Who is Sloan Rankin from My Year of Meats and what is their importance?

Sloan Rankin is a musician who has his own jazz band and also provides soundtrack music for the movie industry. Jane is given Sloan's name from a friend and they begin talking to one another over the phone. This leads to faxes and long, late night conversations. Eventually Sloan comes to one of the motels where Jane is staying with the My American Wife! crew. Sloan and Jane become lovers but Sloan implies to Jane that it is only casual and he has no intention of making a commitment to her. When Jane becomes pregnant, she does not give Sloan a chance to express his desire to share in the pregnancy with her. However, Jane and Sloan continuously find their way back to each other through the struggle of the pregnancy and the subsequent loss.