Page 78 of Beacon

“You’re not getting sappy, are you?” he murmurs against my ear.

I turn my head and beam up at him. “Never.”

It’s not the truth, and both of us know it, but he doesn’t argue with my claim.

His brown skin flickers with orange and gold from the fire. He hasn’t shaved for a while, so there’s a dark stubble of hair on his scalp. His beard, as usual, is a rumpled mess, and he dripped a few spots of grease on his shirt from the pork ribs we had for dinner.

And he’s probably the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life.

We get up early the next morning so we can see Maria and her women off. They always leave at dawn, so we have to get to their camp even earlier.

We don’t chat or distract them as they pack up. It’s a quick, efficient process. They travel light and carry everything on their backs. We stand to the side and wait until they’re ready to leave.

Then we wave and say goodbye as they file past us in typical orderly formation. I wink at Langley and squeeze Rose’s hand as she passes. The women are all in good spirits, calling out goodbyes and hopes that they’ll see us soon.

Maria follows at the very end, and she pauses to speak to us briefly.

“You know your plans yet?” she asks, uncharacteristically discreet in her inquiry.

I shake my head before Mack can feel uncomfortable. “Not yet. We’ll figure it out though.”

“Good. Don’t stay away too long.” Her mouth flicks up with an almost wistful smile. “Guess it’s time for you to settle down too.”

“It’s not the worst thing to do,” I say, squeezing Mack’s hand. “You never think about it?”

Maria stares like I’m speaking a long-dead language. “Think about what?”

“About settling down. Making yourself a home.”

She laughs, dry and relaxed and utterly confident. She shed her sling a couple of days ago, but her arm is still bandaged up. “You must be out of your minds. Why would I do that when I can have this?”

Both Mack and I are grinning at her, but she must see something else in our expressions. Because her tone sobers just slightly as she continues, “After Impact, I made a decision. If everything else is a shit show, then there’s no reason not to do exactly what I want with my life. So I did. I started traveling with a couple of friends, and we slowly added more. Until we became this.” She nods behind her at the women waiting.

She’s never been so open and vulnerable before. Not around me anyway. I’m strangely touched by her admission.

“Don’t you see?” she adds at last, just before she turnsto rejoin her crew. “There’s nothing more I would wish for. Thisismy happy ending.”

She strides away, calling out a few directions as she moves to the front. The women fall in behind her as she starts to walk.

The sun glints off her dark hair as it rises, gradually brightening until it gilds the entire group with gold light as they disappear into the horizon.

The next day, Mack and I pack up and get on the ATV to return to the cabin in The Wild.

It was Mack’s idea. It worried me when he first suggested it, until he explained he left most of his stuff there and needs to go get it eventually. And while we’re there, maybe we can figure out what we’re going to do from here.

After that’s made clear, I’m happy and excited about returning to the cabin. I miss it a little even though I only spent a couple of months there. And it will definitely help for Mack and me to have some space to be alone so we can work out what we want from the rest of our lives.

He’s not in the same place he was when I found him chopping wood two months ago. He’s not going to want to hide away forever. I’m still hesitant about cornering him with direct questions. I don’t want him to feel any pressure about our relationship—or anything else. At least nomore than he still always places on himself. But I’m hopeful. He’s going to want to go home eventually.

Maybe even soon.

We get through the border region without a single incident. We spot some guys in the distance at one point. It looks like they’re just hanging out. We ignore them and keep moving, and they don’t react to us in any way. They don’t even raise their weapons. So it’s not long before we reach the old parking lot next to the visitor’s center that leads to our trail through the Wild.

The drive is easy. Pleasant even. We don’t see anyone at all until we reach the fork. There, exactly where I found Gandalf on my first arrival, is a woman all alone, lying under a heavy tree branch.

Maybe we’ve gone soft. Gotten used to the relative safety of the farms in the past week. But Mack slows down immediately, and I jump off without hesitation so I can run over to help.

I should know better. We both should. But things have felt settled and secure since we got together for real, like the worst of the danger should be over.

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