Chapter 11: Margaret's Husband, Donnie, Spoken Aloud for the First Time

The cup did not shatter.

That was the thing about it — there was no drama to retrieve meaning from, no satisfying crash of porcelain that might have excused the sound she made immediately afterward. The cup simply left Margaret's hand between the counter and the drying rack, dropped four inches onto the rubber mat below, and bounced once with a dull, undignified thud. The sound it made was almost nothing. The word she said was barely louder.

"Donnie."