Contents
2: The Funeral
Overview
January recalls her father’s funeral, where Sonya, his longtime lover, gives her a key to a Lake Michigan house and a delayed birthday letter, shattering January’s belief in happy endings. Back at the lake, deadline anxiety mounts. A late-night noise dispute with neighbor Augustus Everett turns unexpectedly human when he ends the party for her.
Summary
January sits down to write but admits her belief in happy endings died with her father. She flashes back to his funeral, recalling a white-haired stranger who approaches her in the church foyer. The woman, Sonya, tearfully claims to be an old friend, then gives January a key and an envelope from her father meant for her birthday.
January’s mother recognizes Sonya and reacts with fury, confirming the affair. January realizes her mother knew, and that her father kept a second home by Lake Michigan. The revelation reframes cherished memories, deepening January’s grief and disillusionment.
Back in the present, January opens an email from her agent, Anya, pushing for the overdue manuscript. Overwhelmed, she drinks and decides to sleep on the couch, avoiding the bedrooms tied to her father’s affair. Memories of childhood boat trips swell the ache she’s trying to suppress.
After midnight, loud music jolts January awake. She fails to get anyone to answer the neighbor’s doorbell and retreats to her deck, where she discovers the neighbor sitting in the dark. They trade barbs about the party noise and her earlier outburst, and January grudgingly sees he has a point about a Saturday-night crowd.
As the music surges again, January’s defensiveness collapses into raw exhaustion: “I’m so tired.” The neighbor stiffly offers to end the party and goes inside, greeted by a chorus of “Everett!” Moments later, the music finally stops, leaving January with a complicated first impression of the man next door.
Who Appears
- January AndrewsProtagonist; recalls her father’s funeral, receives evidence of his affair, struggles to write, confronts noisy neighbor.
- SonyaHer father’s longtime lover; gives January a house key and delayed birthday letter at the funeral.
- January’s motherRecognizes Sonya at the funeral, reacting with anger, confirming knowledge of the affair.
- January’s fatherDeceased; his secret relationship and second home upend January’s faith in happy endings.
- AnyaJanuary’s supportive but firm agent; pushes for the overdue manuscript and summer deadline.
- Augustus EverettNeighbor hosting a loud party; after January’s vulnerable admission, he ends it.
- JacquesJanuary’s ex; referenced as distant and avoidant during her emotional decline.