Help me identify a short story

Cafe Society
1

I remember this story making a big impression on me, but apparently not enough to remember the title after all these years. Here’s what I remember (or think I remember) about it:

  1. The author might be Dan Simmons.
  2. I read it in an anthology, I think of horror (or at least creepy) stories, probably at least 20 years ago.
  3. The plot involves a man whose wife is hit by a bus and killed while she’s out running errands to get stuff for the man’s birthday. The man finds out, comes home from work and finds the house full of balloons she’s blown up for his party. Unable to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, he runs water in the bathtub, slits his wrists, and sets about opening each of the balloons and breathing in the last of his wife’s breath as he dies.

Sound familiar?

Thanks in advance.

2

I don’t know what the story is, but I now know that I want to read it if someone identifies it! Thanks!

3

I found it. I thought the book was buried in my storage locker, but turns out it wasn’t. The story is called “Julia’s Touch,” and it’s not by Dan Simmons, but David T. Connolly. It’s in a collection called “Darker Masques.”

4

Well, thank you. I’ll have to track down a copy.