James and Nikole had known each other since they were kids. When the surgery on his knee failed, his college sweetheart hitched herself quickly to another athlete. It was his friend Nikole who came to see him at his mother’s house, who brought him books and asked him what he wanted to do with his life now. Nikole could always make him laugh—hiding under the porch together as kids doing impressions of their fathers working the grill, tempting the tuxedoed servers to dance at the Stabler holiday party. Nikole hadn’t been up for the last party, so James had skipped it, too, because he’d already spent too many nights away from her and what fun would it be anyway without her?

It was perverse, the way the universe had dumped so much cruelty on one couple. Nikole had been diagnosed when she was pregnant with their youngest. The first doctor had advised them to terminate, but with Zanne’s help they’d found a specialist who would treat her during the pregnancy. Nikole had a lumpectomy in her first trimester and chemotherapy in the second and third. The bright side of being triple-negative was that the drugs wouldn’t hurt the baby and little Jayson was safely delivered. Nikole’s mother moved in to help with the girls, and the irony of his mother-in-law shepherding his children to their ballet and piano classes while James shepherded the Stablers to their appointments was too great to be missed. When Jayson turned five last year, the family celebrated Nikole’s remission with a trip to Africa. Ted had asked the travel assistants to book them into the hotel on the rim of Lake Victoria where Tony Blair, Charlie Rose, and Beyónce had all stayed. It was an unusual extravagance—and a sign of Ted’s favor—that James didn’t talk about much, except to cite surprising facts about the animals they followed on safari, hippos that could hold their breath for five minutes, ostriches strong enough to kick a grown man to death.

Now the cancer was back. The odds of triple-negative breast cancer recurring after this long were as low as the odds of getting cancer twice. Still, if anyone had a chance, it was James’s wife. Ted would make sure of it.

Zanne knew Ted would promise to help them. That promise would transform into a project, with goals and action items and a deadline, which Zanne would add to the spreadsheet. Zanne would assign the project to herself—what project could be more special?—and she would brief Ted on the steps she took on his behalf. He would help his oldest employee by drafting another one into service, loaning her time and energy. She would be Ted’s gift to James, as she had been so many times before to friends, family, business colleagues, fellow parents, coaches and teachers.

The phone rang, an unfamiliar local cell phone number. Zanne answered.