Surviving The New World (Book Six in the Surviving The Walking Dead Series)

Bygones

"Hey," Aaron smiled as I entered his office and took a seat in front of his desk. "I haven't heard you two going at it for a while, is he still alive?"

"For now," I smirked.

"Michaela—"

"I get it, I can't kill your VP, but you gotta understand the stress you're puttin' me through. I'm serious, y'all are givin' me stomach ulcers."

"Well, I appreciate you fighting through your tummy problems to help us," Aaron chuckled. "Seriously though, do you think you two are gonna be like that for the rest of your lives?"

"No," I sighed. "As much as I hate it, he's right, he has the right to be in Harper's life, but we both agreed it'd be on her terms and no one else's. So, I'm teachin' 'em all about 'er, hopefully, he'll come up with a way to ease the tension between them and find a way to be involved."

"And ...you're okay with that?"

"I gotta be, it ain't my call."

"You know, we're all surprised at how well Harper is doing, how much independence you give her."

"She's my miracle, my reason for livin', I'd do Anythin' for 'er, even if it means sacrificin' my own happiness."

"You're sacrificing your happiness?"

"Any time I'm with Daryl, yeah." Aaron stared back at me begrudgingly. "I'm sorry, but I'm just bein' honest. It's not gonna take days to get over 'em abandonin' Harper."

"And you."

"Fuck me, Aaron. Harper is the only one that matters. She needed a father and he left. Five fuckin' goddamn years, Aaron. He missed out on birthdays, Christmases, her first haircut, everythin' a parent should be there for and no one knew where the fuck he was." Aaron remained silent. "I was lost when Rick died, but I had a child to take care of, so I went back home."

"Daryl and Rick were close."

"And he and I weren't?"

"I'm not saying that, I'm just—people grieve differently."

"Oh please, Daryl didn't even grieve like that when his brother Merle was killed."

"Sounds like him and Rick were closer then." Aaron flipped a page in his ledger. "I'm not saying kiss and make up, but at least try to understand how he felt when Rick died, try and understand why he did what he did."

"I did, and I thought maybe, just maybe, we could work shit out one day, but then I found out he fucked some bitch in the woods."

"He did?"

"Yeah, he practically admitted it in the woods when we went out with Eugene and Jesus."

"I'm sorry," Aaron sighed. "I didn't know."

"Not a lot of people do. What's done is done, ain't nothin' changin' the past. So, I move on."

"For your sake or Harpers?" Aaron resumed writing in his ledger, leaving me in annoyed silence. Did I move on for Harper or myself?

"What are you writin'?"

"Just daily totals. We need to keep an extra close eye on our supplies since we don't know where the whisperers are."

"Hopefully that'll change after tonight." Aaron glanced up at me. "Daryl and I are secretly lettin' Henry take Lydia from her cell tonight."

"WHAT?"

"Relax, it'll all be under supervision from Daryl and I, she just wont know it."

"Why? Why let her out? All it'll take is for one of you to look away and she'll bolt."