In Chap­ter 169 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Char­lotte finds her­self sort­ing through a col­lec­tion of recipes her moth­er left behind, a process that elic­its reflec­tions on her past and the pres­ence of Misty, who seems to haunt her with mem­o­ries. Patch, stand­ing at the counter, attempts to digest the unusu­al recipe they are exper­i­ment­ing with, which involves bak­ing ice cream—a bizarre cre­ation that ulti­mate­ly dis­ap­points with its taste. As they eat the charred rem­nants of their culi­nary endeav­or, they humor­ous­ly con­tem­plate the idea of con­fin­ing the recipes to the base­ment for safe­keep­ing.

Patch takes Char­lotte to the base­ment, reveal­ing walls adorned with sketch­es, paint­ings, and frag­ments of her father’s life—a tes­ta­ment to his mad­ness. Char­lotte spends time explor­ing the eclec­tic col­lec­tion but soon feels weary, express­ing her desire for sleep. In her room, she lies curled away from Patch, immersed in a dim light from her star­ry ceil­ing dec­o­ra­tion. Their con­ver­sa­tion reveals an emo­tion­al under­cur­rent, with Char­lotte ref­er­enc­ing a girl pre­sum­ably tied to Patch’s past and his valiant act of sav­ing her moth­er.

Patch reflects on his actions, ques­tion­ing whether brav­ery is defined by choice or instinct. Char­lotte, acknowl­edg­ing her ini­tial desire for a father, now express­es doubt about his per­ma­nence in her life, point­ing out his lack of con­nec­tions and sta­bil­i­ty. Their dia­logue shifts to the sub­ject of Saint, the woman who shot Patch, and Sammy—the impli­ca­tions of which deep­en their con­ver­sa­tion about love and rela­tion­ships.

Char­lotte reveals a poignant truth her moth­er shared: once a heart suf­fers dam­age, it has lim­i­ta­tions on love. This res­onates with Patch, who pon­ders the emo­tion­al scars in his own life and whether he can love Char­lotte ful­ly. As she drifts off to sleep, Patch yearns to express his affec­tion but instead vows silent­ly to always be present for her, embody­ing both a promise and a deep long­ing for con­nec­tion amid their shared strug­gles.