“No reason.” If there was one thing growing up an amputee had taught her, it was that shallow people were shallow. There was no great mystery. That’s who they were and that’s who they’d always be. She was never going to tie herself in knots because a few strangers had decided she wasn’t up to Danny’s level.

She’d never understood what that even meant. People were either into each other or they weren’t. And Danny was into her. She knew that beyond any doubt—because he’d made sure she had no doubts.

“You’re pretty amazing, you know that?” she said softly.

A sudden heat in his cheeks, but his grin widened. “Well, I try not to toot my own horn, but…” Brushing his nails against his T-shirt, he then lifted them to his mouth and blew them off.

Laughing because that hadn’t been so hard, or so scary, she nodded at the menu. “You figure it out?”

“No freaking idea.” He scowled at his phone. “I think I got scammed the $4.99 I paid for this translation app.”

A server appeared at their side, reeling off something in Mandarin. Catie glanced at Danny. He looked at her. Then the two of them began pointing at things at random on the menu. They’d already figured out that the cost of eating out was incredibly cheap in comparison to home, so it wouldn’t break the bank. And from the size of the dishes on the tables around them, they could expect small portion sizes.

They were right. And wrong.

Catie’s eyes went huge as, a relatively short time later, the server rolled over a cart on which sat a huge bowl surrounded by lots of smaller bowls, all full of food, and started putting everything on the table one by one. She gave them a beaming smile afterward, said something else, then left.

Catie looked at Danny, raised an eyebrow. He shrugged.

And they dove in, trying one thing at a time and giving each other their opinions. Catie loved a red cabbage dish while Danny couldn’t stand it. He, meanwhile, was intrigued by a dumpling so delicious he took another one apart in an attempt to divine its secrets.

The bowl in the center turned out to be soup, of which they both put away a big helping each.

As a result of their feast, they were stuffed by the time they left the restaurant. “How are your legs?” Danny asked, one arm around her shoulders.

“Good after that rest.”

This far from the tourist areas, there were no hawkers, no trinket stalls, just people going about their day—or night. The tai chi group was gone, but in its place was a group learning to salsa.