Page 28 of My Apocalypse Mountain Man

He kisses the top of my head. "Glad it was me."

"So what now?" I ask. "We just keep doing this? Building the network, helping settlements, living our life up here?"

"You make it sound boring."

"I make it sound perfect."

"What if it gets bigger? The network, I mean. What if more settlements want to join?"

I shrug. "Then we figure it out. Set some boundaries maybe, make sure it stays manageable. But we do it together, on our terms."

"Our terms," he agrees.

The radio crackles inside with Tom's voice requesting a non-urgent check-in. Kole groans but doesn't move.

"You going to get that?" I ask.

"In a minute. Right now, I'm busy."

"Busy doing what?"

"Sitting with my wife. Watching the sunset. Being grateful for every single day I get to spend with her."

"That's very romantic, Mr. Mountain Man."

"I have my moments."

"That you do."

We sit in comfortable silence, watching the sun sink below the mountains. Tomorrow, the network will need us. There will be problems to solve, people to help, threats to monitor. But tonight, we're just two people who found each other in the ruins of the world and decided to stay.

The apocalypse gave us each other.

Everything else is just details.