True Colors

by Kristin Hannah

What is passion? It is surely the becoming of a person. . . . In passion, the body and the spirit seek expression . . . The more extreme and the more expressed that passion is, the more unbearable does life seem without it. It reminds us that if passion dies or is denied, we are partly dead and that soon, come what may, we will be wholly

“Sometimes you have to go looking for your life.”

Everything came easily to Vivi Ann; love most of all.

But how could you tell a good man that you needed him to be a little bad?

Real

All her life she’d pretended to be wild, while really she’d been safe and protected.

“My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys,” and Vivi Ann laughed and thought: That will be our song.

In worn jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt, Vivi Ann managed to be so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her, and if she was sunlight, all glittering and golden, Dallas was shadow, cool and dark.

“The Dance” played on the jukebox.

“Maybe you can find a nice skinny girl there,”

Please be so ffr

“And that’s what I’m going to teach you in the end. Cynicism. When this thing is over you won’t know what to believe so you’ll believe in nothing. That will have been my gift to you.”

At that, Dallas broke. She saw it as clearly as if an arm had simply been snapped off or his spine had cracked. “Get me out of here, Roy,” he said. And then he was gone.

Cryyiinngggg

“Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.”

The guard opened the door and led Dallas out. And when she looked down, she saw the photograph of Noah still on the table, and she knew he had given up.

My hearrrtttttttttt

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. —ATTICUS FINCH, FROM HARPER LEE’S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

If you pretended long enough and hard enough that everything was fine, in time it could come to be true, or nearly so.

Everyone says I have my mom’s eyes, but if I ever look that sad I’m gonna blow my brains out.

Trends came and went, the words changed with the generations, but how girls expressed themselves remained the same: with bright colors and glued-on glitter.

“Look, Vivi Ann,” Winona said, lowering her voice. “I don’t know about this.” “Tell her you’re scared of me, Aunt Winona,” Noah yelled. “Tell her you think I’m dangerous.”

Lmao

No wonder my mom used to take a bunch of pills to get through the day.

Lmao

How it had felt to be alive, a being made of sunlight instead of shadow.

But suddenly I thought of him as a guy who’d taken his wife here, to the exact spot I had picked for my girl, and I was scared. What if he wasn’t an animal? What if he was just a guy who got spooked one day and did something stupid?

don’t even know how to put it—I sat there by the fire, totally tripping, waiting to get home so I could finally ask my mom who the hell Dallas Raintree was.

so good

I think your dad loved me so much he forced me to let go. And after we hit that tree in Grey Park—you remember that? It scared me, what I’d almost done to you. I knew I had to move on. We had to move on. You and me.”

I thought talking about my dad would answer my questions, but all it did was make more. I kept remembering that carving in the tree. I know how he felt when he did it, so It’s like I know a part of him now and it makes me want more.

“I got to know you this summer,” he said, leaning forward. “No missed spots, you always said, no rushed jobs. Remember? You hate things that aren’t done right.”

If there was one truth Vivi Ann knew to her bones, it was that loss, like love, had a beginning but no real end. “Yes,” she lied, “I guess it will be.”

“She hasn’t rescued a horse since the day she got the divorce papers. I guess all that took a kind of optimism she doesn’t have anymore. In fact, she’s like one of those horses now; when you look her in the eye, all you see is emptiness.”

Crying

“I know you did,” Winona said. “I don’t think I realized how generous that forgiveness was.” “Until you fell in love?” Vivi Ann said, understanding now. Her sister had finally fallen in love, and with that emotion came a better understanding of how deeply Vivi Ann had been hurt.

“You forget, Winona. I always knew it wasn’t my DNA.” The power behind those few words struck her hard, and for a moment, she truly imagined what life had been like for him all these years. An innocent man in prison. Her voice softened when she said, “I’ve already called the prosecuting attorney’s office. I’ve asked them to join me in vacating the judgment and dismissing the case.” “You’re kidding me, right?”

Now go home and take care of my family.” Then he left the room.

Screaming

Why doesn’t he move? I finally asked. Why is he so crazy? He’s spent a long time waiting for Dallas to come home. It was totally bizarre, but when she said that, it was like I already knew it, and when I looked at the horse’s face, I saw something like sadness in his eyes. That’s why he’s so banged up, Mom said quietly. It takes a toll on you, waiting. I said I wish I knew how to stop. Mom said me, too, little man. Me, too.

Luke was like a forbidden pool in a fairy tale; it might be beautiful, but there was danger beneath the surface of the water.

Stfu spring court

“You don’t know about too late. If there’s even a chance, Win, you take it. For all the pain with Dallas, I thank God I loved him.”

“You’re my hero,” she said, losing it just a little. She surged forward and hugged her sister fiercely, whispering, “Thank you.” When she stepped back, they were both crying.

Me fuckin too