Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
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.
Which reminded her to take another bite of hers. After swallowing it down, she said, “But I’m also terrified.” She hadn’t admitted that to anyone, but it wasn’t hard to tell Danny—he’d known her through some of the toughest years of her life, when growth spurts messed with the fit of her prostheses and left her struggling.
“What Posey’s dealing with now? It could be my future too.” That was what people didn’t realize—being fitted with the perfect prosthesis and learning to use it wasn’t the end of the story. “I’ve always known that complications could happen. My doctors prepared me. But I’ve become so used to living my life as I want. I hate the idea that it could be ripped out of my control all over again.”
She stuffed the rest of the cookie into her mouth before she could start crying. She felt awful for her pity party when she’d suffered a minor injury in comparison to her friend and mentor’s months-long ordeal to get back on her feet, but she couldn’t stop the panic that fluttered inside her.
“I should probably say something uplifting about how I know you’ll conquer all obstacles, blah blah,” Danny said. “But we both know that would be soft-pedaling it. Injuries can end our careers. Lifetime of dreaming and working toward a single goal, and it’s all over in a heartbeat.”
Danny, she thought, had witnessed that firsthand.
It was as if he’d read her mind, because he said, “I mean, Gabe came out of his injury swinging, but it wasn’t his choice to take another path. Not before the injury. We’re at the mercy of our bodies, and it’s fucking scary.”
She glanced at him, picking up an edge in his voice. “Danny? Has something happened?” His form on the field had suffered a few glitches of late; he remained brilliant but wasn’t the blazing star people expected.
Catie had thought nothing of it, figured he was just having a few off games. Happened to everyone. And Danny at his worst was better than most players at their best. The one thing she hadn’t considered was that he might be struggling with an unseen physical issue. “Are you dealing with an injury?”
16
ONE NIGHT ONLY
Danny shook his head. “A couple of the other guys just got benched for concussion-related problems and at least one might not be allowed back.” He exhaled. “It’s just… I feel like we only have a finite time to make our mark, and then it’s all over.”
He got it, at least when it came to the sporting side of things.
Catie’s eyes went to the wheelchair she kept at this apartment. “I don’t want to be in a chair,” she said quietly. “Not every amputee can or even wants to use prostheses, and I’m all for having as many mobility options as possible.” She never pushed prosthetic limbs on children or adults who didn’t want them.
“All I want is for everyone to have a choice—and my choice was to become a full-time user of prosthetic legs and then a competitive runner.” She squeezed her fingers into her palms, her shoulders tight and stomach churning. “I sweated blood to learn to walk again, run again, went through endless prosthetic fittings, put up with blisters, pressure wounds, and more to get to this point. The idea that I could lose it all… It makes me so angry.”