Summary

Sylvie accompanies Kent and several other basketball players as they search, through the night, for William. She remembers “how little light he’d contained” (146) when they spoke on the bench. Sylvie and the basketball players follow an ambulance to Lake Michigan, where medical personnel pull William from the water. Sylvie, claiming to be his wife, holds his hand and accompanies him to the hospital. Knowing that William is alive, she calls Julia, who refuses to join them.

Napolitano describes William walking into Lake Michigan, “yearning for water, for darkness, for quiet” (156). A week after his attempted suicide, William enters a psychiatric facility. He appreciates Sylvie’s continued attention but notes that her presence “felt complicated” (157). He tells her that he does not want Julia to visit; he asserts that he wants to “give Alice up” (158). William’s psychiatrist, Dr. Dembia, suggests that his...