And so after a while she had sat up and he had said, "Stay, Olive." But she did not stay. "Call me," he said. "I would like it if you called me." She had not called. He could call her if he wanted to. And he had not called [...] He had sent one email with a bunch of question marks in the subject line and nothing more. That was an email? Olive didn't think so.

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

he kept thinking of his wife, Betsy, and he wanted to howl. He understood only this: that he deserved all of it. He deserved the fact that right now he wore a pad in his underwear because of prostate surgery, he deserved it; he deserved his daughter not wanting to speak to him because for years he had not wanted to speak to her - she was gay; she was a gay woman, and this still made a small wave of uneasiness move through him. Betsy, though, did not deserve to be dead. He deserved to be dead, but Betsy did not deserve that status [...] 

When his wife was dying, she was the one who was furious. She said, "I hate you." And he said, " I don't blame you." She said, "Oh, stop it." But he had meant it - how could he blame her? He could not blame her. And the last thing she said to him was: "I hate you because I'm going to die and you're going to live."

As he glanced up a seagull, he thought, But I'm not living, Betsy. What a terrible joke it has been. 

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

"Listen, Cassie," Jack said, "I just wanted to say I know I'm a shit. I know that. Just so you know. I know that I'm a shit.

[...] "What am I supposed to say?"

"Nothing," he answered agreeably. "Nothing to say to that. But I just wanted you to know I know."

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

There were people on the sidewalks, many were young people with kids or strollers, and they all seemed to be talking to one another. This fact impressed him. How easily they took this for granted, to be with one another, to be talking! 

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)