JUNIPER. [dixon]

3 | CHEROKEE ROSES

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JUNIPER NEVER THOUGHT THAT MAGGIE'S CLOSET WOULD BE SO CLUTTERED. The tall brunette was always so well-put together, and she kept her room clean, but her closet was jam-packed with anything and everything. June wouldn't have even thought twice about it, if it weren't for the fact that they needed to find the county survey map. They needed it to help Rick's group find a little girl named Sophia, who had apparently gotten lost in the woods. Maggie said it was in her closet, so June tagged along with her to get it.

"Why did you even keep it in here?" She asked, rifling through closet floor in front of her as she looked for the map. So far, the only items she had came across were belts, shoes, notebooks and the occasional shirt or sweater that had fallen off of its hanger.

"Didn't want my dad to know I had it," Maggie responded simply. She stood next to Juniper, going through the things she had thrown on the shelf in her closet while June knelt on the floor and searched.

"It's not down here," June commented, pushing the pile of things back into the closet. As she stood to her feet, she asked, "Why wouldn't you want him to know you had it?"

Maggie's cheeks flushed, and she sheepishly admitted, "I used to use it to find new hangout spots with Tate."

The two of them fell silent then, as they always did whenever Tate came up in conversation. Maggie wanted to talk about him, she wanted to remember him and all of the memories they had with him, but June just wasn't there yet. Tate and Emily's deaths were still too fresh to her, especially having seen what happened to them. It was too much to think about, let alone talk about.

"Got it," Maggie spoke up, breaking the silence once she finally found the map. June nodded, the two of them heading outside. They passed through the kitchen, where Beth was teaching Bailey how to make lemonade. June paused to kiss her daughter on the forehead as they passed her by, and Bailey grinned up at her mother before returning to what she was doing.

Outside, they found Charlie and Hershel gathered around the truck with Rick, Shane, and two other people from their group. If Juniper remembered correctly, their names were Daryl and Andrea. Lori had pointed out who everyone was to her, although honestly, June wasn't sure if it mattered. From what Charlie had told her, Hershel was going to send Rick's group off as soon as Carl was healed.

"How long has this girl been missing?" Hershel was asking Rick as Juniper and Maggie approached.

"This'll be day three," Rick answered.

June moved forward to occupy the empty space between he and Charlie, watching as Maggie spread the map out over the hood of the truck. "County survey map," she said. "Shows terrain and elevations."

"This is perfect," Rick told her as he skimmed over the map. "We can finally get this whole thing organized. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams―"