There’s only two times in a restaurant: before and after.
-- Christopher (chapter 1 paragraph 29)

Importance: Christopher tells Marie about the restaurant business, having learned that it is her first job in the industry. He knows that watching the clock won’t help her to complete her shift and warns her that once she is there, the only concern she should have is the job until she isn’t there anymore. From the time she punches in, she is theirs.

If I had known whose it was I would have had it.
-- Marie. (chapter 2 paragraph 43)

Importance: Marie has no idea who the father of her second child is, and without certain knowledge that it was either her husband or Damon, she didn’t want to risk having the child, although it seems impossible that if she had the child she wouldn’t have loved it regardless of who the father was, and if not her, her husband would have...