“That’s not how it works, hotshot.” She poked him in the side because the two of them, they messed with each other. It was their normal. “It’s not a misery Olympics. Things can both suck in different ways.”

He glared at her while rubbing his side. “What? You sharpen your claws now?”

She waggled her pretty polished nails at him. “What do you care? Your body’s like stone.” She’d meant that to be some kind of insult, but it didn’t come out quite that way.

Thankfully, Danny was too distracted to cotton on to the fact she’d accidentally complimented him. “Where did you learn that? What you said? Therapy?”

“Nah, that was courtesy of another kid I met on the ward. Cillian, one of the counselors at my camp. You remember?”

“Yeah, sure. He gave that talk about how he lost three limbs because of a blood infection.”

“That’s him.” She hitched herself up to sit on the counter. “Anyway, I met him during rehab, and I felt bad talking about my own stuff because at least I still had both arms. But Cill, he’s a true farmer’s son—or as he’d put it, blunt as a rusty axe.

“He basically said, ‘You lost two legs, Catie, and you’re a runner. That sucks. I’m a future farmer who lost two legs and an arm and that sucks too. And that other kid we met had cancer that might come back and it already took his left leg. That sucks too. It all sucks. It’s not like a competition.’”

She smiled. “He’s so wise I always tell him he should’ve been a monk, meditating on the meaning of life. He points out that monks don’t have sex and he likes to have lots of sex, thank you very much.”

A flicker in Danny’s eyes she couldn’t quite read before he nodded. “He’s right. It sucks. I just… I mean, a stranger almost took away everything I value on a whim. It unsettles me. Like nothing I do matters. I know that’s BS thinking, but it keeps going around and around in my head.”

“Trauma.” Catie patted his shoulder. “Take my advice and attend that session with the headshrinker. It feels super awkward talking to a stranger about things at first, but if they’re good, it starts to feel better after a while. And if they’re bad, you find someone new. Because you gotta talk it out, Danny, or it will eat you up.”

Catie’s words rang in Danny’s head as he set himself up for the remote session late that afternoon. The two of them hadn’t spoken much after lunch, both busy with their own things. But he knew she was right. Which was why he didn’t try to bullshit the doctor. He cooperated fully, and it turned out the guy was good.