was his fault, but honestly, there wasn't anyone they could really blame here. It was an accident and even though it might feel better to be angry at someone for it, Caelee couldn't be mad at Trace. She couldn't be made at Sandra, either, no matter how much she wanted to be. Maybe the anger would come, eventually, but right now she couldn't make herself feel it.