Chapter 21

Daryl groaned as he sat up, brushing his oily hands on his work jeans. He'd just finished working on a bike for a regular customer when one of the mechanics, Zach, came walking out.

"Uh, boss?"

"Yeah?"

"Got a phone call. Sounds pretty important." Daryl quickly pulled out his cell phone and checked from messages from Carol or Rick, but there was nothing.

"Can they leave a message?"

"I think you're gonna wanna take this call. It's some chick named Andrea. She sounds hot." Daryl quickly scrambled up, ignoring the young man's words.

"Can you take this bike out? It's done. Just needs totaled up and paid out."

"Sure thing," Zach said with a nod, as Daryl made his way into the back office where the phone was off the hook.

"Andrea?" he asked.

"Hey! Glad I caught you. Listen, we've got somebody interested in the place, and they're willing to put down a deposit and six months' rent if they can be in by the end of the week."

"Shit, that ain't much time," Daryl grumbled. "I still gotta hire a manager for my shop."

"Well, you better hurry, because I told them they can have the place by Friday."

"Aw, fuck," Daryl groaned. "I ain't got time for this shit."

"I will personally hire movers to come pack up your stuff."

"You just wanna get rid of me?"

"No, but six months' rent? That's gonna help me remodel my bathroom," she laughed. "Come on, you know I love having you as a tenant, but I couldn't pass this up. It was a business decision."

"Guess I'll be sleepin' in my shop then?"

"Or, you could get your shit together this week, and by the weekend, be sleeping in the arms of that gorgeous woman who came to see you. Carol, was it?"

"Alright," he murmured. "I'll think of somethin'."

"You're welcome, by the way," she pointed out. "You're the one that asked me to show the place, because you're in such a hurry to get back to Georgia."

"M'sorry. Just got a lot of shit to do. Guess this is really happening."

"You alright?"

"M'great. Just thought it was gonna take longer." He took a couple of deep breaths. "Alright, guess I better get back to work and find somebody who ain't gonna run my business into the ground."

"Good idea. Good luck, Daryl." Daryl hung up and chewed his lip for a second, feeling a wave of anxiety rush over him. He had to get all of his shit packed up, arrange a moving truck to get said shit back to Georgia, find a solid manager for his store and then find a place to live when he got back to Georgia so he didn't have to resort to sleeping on Rick's couch. It was suddenly all very overwhelming, but the one thing that did make him feel better was that he'd be closer to her, and everything else would eventually work itself out.

His nerves were still a bit on edge, so he grabbed his pack of cigarettes and headed outside. He leaned against the concrete wall of the building and lit a cigarette, taking a few slow drags before he pulled out his cell and dialed Carol's number. She answered after a couple of rings.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hey. I got some good news."

"You do?" she asked, a hopeful tone to her voice.

"Andrea found somebody that wants the apartment."

"Daryl, that's great! When do you have to be out? I can start looking for places around here for sale or for rent, and…"

"I gotta be out by the end of the week?" A pause.

"That soon? Are…what about the shop?"

"I still gotta figure that out."

"Do you need some help? Maybe I could…"

"Nah, don't be takin' no time off work for me. I'll get it worked out."

"Daryl?"

"Hmm?"

"What if you don't hire somebody?"

"I'm gonna have to find somebody. I'll work it out. I promise," he assured her. "I gotta get back, but I'll keep you posted."

"Great," she murmured. "Daryl?"

"Yeah?"

"You're absolutely sure about this?"

"Ain't nothin' I want more," he assured her, despite the coiling nerves in his stomach. "I love you."

"Love you too." And the line went quiet. He took a couple more drags off of his cigarette. Never in his entire life had anybody been waiting for him. Nobody had ever wanted him like she did. She actually wanted him around, and the last thing he wanted to do was to let her down. He needed this. He needed her, and he made a promise to himself in that moment, that he would do whatever it took to get his shit together by the end of the week.

...

The next couple of days dragged by. Carol had kept a pen and a pad of paper in the car, and every time she found a place for sale or for rent, she'd take a photo of it with her phone, and then she'd jot down the number and call it later to find out prices. It was very efficient, and she had run them all by Daryl every night on the phone. There were a couple of places he was interested in, but he was still struggling with a decision over hiring a new store manager.

On this particular evening, Carol and the kids had gone to the Grimes' for dinner, and afterward, they settled in the back yard to watch the kids play. Tara had arrived late, and she was entertaining the group with the woes of dating in college.

