It turned out the prize for winning the trivia contest was a dozen donuts for each team member, and by the time Bob and Laura climbed into his truck to drive home, both of them were as giddy as squirrels in a Snickers factory. The contest had come down to a final question about who was the very first player drafted in the very first NFL draft, and miraculously Laura had known the answer.

Bob was still laughing about it. “How on earth you remembered Jay Berwanger, I have no idea. I’ve never even heard of him.”

“No one has, really,” said Laura, shaking her head. “He didn’t end up signing a contract and became a foam rubber salesman instead.”

“You are making that up.” Bob stared at her as he turned the key to start the engine.

“Nope,” said Laura. “My grandma mentioned it all the time, because she’s fond of missed-opportunity stories.”

Bob pulled out into traffic. “Are there lots of those?”

Laura nodded. “Sadly, yes.” She fell silent. “I think I’m having a sugar crash. Maybe the fifth donut was a mistake.” For once she wasn’t nervous to be in a car, but getting mildly drunk and stuffing herself with processed sugar probably wasn’t an excellent long-term coping strategy. On the one hand she was relieved to be calm, and on the other she knew from experience that the occasional easy day doesn’t mean the bad days are over. Recovery isn’t that linear, any more than life is.

Bob laughed. “They were really good donuts, and you did win.”

Laura smiled. “Nina was really pleased, wasn’t she?”

“I think so,” he replied. “She was very subtle about it, though.”

Nina had literally leapt on the table and waved her fists at poor Victorious Secret, who hadn’t taken their loss very well. They’d answered a layup question (“What has the Kepler telescope found more of than any other telescope?” Answer: exoplanets.) that had Nina crying foul because, as she furiously demanded, on what exoplanet was that a trivia question, and they thought they had it in the bag. But no, Laura had come through in the clutch and Nina was triumphant. She’d invited everyone back to her place for ice cream, but Laura had had enough sugar for one night, and Bob offered to drive her home. They both had to get up early, and to be honest, Nina wasn’t sure her apartment would hold everyone anyway, so she’d hugged them both several times, very enthusiastically, and waved them off.

Laura giggled. “Nina’s pretty wild. I like her, though. I wish I was more like that.”

Bob shot her a look, his eyebrows drawn. “Like what?”

“Cooler, smarter. More . . . unusual.” Laura shrugged, and looked out of the window, feeling her energy dissipating. “I’m very normal. There’s nothing special about me.”