Nell rises from bed and splashes cold water on her face. She wants days and weeks to have passed, so that she can revert to being her boring self, her wronged-by-her-partner, high-road self; she wants to build up the capital, if only in her own mind, of not being cruel.
-- Nell (Gender Studies)

Importance: In this quote, Nell is feeling guilty the morning after her sexual encounter with Luke the shuttle van driver. She knows that it was cruel to kick him out of her hotel room, that he really did nothing wrong, and that she essentially used him to make herself feel better. This does not fit with her current view of herself as the aggrieved ex-wife with a high moral standard, so she is ashamed. At the end of the story, however, she attempts to justify her behavior by noting that Luke was "a Trump supporter" (19), and therefore somehow deserved her mistreatment...