William—suffering the trials of a modern-day Job—was also dealing with the fact that his wife of nearly twenty-five years left him. Out of the blue, she flew to New York, met a bunch of people and ultimately their daughter, came home and confronted him, and then, whoosh, she too moved to New York. His sister and his daughter were gay and Mary, the former, just got married and Suzanne, the latter, was engaged to a woman.
Thus, when people at the party asked, “Where’s Kate?” William punted, “something came up and she couldn’t make it,” and when people asked him about Suzanne he lied and said that she was happy at school and loved working for a New York firm after completing her second year.