In Chap­ter 114 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Nix is fish­ing at the Glenn Hook Reser­voir, bal­anc­ing his leisure with the strain of life’s com­mit­ments. As he pulls in fish like cat­fish and wall­eye, he engages in con­ver­sa­tion with Saint, who has come to see him despite her sup­posed hon­ey­moon. Their dia­logue reveals the real­i­ty behind her mar­i­tal sta­tus, explain­ing that she and Jim­my are sav­ing to ren­o­vate their home and focus on Jim­my’s impend­ing exams. Nix express­es con­cern for her and rem­i­nisces about past con­ver­sa­tions regard­ing Saint’s life choic­es and the impli­ca­tions of mar­ry­ing Jim­my, espe­cial­ly in the con­text of Joseph’s shad­ow over her life.

Saint reflects on her wed­ding night with Jim­my, recall­ing the awk­ward­ness and dis­ap­point­ment. Nix probes into her feel­ings about mar­riage, with Saint respond­ing that it’s decent. She acknowl­edges her mother’s belief in Jimmy’s goodness—or pos­si­bly the need for safe­ty against past fears relat­ed to Joseph. Their con­ver­sa­tion touch­es on themes of love and exis­tence, as Nix phi­los­o­phizes about life com­pris­ing numer­ous roles, reveal­ing his own heart­break from the dis­tant past.

They delve into heav­ier top­ics, like the weight of par­ent­hood and soci­etal views on it, which lead to a shared under­stand­ing about the chal­lenges of respon­si­bil­i­ty. Nix, hav­ing had a cher­ished dog in his youth, echoes sen­ti­ments of loss, a sen­ti­ment that res­onates beneath the sur­face. He hints at hav­ing lost heart due to past rela­tion­ships, sug­gest­ing emo­tion­al scars from expe­ri­ences that have shaped him. As they share laugh­ter and rem­i­nisc­ing about fish­ing exploits, a somber tone set­tles over them, reveal­ing the impact of their town’s his­to­ry of vio­lence and tragedy, par­tic­u­lar­ly regard­ing a local crime involv­ing Cal­lie Montrose’s father.

As day­light fades, Nix informs Saint of an FBI inquiry into her, indi­cat­ing a poten­tial shift in her cir­cum­stances. The chap­ter con­cludes with a moment of close­ness between them, high­light­ing Nix’s integri­ty and the bond they share. The evolv­ing dynam­ics of their lives against a back­drop of haunt­ing mem­o­ries and per­son­al growth is cap­tured poignant­ly in this serene yet melan­choly fish­ing trip.