Joey was still in the bathroom, his back braced against the door, his eyes and throat raw, when his cell phone rang. He tried to ignore it, but the noise persisted. Halfheartedly, he dug the thing out of his jacket and pushed the button, wiping his face on his sleeve and trying to regulate his breathing as he did.

“H-hello?”

“Joey?”

“Sheri?” He almost dropped the phone to the ceramic floor. “Sheri, is that you?”

“No, it’s Sheri’s evil twin.”

In spite of himself, he had to laugh.

She laughed, too, a sound as soothing as it was beautiful. “You said I could call you whenever I wanted,” she said, “so I called you, partly to make sure I had the right number. I hope you don’t mind.”

“N-no. No, of course, I don’t. Are you—are you feeling all right?”

He could sense her smile when she informed him, “As a matter of fact, I’m feeling great for a change. Seeing you again has really perked up my day. Imagine that—I’ve idolized you for years, and I see you twice in the same week! How awesome is that? I mean, how many fans can get away with saying that Joey Fatone set foot in their house, let alone that they shared a clinic with him?”

Her words heartened Joey, but they twisted his gut, too, the more so as he remembered his big fight with the guys and kept hearing JC’s harsh suggestion that she could be a fake or a freeloader. He couldn’t believe that—didn’t want to believe it—but the notion kept gnawing at the back of his mind. He wondered what Sheri would think of her idols now if she knew what they thought of her, and decided he would sooner cut out his own tongue than relay such awful information. Right now, she had more than enough problems without his adding to the pile.

“That’s the real reason I called you,” Sheri continued, “to personally thank you for coming. It meant a lot to me.”

“Well, it meant a lot when you came to me,” he rejoined. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m merely returning the favor.”

“Are you okay, Joey? Your voice sounds a bit funny.”

“How funny? Like, ha-ha-funny or weird-funny?”

“You just sound like you’ve been crying. Is everything okay?”

The authentic worry in her voice brought a fresh sting to Joey’s eyes. How can she think about others so much when she has so much going on right now? It’s incredible! JC has to be wrong about her.

Aloud, he said, “I’m okay. Or I will be, eventually.” When Sheri didn’t push for further details, he said, “Hey, listen, while you’re there, why don’t we further discuss this list of yours?” With his free hand, he pulled the paper from his jeans and smoothed it out in his lap. “I know there’s a zoo not too far away.”

“I know that zoo, too. But I never got the chance to go there.”

“Well, my dear, you could get your wish of feeding a giraffe and petting a tiger there. We could do it sometime this week or the next if you’d like.”

“You sure you want to do this? I don’t want to put you at risk. I haven’t forgotten about your health.”

“I said I wanted to do this, and I will.” He smiled. “Don’t worry, Sheri, I know what I’m doing. Besides, I don’t go back for chemo for another week, anyway. So, as long as we’re both doing well, we might as well.” He chuckled at his own quip, and she joined in.

They spent the next twenty minutes making plans, taking care to include Sheri’s mother and sister in those plans, and just after Joey ended the call, a soft knock came on the bathroom door.

“Joey?” Lance’s voice called from the other side. “Joey, can I come in? Please open up.”

“Is there anyone else with you?”

“No. Just me.”

Slowly, somewhat unsteadily, Joey climbed to his feet. When he opened the door, only Lance stood there, sure enough. For that, Joey was immensely relieved; had it been JC or any of the others, he would have locked himself in the bathroom for the rest of the night. “What do you want?” he asked, brushing his wrist across his eyes one more time.

“I wanted to see if you were all right.”

Joey gave a pathetic laugh. “I think you know the answer to that.”

Lance’s cheeks reddened, but he said as meekly as ever while he rubbed his shoulder, “I—um—I know this will sound dumb, but I’m really sorry about earlier, man.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I’m sorry the other guys gave you such a rough time. Well, a rough-er time, anyway.”

“That makes two of us, my friend.”

“I can see where JC is coming from, but I can see how he’s overreacting, too. He definitely should have picked his words more carefully.”

Waving his hand dismissively, Joey muttered, “Forget it. What’s said is said. You know what, Lance? I’m just not going to fight it anymore. I’m tired of butting heads with JC, sick of every conversation between us ending in a spat. I’ve had it with Justin and Chris dodging me right and left, acting like I’ll keel over at any second. If this is how it’s going to be, if this is how they want it, fine.”

Lance said nothing to this, but Joey had never seen his face look so sad before. When Lance did speak, he said slowly, “I, uh, also wanted to talk to you about your plans for Sheri and the zoo.”

Joey looked at him in surprise and slight indignation. “Oh, you heard, huh?”

“I heard enough.”

“Well, I mean to go through with it, while Sheri and I both feel up to it. So don’t waste your breath trying to talk me out of it.”

“I wasn’t going to talk you out of it.”

Joey furrowed his brow. “Then what were you going to talk about?”

“I just wondered if you wouldn’t mind me tagging along.”

“Huh?” Now Joey stared at his mate in total bafflement. “You, tag along?”

“If that’s all right. That should give the guys at least some peace of mind, knowing I’m with you, and I’ll be there in case anything—well, just in case.” A subtle note of humor crept into Lance’s voice. “Besides, I understand Sheri’s family is made mostly of girls, and it may do you some good to have another man to, you know, help balance things out a little more.”

This time, Joey had to smile. “If Sheri and her family don’t object, I guess I can’t, either.”

“And I know a place where we can rent a special wheelchair for Sheri, and one of those vans that holds the capacity for a wheelchair. I mean, the zoo’s not exactly within walking distance, and can you imagine trying to get there with the kind of car we have right now?”

Touched by this thoughtful gesture, Joey said with an ear-to-ear grin, “Yes, I believe that would do very nicely!”

Lance’s face brightened as well. “Awesome! So, which day did you and Sheri have in mind?”