True Colors: A Novel

Vivi Ann drives to Luke’s house looking for him, but he isn’t there. When she heads back to Water’s Edge, she finds paramedics taking a bruised and beaten Dallas away in an ambulance. Inside his cabin, Luke, Winona, and Henry are waiting for her; Henry slaps her, telling her to be at the Oyster Days parade the next day and never to disgrace him again.

Vivi Ann spends a long time debating what to do. In the morning, she watches her father leave for the parade and then heads to the hospital. Dallas tells her to leave, but when she asks him what her favorite ice cream flavor is, he correctly guesses vanilla. Vivi Ann asks Dallas to marry her.

Aurora hears about Luke beating up Dallas and confronts Winona as she is heading to the parade. Aurora is shocked to learn about Vivi Ann’s affair—even more so when she discovers Winona told Luke about it. The sisters and Henry wait for Vivi Ann to turn up at the parade, but she never does. Afterward, Winona heads over to Luke’s to console him; however, Luke rebuffs Winona, bitterly questioning why she told him about Vivi Ann and Dallas at all.