After Annie: A Novel

It is now two months after Annie’s death, and although it’s springtime, the cold weather lingers. Bill has resumed working because he fears that people in town are concerned about his mental health. He keeps telling himself to get it together, but whenever he thinks he is getting a grip on things, memories of Annie sink him back into despair. He feels her loss viscerally as a pain in his chest. Bill knows that his kids are struggling but cannot manage to be emotionally present for them. He uses work as an excuse to escape the house, where everything reminds him of Annie. Bill keeps Annie’s phone turned on, and although she has many messages, he hasn’t checked them. Dora warns Bill that every woman in town will begin calling him for plumbing problems that don’t exist, but Bill hopes that she is wrong because he still identifies himself as belonging to Annie. Dora tries to push Bill to clean out Annie’s closet, but he refuses. He doesn’t want to forget Annie because “forgetting [feels] like treason” (83).

Bill wakes up early to respond to a call at Karen Feeney’s home and asks