Set in Stone

Chapter 26

There hadn't been much sleep for Grace on Monday night. It had taken ages for the interstate to be reopened, allowing the bus to continue on its way. Not only that, she had been missing Roman greatly as it was their first night apart for a long time. Lastly, Trevor had also been on her mind. He had not called her to let her know he was okay, which he had promised to do. She had been left wondering if she had typed her number into his phone incorrectly in her rush to give it to him.

"The morning after the night before," Seth commented sleepily when he wandered into the galley, making straight for the coffee machine as if he was on autopilot. Grace and Elena were the only ones sitting in the living area, with Bayley in the bathroom and Zelina still in bed.

"Yes, I hardly slept. Haven't heard anything from Trevor," Grace said. "I hope he's doing okay."

"I'm sure he is. The hospital will have given him any care he needed."

"I keep seeing the accident happening in front of me," Elena said to no one in particular. She had been the only one to actually witness it. The others had only seen the appalling aftermath.

"What even happened? There was so much destruction," Seth said.

"I don't know," Elena said, nursing a cup of coffee in her hands. "One moment everything was fine, then suddenly there was chaos everywhere. I'm glad I reacted quickly enough to avoid the car I swerved around."

"You did great," Grace said with a reassuring smile.

"If I had hit a car at that speed, I would have killed someone. Already three people dead," Elena said, her choice of English words not quite perfect, as was sometimes still the case despite Bayley helping her to have a better grasp of the language.

Three people dead, twenty injured, Grace recalled from a news article she had read. It could have been worse. Trevor, for one, could easily have been killed. It was something of a miracle that he had survived a shipping container pretty much flattening his car.

Grace's phone started ringing. She took it out of her pocket and saw Roman's name on the display. They had talked the previous night after Grace had gotten back on the bus. Understandably, Roman had been concerned for her safety first and foremost. Once she had convinced him that she was fine, she had told him Trevor's story. It had left Roman breath taken to say the least.

"Someone must have been watching over that guy," Roman had said.

That summed it up perfectly for Grace. It truly had been a remarkable escape, and she had been there to witness it first-hand. She felt sure that she would never forget it as long as she lived.

"Hey," she said warmly after answering the phone.

"Morning, babe. You okay?" Roman asked.

"I'm alright. Didn't sleep well, but I'm okay. You?"

"I'm good. I didn't sleep well either, though. I was lying there wishing I was with you, even more so after what happened. Have you heard from Trevor?"

"No," Grace reported sadly. "I really thought he would call me, but he hasn't."

"Give him some time. He went through a hell of a lot last night, and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't fully sink in until he got to the hospital. How about you? How are you dealing with it?"

Grace thought about that for a moment. "It has been on my mind a lot. I'm okay, though. I mean, I didn't see anything gruesome, I pretty much sat there holding a guy's hand for a couple of hours or however long it was. Now that I think about it, I have no idea how long I was there for. Anyway, can we talk about something else? What is your day looking like today?"