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Glenn jokes that Daryl’s redneck is showing underneath all his hair. Maggie just wonders how he managed to get all that copper piping back on his bike.

She knows he sits outside at night. Alone, on the pristinely maintained front porch. Well, it used to be pristine, one of the railings is full of little gouges from his knife.

One night Maggie wakes up, the window is open and she can hear a deep voice outside. She knows his voice well but hasn’t really heard it sound so soft and sincere before.

“I never roller skated.”

Her brow knits at the strange confession and she peers out into the darkness, studying the shadows.

“It was you.”

His voice is muffled by the glass on his lips. She watches him knock back the drink all at once, moonlight framing his motions, and head back inside.

It takes a while for her to fall asleep that night.

“Never been to a baseball game.”
“Never had a new car.”
“I never met anyone famous.”

It’s the same each night, followed by the same three words and the single motion of downing his homemade drink. Maggie finds herself waiting up to see what he confesses into the darkness.

“Never had a girl. One that meant anything.”
He sighs. “Shoulda been different. Woulda been, I think.”

She stays up late that night. Images racing through her head.

He has dinner at Aaron’s after each run. Maggie can tell he’s drunk when he comes out onto the porch, his steps are uneven and his voice is just a little louder.

“Never kissed someone the way Aaron kisses Eric. Or Maggie and Glenn.”

“Never wanted to before you.”

Maggie goes back to her bed. He’s still out there when she falls asleep.

Things have been bad.

She knows how hard it’s been for Daryl, the tension between him and Rick. The distance he’s kept himself at. He spends most of the night out on the porch. The grey light of the impending dawn is his signal to retreat inside.

“Never been this lonely.”

He downs his moonshine.

“It’ll always be you.”