<i>"...You're really good..."<br/>
<br/>
Not as good as I used to be, </i>Eddy thought ruthlessly but then forced himself to let it go. It was no use comparing himself to a past version of himself. Things change. People grow old. No one can stop the passage of time. Railing against that was an exercise in futility.<br/><br/><i>This is your reality now, Eddy, </i>as his therapist liked to say. It was a bitter pill to swallow but Eddy had to take it. Even if it was choking him.<br/><br/>"Thanks," he said again with a little more feeling. The kid was being kind and sincere, and Eddy had enough manners to recognize that. Goodness the boy was sweet, asking about Eddy's troubles when he had plenty of his own.<br/><br/>He laughed, just a huff of a sound in his throat. He shrugged again, not wanting to dismiss Luke's offer but he was afraid if he started the floodgates just might burst open. That wouldn't be fair to the boy. He had a therapist for this kind of shit, though it was somewhat telling that he was more willing to talk to a stranger than the man who was being paid to help him.<br/><br/>"Been a crappy year, to be honest," Eddy summed up, glossing over all the sharp edges of that truth.