My Terminally Ill Grandson Was Gifted His Dream Football Trip—Then a Stadium Employee Revealed He Hadn’t Been Chosen by Chance

Part 5 — Sometimes Love Has to Stand Beside You

The next morning, I packed his backpack.

Then I reached for his jacket and stopped.

“Want this in the bag?”

“Yeah.”

I put it inside and zipped the bag once.

Ethan noticed.

So did I.

For 14 years, I’d thought protecting him meant getting there first.

I tried to be first to the danger, first to the answer, and first to the decision.

But love wasn’t supposed to stand in front of him forever.

Sometimes it had to stand beside him.

When Ethan reached for the door, I didn’t move ahead.

I waited.

He looked back at me.

“Ready?”

I picked up the bag.

“Whenever you are.”