Chapter Nine "What a gorgeous day," Dee thought as she pulled back the sheer curtains in her bedroom to look outside.  The sun was shining brightly, the sky a deep shade of blue, a few thick clouds floating on the horizon.  "And I feel alive again," she thought, smiling.  Her self-imposed year of mourning and self-blame was about to end.  She had no idea what the last two days events meant or what would happen after Joey left town, but she was thankful for the chance to meet him.  He had helped her feel things she hadn't felt in over a year and maybe that's all that God had intended by sending him into her life, if only briefly.  "I'm going to be late," she impatiently told herself and turned and made her way down the stairs.  She stopped midway down, smiling at the scene below her.  Lance and Melanie were cuddled, spoon fashion, on one end of the couch, Lance's arm draped over Melanie's hip, his hand resting on her thigh.  On the other end of the couch, Joey was laying on his back, one arm thrown over his eyes, and snoring.  Dee wondered how Lance and Melanie could sleep through the noise.  She quietly tiptoed down the rest of the stairs and into the kitchen to leave a note for the sleeping beauties.  She was just about finished, when she heard someone behind her.  There, leaning against the doorway, was a disheveled Joey, who still managed to look handsome, even with crumpled clothes and hair totally doing it's own thing.  "Were you trying to sneak out on us?" he asked smiling.  "That's usually something a guy does after spending the night with a woman at her house." Dee laughed quietly.  "I'm glad you didn't." "Where'd you go last night? I kind of missed you." There was that tingly feeling in her stomach again.  "I woke up around 3am and had a cramp in my leg and didn't want to disturb you, so I went upstairs and slept in my own bed.  It was a lot more comfortable!…..I was just leaving you guys a note.  I volunteer at my church's food pantry and today is my day, from nine to eleven.  I didn't want to wake you" "Can I go with you?" "Sure. I would've asked, but I didn't think you'd be interested." "Can I catch a shower quick?" Dee took his hand and led him through the livingroom, putting a finger to her lips as they passed Lance and Melanie.  Dee led him upstairs and showed him where the bathroom was and got out a towel for him. "What about the clothes?" Dee asked, looking Joey over from head to toe.  "Um….well, Lance and I brought duffels with us with a change of clothes.  They're in Mel's car." "Oh, so you had this all planned to spend the night, did you Mr. Fatone?" Dee teased.  "I guess what they say about you IS true!" "No, no…….you don't understand," he said, leaning back against the wall.  "We just didn't know where we'd be going or what we'd be doing last night….." "Go ahead, dig yourself in deeper," Dee continued to taunt.  Joey grabbed her suddenly and hugged her tightly. "Let's just say I'm glad I packed the duffel and I'm glad we stayed." "I'm glad too…" Dee whispered.  They stood that way for a minute or two, in silence, before Dee said, "Well, if you're going to get that shower, you'd better hurry.  I'm due at the church in fifteen." Joey kissed her on the forehead, took the towel from her and went into the bathroom. "I don't suppose there's a chance you'd wash my back, is there?" "Arrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………." Dee groaned and closed the door and went downstairs to get the duffel bags out of Melanie's car.  She could hear Joey laughing as he started the shower. ***************** "Now, don't blink," Dee instructed Joey, as they pulled out of her subdivision onto the highway that led into town, past the dairy farm and the ski hill. "Why?" "Because if you do, you're going to miss downtown Sussex. Heck, you'll miss ALL of Sussex!" Joey laughed.   "So this is small town living…….,"  he said quietly, looking out the window. "Something I don't imagine you're used to." "Nope. Grew up in Brooklyn and have always lived in big cities." Dee pointed out the "highlights" of the city as they passed. "Hey, we DO have a McDonald's!"  She showed him the old town hall, now a family practice clinic, the new library, a gourmet restaurant written up in all the Fine Dining magazines, and finally her church, which had been built in 1890.  She pulled into the parking lot and turned to Joey. "Well, I don't imagine this will rate up there with being on MTV or having 50,000 girls screaming at you every night, but this is where I help out once or twice a month." "Hey," Joey said, as they got out of the car, "don’t ever apologize for who you are or what you do.  I think it's fantastic that you volunteer your time. And you don't know how good it is to be able to go somewhere and not be mobbed or screamed at and just be with regular people." The food pantry was in the lower level of the church and Carol, the co-ordinator was already there unloading the boxes of donated items she'd picked up from the other local churches. "Hi Dee, glad you're here. We got an unusually large amount of things this weekend.  That article you wrote up for the local paper must've really struck a note with people." Carol stood up and noticed Dee wasn't alone.  "Who's Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome?" "Oh please, Carol….don't encourage him!"  Dee turned to see Joey smiling from ear to ear.  "This is Joey Fatone.  Joey, this is Carol our Food Pantry guru." "Nice to meet you, Joey."  The two shook hands.  "I'm glad you brought him along.  I can't reach the tops shelves and I hate this step stool.  Would you mind putting these things away for me, Joey?" "Not at all. I'd love to help."  