"Looking for my friend Carol. My name is Daryl. If you are Carol originally from Montgomery Georgia, you would be around thirty-one years old now. I was two months older than you. I was born in May; you were born in July. We sat next to each other in first grade and always shared crayons. In second grade you got mad at me because you lost your first tooth and cried and I teased you a little about 'Being such a girl." Sometimes we sat by the brick wall at recess, and because Ricky G dared me to, I kissed you in third grade. There was a tree in the field at our elementary school where we used to play soccer in gym class, and one day I carved our initials into it. You moved away that year when we were in fourth grade. I'll be at that tree in July the day after your birthday at 9 am, and I would love to catch up with you, be there or be square."
The year he turned thirty-one Daryl placed the add he had been thinking about putting it in the Atlanta Journal for years. He didn't know any other way to contact her; he couldn't just knock on her door, that was creepy as fuck.
You didn't do that shit after not seeing someone for almost twenty years. The add was his best bet; he knew that.
To the best of his knowledge Carol's family had moved to Atlanta and were still there; he'd checked the phone book. The was a Dean Watson listed, and he knew that was her father's name. But it was such a long time ago, and things could have changed considerably since then.
She may have moved away; maybe she was even married. But for a long time, he'd wanted to look for her that was all he knew.
Carol was the first girl he'd ever kissed.
Merle thought he was off his rocker finally, after years of getting nowhere fast with the girls in their town. To Merle, Daryl was a very late bloomer when it came to women, certainly nothing like he was himself. But Merle supported anything Daryl wanted to do, no matter how much of a long shot it was.
Rick had just shrugged his shoulders and told him to go for it if he really felt the need. It was a need, Daryl realized that now at the age of thirty, closing in on thirty-one. He and Carol had always said they would write, but they didn't, and he thought about her more and more as he got older. It wasn't really a romantic feeling; it was more like he missed that honest friendship they had shared.
Thinking about seeing her again made his heart speed up though, but he called it something else, the odds were against him, he knew that. Carol could be living clear across the country with a bunch of kids for all he knew, and he didn't want to get his hopes up. Maybe she had forgotten about him despite all the promises they had made when they were kids.
As he got older, the innocent times of youth were replaced with the responsibility of adulthood, and he wasn't quite ready for that sometimes. On other occasions, he was sure time was passing him by, and he needed to do something. Merle and Andrea Harrison were getting married in August and Rick, and Lori had been married for five years now.
Daryl longed for something different in life for a long time, he'd dated some, but never found anyone that lit up his mind the way the red haired girl of his youth had.
So he placed the add, rolled the dice and hoped for the best. There had never been anyone like Carol, and he had looked, maybe that was it; Daryl was tired of looking for her in every girl he met.
Even Rick remembered when both of them and Carol had gone fishing, more than once, at the pond behind her house and Daryl longed for a day like that again. They had talked so openly with each other as children; maybe it could still be that way.
Deep down he knew this was probably a fool's errand but on May 4, 1999, his birthday, he placed the add in three Atlanta newspaper personal columns.
He showed it to Rick as they sat in their squad car eating breakfast one morning after Rick had just shown him the most recent pictures of Carl and Judith, his twin babies that were three years old now. Daryl was their godfather and spent most weekends visiting the family of his best friend and partner. Although he knew he was in no way ready for a family of his own, he did enjoy the time he spent with Rick and Lori.
"You remember her right?" Daryl had asked him after Rick read the add.
"Sure, red hair, curly, cute."
"It ain't like that; I'm not…" Daryl argued.
"Bullshit, I'm calling bullshit on that right now," Rick replied as he watched the blush creep over his friend's neck and face, "You're a curious person Daryl, always have been, I can see why you can't let this go, and that girl could bait a hook better than any boy we knew."
"Whatever…"
"Yeah, whatever, you forget I know you," Rick said sipping his coffee, "Merle gets engaged, and suddenly you're thinking about a girl we haven't seen since we were eleven?"
"She was something else, the best person I ever knew…" Daryl sighed.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Rick replied with a grin.
/
Carol Watson usually didn't buy the paper, but she was looking for a job. The doctor that she had worked for since she was 21 had retired and sold his practice. She was a nurse, and she knew she would find a job eventually, but it was still frightening not to have a job.
As she scanned the want adds and circled the ones she was planning to apply for her eyes slid down to a personal add that caught her eye, 'Looking for Carol.'
"Looking for my friend Carol. My name is Daryl. If you are Carol originally from Montgomery Georgia, you would be around thirty-one years old now. I was two months older than you. I was born in May; you were born in July. We sat next to each other in first grade and always shared crayons. In second grade you got mad at me because you lost your first tooth and cried and I teased you a little about 'Being such a girl.' Sometimes we sat by the brick wall at recess, and because Ricky G dared me to, I kissed you in third grade. There was a tree in the field at our elementary school where we used to play soccer in gym class, and one day I carved our initials into it. You moved away that year when we were in the fourth grade. I'll be at that tree in July the day after your birthday at 9 am, and I would love to catch up with you, be there or be square."
Carol almost gasped out loud right there in the coffee shop which was where she drank her morning coffee and looked at the paper since she had been laid off from work. The add was about her, she was sure of it, and it made a sweet smile cross her lips.
She remembered Daryl Dixon and Ricky Grimes; they had taken her fishing. She remembered her mother had complained that she would turn into a tomboy if she kept running around with those two boys. The joke was on her; Carol was one of the girliest girls there was, and always had been.
