Page 124 of Chasing Olivia (Trace + Olivia 2)

My heart hurt as it broke. This wasn’t fair. Why did Gramps have to die? He didn’t deserve this. He was a good man, better than most people. Why did he have to get sick and suffer like this?

“I didn’t get to say goodbye,” my voice was muffled against his chest.

“There’s still time,” he murmured, his lips brushing against the top of my head.

“There is?” I tilted my head back, looking at him with wide eyes, scared to hope.

“That was my mom,” he wiped away his tears with one hand. “Gramps is in the hospital…things are bad, Olivia. Real bad. He only has a few days left.”

“We’re not going to make it back in time, are we?” I began to cry harder.

“I’m going to make sure we’re there,” he took my face between his hands. “My mom’s getting us plane tickets now. I’ll pay someone to drive the car back to me.”

His words relieved me. We’d get to see Gramps again. There was so much I wanted to tell him…but none of it mattered. All I wanted to do was hug him.

“We need to pack,” Trace whispered, “and get to the airport.”

I nodded. “You get our stuff from the laundry room and I’ll head upstairs and get a head start there.”

He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me close. “I need you,” he said softly.

I realized then, that sometimes those words were even more powerful than I love you.

Trace’s leg bounced up and down restlessly as we waited to board the plane. I kind of wished I had some drugs to knock him out with. He was that worked up.

“Why aren’t they boarding yet?” He asked through gritted teeth.

“I don’t know,” I placed my hand on his knee to stop his shaking. “We still have a while until we’re supposed to leave.”

He buried his face in his hands and growled, causing more than one person to look our way. “God,” he groaned. “I should be there! Not here!”

I went to place my hand on his back, but he stood abruptly, pacing in front of the seats.

“Trace, you need to calm down. This isn’t solving anything,” I said in as soothing of a voice as I could manage. I was stressed and it was giving me a tension headache. It wouldn’t be long before I snapped at him and he didn’t need me giving him a hard time right now. What we needed was each other.

He paced back and forth in front of me a few more times before sitting down. He leaned his head back and stared at the plain white ceiling of the airport.

“This isn’t fucking fair,” he snapped.

“I know it’s not,” I took a deep breath, fighting tears as images of Gramps filled my mind. “But it’s life and life is never fair.”

“I feel like I need to smoke or something,” Trace announced. “And I don’t even smoke. I just…”

“You need something to take your mind off what’s happening. I understand,” I crossed my legs.

“What I need is to be there,” he whispered. “I should have never talked you into that fucking road trip. But I needed it…you know?” He waited for me to nod before he continued. “And I wanted you to meet your grandparents.”

“Trace,” I placed my hand over his where it rested on his leg, “we can’t dwell on the things we wish we could change. Besides, would you really want to undo our whole trip? We had some really great times.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” he admitted.

I cupped his cheek in my hand. “We’re going to get there in time.”

“How do you know?” He asked, tears swimming in his eyes.

“Because, he’s a Wentworth,” I forced a smile, repeating the words Trace told me often, “and he’s stubborn. He’s going to wait to say goodbye.”

“You’re right,” he forced a small smile.