"I swear, she looked at me and said 'oh, you're really gay? Well, I'm not, but I thought it might be fun.' Like, really?" Tara shook her head and took a sip of wine. "Why do I even bother? Hey, Michonne, you're apparently amazing at hooking people up."

"With the exception of Phillip Blake," Carol pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, besides him," Tara pointed out. "Got anybody in mind for me?"

"What happened to super hot advisor girl?" Michonne wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh," Tara muttered, her face reddening, "that was one sexual disaster I'd like to forget, thank you very much." All eyes were on her now, and she sighed. "Well, it kind of happened in her office, and she made me hide under the desk when her boss came in, because she said she could get fired for, and I must air-quote, fraternizing with students. She just graduated like last year."

"Yeah, they kind of frown on that," Rick snorted. He swigged down the last of his beer, and Carol let out a yawn.

"Oh, don't do that. It's contagious," Tara grumbled. "I see somebody's not completely caught up on the lack of sleep she got banging Mr. Sperm Donor."

"Wow, bitter," Carol teased. "You'll find someone. I promise."

"Yeah, Glenn said the same thing. He's got a girlfriend now. She's kind of hot. Name's Maggie. And they are so noisy and awkward, and I can't sleep at night. Which is why I'm here hanging out with you lovely people. Maggie has a friend that's hot, too. Her name is Rosita. Oh my God, she's just…but I can't tell if she's into girls or not."

"Well, why don't you ask her?" Carol suggested.

"Because I could die a million deaths from embarrassment?" Tara suggested with a snort.

"You?" Michonne laughed. "You're worried about being embarrassed? This from the girl who stood up on the bar at Axel's and, stone cold sober, sang Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

"So? Lots of people sing in bars," Tara noted.

"It wasn't karaoke night, sweetie," Carol chuckled. Tara ducked her head a little.

"Well…whatever. Rosita's…well, she's beautiful. She's got this smile that just…ugh. I can't talk to her. I've never felt this awkward with someone before. Not even with Glenn, who I totally made out with one night playing spin the bottle. We were drunk, and…well, even that wasn't as awkward as I feel when I'm with her." Michonne sighed. "Maybe this is what it's supposed to be like. Maybe we're all supposed to be nervous, absolute messes. Maybe that's how you figure out somebody's your soul mate."

"Oh my God, you're so cute," Michonne laughed. And that was when everybody noticed the tears in Carol's eyes.

"Oh, shit. Shit. I take it back," Tara murmured.

"I'm fine," Carol sniffled, wiping at her eyes. "I hope, for your sake, Rosita's into girls, because you've clearly fallen for her."

"Don't cry," Michonne ordered playfully. "There will be no crying at this dinner party tonight."

"I'm not crying. I'm just…"

"In love and miserable," Tara murmured, folding her arms in front of her and lowering her head to rest against them. Michonne scooted closer to her husband and took his hand in her own. She gave it a little squeeze and said a silent thank you to whoever was listening that she'd found her soul mate, and she didn't have to ever worry about the tortures of falling in love with someone new ever again.

...

Sam was half-asleep when Carol pulled into the drive. Sophia was already knocked out, so Carol gently lifted her daughter up into her arms and carried her while holding onto Sam's hand. Once she got them inside and tucked into their beds, she retired to her room and kicked off her shoes before collapsing on the bed.

She hated that she'd gotten emotional at Rick and Michonne's, but hearing Tara talk about how much she cared about this Rosita person made her miss Daryl all the more. She'd been perfectly fine until she'd met him. Lonely, but fine. She wouldn't have changed meeting him for the world, but now, he was so far away, and she missed him all the more.

She tossed and turned, tried changing into some comfortable pajamas and then tossed and turned some more. It was a chore, trying to sleep these days. She was often so anxious thinking about the future that she might spend two hours lying in bed before she ever even began to drift off.

Finally, she just focused on her breathing and tried to shut of the hundreds of thoughts she had racing through her head. It began to work, too, and her limbs started to feel heavy. She began to relax, and just as she was dozing off, her cell phone rang, and she groaned, blinking her bleary eyes to try and make out who the caller was.

"Daryl?" she asked sleepily. "Are you ok?"

"Did I wake ya?"

"It's ok," she murmured. "What's going on?" There were a few moments of silence, and she'd thought she'd lost the call. "Daryl?"

"I, uh…I have some news."