It doesn't surprise him that she bolts, eventually. He figured she'd stick around a while in spite of all her protests, and in spite of how loudly he refuses to give a shit about whether she does, he's glad the Governor lets her. Merle's full of shit about nine and a half times outta ten, but he wasn't lying when he said this was a good place, probably the best she could find. Woodbury-- well, it ain't perfect, but it's hard to do better. Hard to get by alone, now.

But he's not surprised she leaves. Even makes it a little longer than he'd have guessed.

Lucky for her-- or unlucky, depending how you look at it-- Merle's a goddamn fantastic tracker. And because he's also a son of a bitch he loops around ahead of her, finds a fallen log to sit on and wait a spell til she shows up.