He couldn't believe that he was turning into goddamn Aaron with the sentimentality. He got why the man dragged back every one of those registration plates. It was showing Eric that he thought about him whilst he was away.
Daryl didn't mind it. He even found himself checking out plates every once in a while. He just never figured himself to be that guy.
They'd stopped at the little cabin, just to check it for any supplies. They hadn't come across anybody, but there were tracks to follow. Aaron was rooting in under the kitchen sink, when Daryl spotted the piece of hematite in a fruit bowl on the counter, partially covered by dusty junk mail.
It was cut into the shape of the star and when he turned it over in his hand, he felt the piece of magnet embedded into the flat back. He pocketed it without much thought. Didn't even remember it was in there, until Carol brought it to him a few weeks later.
"Where'd this come from?" She asked, laundry basket tucked under one arm.
"Found it in some house." Daryl barely looked up from his bowl of stew.
"It's pretty." Carol took another look at it, before placing it on the right hand corner of the refrigerator.
After that, he seemed to see fridge magnets where he looked. He never brought home more than one at a time and he never pulled them off a refrigerator. It just didn't seem right.
By fall, he'd gotten the fridge door pretty well covered, and no two were the same. He'd been pretty pleased with himself the time he'd found a magnet in the shape of a peach, the word Georgia curling over the top. Some were even useful, like the one shaped like a beer bottle with a built in bottle opener.
But his latest gift was probably his favourite. It was bent wire, all curly and delicate, one piece twisted to form the word. Between every letter, there was a little red bead threaded on.
"How the heck did you find one with my name?" Carol had exclaimed when he'd pushed it into her hand over breakfast. Her eyes sought out his. "Did you go to a gift shop?"
Daryl snorted. "As if."
"It's so pretty. I think it might be my favourite." She stroked her fingertips over each letter before getting up and making room for it, right in the centre of the white refrigerator door. "You're just a regular old magpie, aren't you?"