As Joey began to put the paper products on the shelves, a young woman and a little girl entered the food pantry.  "Hi Mrs. Williams. Hi Hannah!" Carol greeted them.  "What can we help you with today?" "Well, we really just could use some diapers for Billy, if that's alright."  "Why sure.  Joey would you please get me a pack of those Huggies on the top?" Joey grabbed the diapers and turned around to hand them to Carol.  He smiled at the little girl standing next to her mother.  Dee watched as the little girl's eyes got as big as saucers.  She was wearing an NSync T-shirt, the front of which she pulled out, looked down at the picture, and then looked back up at Joey.  "Uh oh…..busted,"  Dee muttered under her breath so that only Joey could hear. Joey walked over to Hannah and bent down in front of her.  "Who is this cool lookin' dude on your shirt?" he asked pointing to his picture. "Um…..that's Joey," she replied looking shyly at him. "Is he your favorite?" "No, Lance is my favorite."  Joey laughed.  "It's always Lance!"  He hugged Hannah and stood up.  Dee realized that neither Mrs. Williams nor Carol realized what had just been exchanged between Joey and the little girl.  Well, who would believe that someone who had their picture on the front of millions of t-shirts would be helping at the local small-town food pantry?  Dee didn't say anything either or explain to Carol, as she figured Joey would prefer to stay anonymous. With three sets of hands instead of two, the food pantry was re-stocked and straightened before 11am and Carol said Dee and her "friend" could go and enjoy the day and she'd stay in case any more customers came by.  Carol shook hands with Joey and thanked him for helping and told him to take good care of Dee.  "I wish I could," Joey thought as they left the church. *************************** "I just realized we didn't have breakfast," Dee said as they swung into her driveway. "You just realized that now?" Joey exclaimed.  "My stomach's been telling me I missed a meal for three hours!" "Aw, you poor thing.  Let's go get Lance and Mel and I'll treat you to lunch.  That is if they're up yet……" When Joey and Dee walked into the house, all they heard was screaming and laughter coming from the kitchen. "Put that down. Don't you DARE come near me with that!"  Melanie was sounding hysterical.  Dee looked at Joey who raised his eyebrows. "Sounds interesting!" he commented. "You got yours, now I'm going to get mine!" they heard Lance reply. "I don't think we should go in there," Joey said, holding Dee's arm back as she started toward the kitchen.  Dee laughed. "Excuse us, guys……but Joey and I are home and you'd better break up whatever is going on in there!" Dee announced.  When she and Joey got to the kitchen, Lance was standing there with the sink sprayer in his hand, aiming it at Melanie, while water dripped off of his face.  Obviously, Melanie had made Lance breakfast and they were kind enough to clean up after themselves, but now the kitchen was a mess and full of water. "Uh oh." Lance said, putting the sprayer down.  "Don't worry, we'll clean it up.  We didn't expect you home so soon." "I'm sorry we missed all the fun!" "At least they got to eat breakfast," Joey complained. "Yeah, Melanie makes the best French Toast I've ever had," Lance said, smiling at Melanie.  "But don't… "…tell my mother," Joey, Dee and Melanie finished for him. "Hey, Joey, JC just called. He and Justin are back in Milwaukee. The bus is fixed and Johnny wanted us to get down to the hotel…."  With that one little sentence, it was as though a black cloud had floated over the house. Joey's face turned from a smile to a frown and Dee's heart sank to her toes. "But JC said there's something called Summerfest going on and he convinced Johnny to let us all go as long as we get back to the hotel by 10pm where he'll have the bus waiting."  Dee swore she and Joey sighed a sigh of relief in unison. "Summerfest?" Joey asked.  (http:www.summerfest.com if you want to look it up!)) "One of the biggest music festivals in the Midwest," Melanie began to explain.  "Ten days of music of every kind on at least 8 different stages.  I think Prince is on the main stage tonight, and the Beach Boys, and some great local performers like Short Stuff and Paul Cebar.  And food, Joey……FOOD!" "Hey, music and food…..what more could I ask for?" "Women?" Lance interjected, smiling. Joey sidled up next to Dee and put his arm around her waist.  "Already got me one woman, so it should be perfect."  He looked down at Dee, who looked up at him and smiled.  Melanie cleared her throat. "Well, then. Shall we go?" "Did you say JC was coming too?" Dee asked. "And Justin and Chris too.  And of course, Lonnie and Todd." "And how are we going to get down to Summerfest with a group this big?" Dee always the practical one asked.  "I know we did it the other night, but it wasn't very comfortable for you guys." "If you drive the Durango…….."Melanie began, "Oops, sorry, I forgot.  You don't drive the Durango." "Well, I haven't driven it.  Jim drives it when he goes up to the cottage, but he leaves it here.  But you know what?  I think for a special occasion, I could give it a go." Joey and Lance grabbed their duffels and they all went outside.  Dee handed Joey the keys to the Durango. "Would you drive please?  I'll give you directions." "Sure, no problem Deeds." "What did you call me?" she asked, smiling. "Deeds? I won't do it again if you don't like it," he said sliding into the drivers seat.  Dee got in the passenger side.  "No, I kind of like it. Nobody has ever called me that before." "Well, then I guess it'll be my special name for you," he whispered and leaned over and kissed Dee gently on the lips.  Dee kissed back, more than gently. Chapter Ten Home