Daryl had been right about that.
She'd gone back to Montgomery once when she got her driver's license, twelve or thirteen years ago and had even driven past his house, but she hadn't been able to stop. Carol was sure he wouldn't remember her, and when she saw a boy working on a motorcycle in the driveway of the house, she had just kept going.
/
Carol's roommate's name was Tara, and she was also a nurse. They sat out on the fire escape outside their living room that night discussing the add and what Carol should do. The fire escape allowed the fresh spring breeze blow over them, and it was nicer than inside at the moment.
She had found a job that day and was starting that Monday in the post-ICU of Grady Memorial and Tara was going to be her boss.
She and Tara had been friends since college, and Carol always turned to her for advice, her best friend didn't mince words, and she always voiced her opinion if asked, sometimes even if she wasn't asked.
"He could be a serial killer; you shouldn't go alone," Tara said as she painted her toenails.
Carol laughed and shook her head, "No way, not the sweet kid I remember besides, I bet he grew up to be a cop just like he wanted to."
"Let's hope so, although not all cops are good ones," Tara replied.
"No, not him, I know he's safe, he was the kindest and sweetest person. I know people change, but I don't think he would have placed the add like that if he had bad intentions."
"I hope he does have some bad intentions just cause you aren't getting any younger here," Tara giggled as Carol kicked her foot at hers.
Carol felt her face start to heat up.
"Oh, look at you blushing." Tara smiled, "Guess you better tell your new job you need July 10th off huh?"
/
Merle lit a cigarette and sat down on the front porch next to Daryl. He handed him a beer and Daryl took it gratefully and lit a cigarette of his own. The night was warm, and it was light out still, and sharing a beer and conversation after work was a tradition with the brothers.
"What are ya gonna do for the next two months?" Merle asked.
"Cross my fingers I guess," Daryl replied.
"Good plan, glad you got it covered," Merle said with a laugh as he slung his arm around his younger brother's shoulder.
/
That morning it was hot, and when Carol went out to her car after a sleepless night, and she noticed right away that she had a flat tire. She felt tears threaten to fall and as she wiped them away with the back of her hand, she willed herself to think of something, anything. She had no way to reach him.
Carol turned and ran back towards the apartment to wake Tara and ask her what to do. She was in a panic as she burst into Tara's room, but as usual, Tara had the answer.
Soon she was on the road in Tara's car, and a tow truck was on its way to change her tire so Tara could go to work. Tara's car was a stick shift, and Carol had to get a quick lesson from a very sleepy Tara, but finally, she was on her way. She was an hour past the time she planned to leave. It was a four-hour drive, and she already knew she would be breaking all of the speed laws to get there, to him.
/
Rick pulled up next to Daryl in the squad car and handed him a cup of coffee, it was nine thirty, and they both knew that likely she wasn't coming. At least now he knew the answer to the unanswered question that had followed him around all his life.
Maybe it was for the best, and maybe now the memory of her would let him go so he could go live his life.
He looked back at the tree next to him; their initials had still been there, all these years later. Daryl had touched the tree and smiled, remembering the day he had made the carving. He'd been back there a time or two over the years to sit on the bench that was there and think of her.
"Hey, you tried man," Rick said, and Daryl nodded, the disappointment was evident on his face. It had been a pipe dream, but it was over now.
Rick offered him a sympathetic smile, and Daryl was just reaching to open the car door and get in when they both saw an old blue Fiat X-19 come barreling down the road and make a turn into the parking lot. It was almost 9:45 now.
Both men watched as the car parked and a red haired woman got out of the car in a rush and looked their way.
"Gotta go man, good luck," Rick said as he pulled away from Daryl and he turned and watched her coming towards him.
She stopped when she was about twenty feet away from him, and they just looked at each other. They had both changed a lot since they were ten. Carol brought her hand up to her face and pushed a stray curl behind her ear, and she took in the man before her.
They had both grown up.
The boy she remembered had just lost both front teeth and always had his hair in his eyes. This man before her was tall and lean and wore a police uniform, a light brown shirt and dark brown pants that hugged his lean frame in all the right ways. His hair was still on the long side, but it wasn't in his eyes anymore.
Carol immediately felt a flutter in her chest that she hadn't felt in a long time and although she was tense from the ride there, she knew it was more than that. Her feet wouldn't move, and she didn't know what to do, she wanted to run to his arms.
He couldn't take his eyes off of her, she wore a green dress and sandals, and her hair hung down her back in soft curls. He remembered that Carol had always been pushing her hair behind her ears to keep it out of her face, it hadn't changed.
Daryl did a double take because she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and like all of his dreams of her, she was happy to see him. Her face was bright and full of wonder at the sight of him, and he felt that familiar increase in his heart rate.
"Carol, you came," He sputtered out.
"Yes," She replied as she stepped closer to him with unsure feet until he closed the distance and gave her a chaste hug.
"Let's sit down," He said with a touch of his hand to her elbow, and she allowed him to lead her to the bench.
"I can't believe it's you," She said as they sat down.
"Me either," He replied, "Thank you for coming."
"Thank you for reaching out; I've thought about you a lot over the years."
"Me too," He answered quickly because now that she was there, in front of him, he knew why it never worked with anyone else. She was the one, and he had met her when he was eight years old.
Daryl didn't tell her that of course, but they did go for coffee that morning, and by the time they were finished, he had a date for Merle's wedding.