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That’s how he always appears: determined. I’d find it admirable if it weren’t so annoying.
It was boring, but now boring is a luxury, and I love every minute of it.
home is exactly where I’m headed. Turns out it only took an apocalypse to bring me back.
A reminder that nature is far more relentless than a city will ever be.
don’t care if you’re fifty. You’ll always be my daughter, so I’ll always take care of you.”
As they say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em and then beat their ass later . . . or something like that.
Loss happens in an instant, but it lasts a lifetime.” He nods in agreement. “A piece of my heart aches. It always does. Sometimes the pain is sharp and debilitating. Other times, it’s a dull twinge I’ve learned to live with.”
I’ve never seen him scared before, and for some reason, all I want to do is be the one who makes him fearless.
I notice the worry lines on his face, and my smile fades. My jocular attitude and attempts to keep the situation light are waning in their efficacy as the nearness of his fate is beginning to take hold.
“And I realized I’d rather be full of fear with you by my side than the bravest man in the whole world without you. You’re not my one-night stand.” Greg plants one knee on the floor. His hand disappears into the pocket of his jeans, re-emerging a moment later with a massive diamond ring. Pinched between his thumb and finger, he extends it to her. “Molly Ronan, will you be my forever-night stand?”
There’s something about his touch. It reaches every part of my body, even if it’s just a light brush across a sliver of my skin. I’ve never felt that before. I’ve never felt someone touch all of me with a single stroke.
He’s lodged in my brain—the same way food and sleep and oxygen are, wired into it as a need, not a want. I don’t know how that happened in such a short time. I didn’t think it was possible. Somehow, the hours I spent loving Blake are just as significant as the years I spent loving Nate. Then again, maybe that’s all this is supposed to be, powerful and fleeting, a reminder that love doesn’t have to be forever to be real.
Without warning, Blake crosses the room, and his hands cup the sides of my face as he pulls me in for a kiss. Not just any kiss. It’s the kind you get lost in even though you know your way. It’s the kind that 229awakens every part of you, even though you feel like you’re in a dream. And it’s the kind you thank God for, even if you don’t believe he exists.
“You’re right, Nate. I am a cunt.” I’ve never understood why that word was ever considered an insult. To me, it’s a compliment. It’s one of the strongest organs there is. It creates life, it makes men stupid, and it bleeds every month—yet it doesn’t die.
Tessa says with the smallest smile, trying to find humor in the darkest of times. That’s when we need it most. It’s easy to laugh when you’re happy.
Just because the world ended doesn’t mean yours has to end too.
Because that’s truly what I wish. I wish we were just getting started, and I know now that was the point of everything my dad did, everything he had us do. The time we spent prepping and working and all the blood, sweat, and tears we shed. None of it was for the end. It was for a beginning. My father didn’t prepare me for the end of the world. He prepared me to start a new one. And I just wish he were a part of it.
Every ending precedes a new beginning, and there’ll be plenty of sweet moments ahead, regardless of the ones that have already passed.
“Yeah, you’re like a younger Greg and me, our puppy love growing into a full dog.”
Because a day like this offers all of us hope that we can love and be loved even in the darkest times. The world may have ended, but our humanity is endless.
