Henry steps out from the curtain. Suzanne leaves the podium and turns toward him and they meet halfway, and with the applause in the background, he gives her a hug before he steps up to the podium with his book in his hand.
The applause stops. The fecundity of the moment confronts him, one he has learned to enjoy. Henry adjusts the microphone.
Audiences are enormously generous and patient, which is something that takes time to learn. Henry peers out into the crowd. Three hundred or so, stacked on top of one another, moving up and away from him to the back of the room.
His eyes move from row to row and then he sees Margot, eight rows or so back, and next to her, of course, is her son—his son, he should say—a senior now and an English major. Henry is seeing him in person for only the second time, but that does not matter to him at all.
Henry looks right at Alex, at his soft brown eyes, which he can see even from here. Alex’s eyes are mirrors; his chin is upturned and he is looking, naturally, at Henry. Everyone is looking at Henry, but the crowd has shrunk to one.
“‘Native Son,’” Henry says, and he begins to read.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I began this novel on a hot summer afternoon in 2014, sitting on the deck of a small lake cabin in northern Vermont and watching a pair of loons dive under the clear, cool water. I finished it six months later over lunch at Three Penny Taproom, and in between, I wrote it in all kinds of places. It was the fastest, by far, I have ever completed a novel, and I can say now that I wrote it with a wind at my back because of the support of so many people.
John Cheever once said that writing is not a competitive sport, which is true, but publishing is a team one. My gratitude begins with everyone at Thomas Dunne Books, starting with Tom himself. Every writer should be fortunate enough to have such a champion. I want to thank Pete Wolverton for his insight and support of this book from the beginning. And, of course, my talented, hardworking, and brilliant editor, Anne Brewer, who helped this novel sing a little more every step of the way.
I want to thank my agent, Marly Rusoff, who sets the standard for representation and to whom I am so grateful for her wisdom, counsel, and advocacy.
I want to thank the Vermont College of Fine Arts community for all your support as colleagues and friends, and allowing me to be an artist as well as your president.
I want to thank my family, my parents, my brothers and sisters, and Tia and my daughter, Sarah, for all your support of my work.
While this is not an autobiographical novel by any measure and is entirely a work of fiction, one of the pleasures of writing it was revisiting my own path toward becoming a writer, those first tentative and awkward steps I took, like Henry, many years ago. And so I want to thank, as well, those early teachers of mine: Jon Maney, Mary Caponegro, and the late Deborah Tall, who once pulled me aside and told me I had the talent to do this mysterious thing, and that made all the difference to a twenty-one-year-old writer. I also want to thank Deborah’s husband, the poet David Weiss, who, with enormous kindness and generosity, once bailed me out of a thicket of trouble. I haven’t forgotten.
ALSO BY THOMAS CHRISTOPHER GREENE
The Headmaster’s Wife
Envious Moon
I’ll Never Be Long Gone
Mirror Lake
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas Christopher Greene is the author of four previous novels: Mirror Lake, I’ll Never Be Long Gone, Envious Moon, and The Headmaster’s Wife. His fiction has been translated into thirteen languages. In 2008, Tom founded Vermont College of Fine Arts, a top graduate fine arts college, making him the youngest college president in the country at the time. He lives and works in Vermont. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraphs
Henry, 2012
Margot, 2012
Henry, 2012
Margot, 2012
Henry, 1991
Margot, 1991
Henry, 1991
Margot, 2012
Henry, 2012
Margot, 1991
Henry, 1991
Margot, 1991
Henry, 1991
Margot, 1991
Henry, 2012
Margot, 2012
Henry, 1991
Margot, 1991
Henry, 2012
Margot, 2012
Henry, 1991
Henry, 1991
Margot, 1991
Henry, 1991
Margot, 1991
Henry, 2012
Margot, 2012
Henry, 2012
Margot, 2012
Henry, 2012
Margot, 2012
Henry, 2012
Margot, 2012
Henry, 2012
Margot, 2012
Henry, 2012
Acknowledgments
Also by Thomas Christopher Greene
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
IF I FORGET YOU. Copyright © 2016 by Thomas Christopher Greene. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Michael Storrings
Cover photograph © Patrick Batchelder / Alamy Stock Photo
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Greene, Thomas Christopher, 1968– author.
Title: If I forget you: a novel / Thomas Christopher Greene.
Description: First edition. | New York: Thomas Dunne Books/ St. Martin’s Press, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015051256 | ISBN 9781250072788 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781466884656 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Man-woman relationships—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Contemporary Women. | FICTION / Literary. | GSAFD: Love stories.
Classification: LCC PS3607.R453 I35 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015051256
e-ISBN 9781466884656
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First Edition: June 2016
If I Forget You Page 18