It had been almost a year since Tim died, and she still couldn’t do anything at all sometimes, because she was so consumed by not missing him.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: From the first chapter, Holmes demonstrates the guilt Evvie feels for not grieving her late husband. She is going through her own process of consoling herself, but she knows that this sensation is not what her peers expect of her as a recent widow.

He still woke up some days and believed for fifteen seconds or so that he had something to do, until he remembered he didn’t. The sixteenth second was a killer.
-- Narrator (chapter 3)

Importance: Dean expresses how deeply the loss of his ability to pitch affects him. He mourns the beloved life that suddenly he had to give up.

It was their deal, and it was too much, but she couldn’t tell him why, and it was just one more...
-- Narrator (chapter 6)