Catie loved cookies, but she was also an elite runner who usually only fueled her body with good, nutritious meals and snacks. One cookie binge over a weekend was a fun indulgence, but a second one? That was a sign something was very wrong.

“It’s swollen,” she said. “But I’ve had that kind of swelling before and it’s gone down overnight, so it might be all right.” A tightness to her voice.

“But?”

She put down her half-eaten cookie, reached to pick up the milk. After drinking a third of it, she put it back down. “You follow Posey online, right?”

“Sure. I met her that time she came to New Zealand, remember?” Catie had brought her friend along to a family dinner, and they’d all had a great time. “You’re talking about the issues she’s had this past year?”

Posey had been charting the issues with her residual limbs and how she could no longer wear prostheses as regularly as she’d previously done. She was in too much pain, her residual limbs prone to swelling.

Catie nodded. “She retired from professional sport on her own terms last year, so she’s zen about it, just wants the doctors to get a handle on the pain. That’s what bothers her most.”

Danny had gotten that vibe from Posey’s posts too. The former champion skier had a great off-field career as a writer and seemed to be at peace with having bowed out of her chosen sport at the top of her game. But she was also Catie’s senior by a decade. “She’s your mentor, right?”

Catie nodded. “She was a shining star when I met her as a kid. At that camp in the States—she came to give us a talk, tell us about her journey. I never expected her to reply to the letters I sent her afterward, but she did. I’ve always felt so lucky that I had someone like her to help guide me.”

Setting aside the plate of cookies, she squeezed the duvet in her hands. “She was invincible, you know? All the things people said dual lower-limb amputees couldn’t do? She did them, and then she did more.”

Climbing mountains, diving out of planes, going scuba diving, Posey had grinned her way through each adventure while an excited young Catie followed along, hanging out for the next update.

I’m going to do that one day, she’d thought with each exploit. And she had. She’d also created her own adventures, conquered her own obstacles. But Posey… Posey had always been her benchmark. “Even now, she’s being so amazing. Just going with the flow, this calm to her that’s bone deep.”

Danny didn’t interrupt, instead just eating one of his heavenly cookies.