On Sunday morning, Jo slept in until about nine o'clock and had a slight headache when she got up. Vaguely she reflected that if she'd only gotten up a couple of hours earlier, she could have gone to church. Oh well, maybe next time, she thought as she made scrambled eggs and toast and coffee for breakfast.

Afterwards she cleaned house and read a romance novel. While reading, she imagined Doug in the role of the hero and herself in the role of the heroine. She got so involved in her fantasy that she almost didn't even notice when her stomach began to growl.

After fixing herself a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches and eating them, she went to Taylor's to pick Jamie up. "Did you have a good time?" she asked as they rode home.

"Yeah. We stayed up til three in the morning." Jamie yawned. Jo laughed.

They went bike riding for awhile, and then Jamie took a nap while Jo read her novel some more. Around six, Jo made dinner and they ate.

Jo had just about given up on hearing from Doug when he called her while she was watching TV at about nine thirty. "I ain't callin' you too late, am I?" he asked anxiously.

"Not at all," Jo replied. "I wasn't planning on turning in for a couple of hours or so. How are you?"

"I'm all right," Doug replied. "Hey, listen, I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier. It's just been one thing after another today. I got home from church this morning to find my sink running over with water 'cause somebody didn't turn the tap off completely, and then once I got that mess cleaned up, I had to fix the chain on Clay's bike. I was doin' that when I pinched my finger and hit hurt like heck, and then I realized that I was out of Band-Aids and had to go to the store, and then the register froze and it took them about half an hour to fix that..."

"Oh my God, you poor thing," Jo laughed. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to laugh; I know it wasn't really funny..."

"That's OK. It helps a whole lot just to hear your voice." Suddenly he sounded a bit shy.

"It's great to hear your voice too, Doug." Jo was reminded of the fantasies she'd had while reading her romance novel earlier and felt inexplicably ashamed of them. "I've been feeling kind of lonely today."

Doug chuckled nervously. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that I had a really great time last night. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. I'd love to do it again soon...if you would."

"Of course I would!" Although suddenly deliriously happy, Jo was, at the same time, worried that perhaps she sounded too eager. She certainly didn't want to come across as desperate.

"Great! How about next weekend?"

"Sounds good to me!"

Sure enough, Doug called her the following Friday night. "I was gonna try to set up something for tomorrow night," he told her. "But it's supposed to be a really gorgeous day, so I thought I'd take Clay fishing, and I was wondering if you and Jamie would like to come along."

"I don't know how to fish," Jo confessed. "I've never been before."

"Aw, you're kidding!"

"No, I'm not. I really haven't."

"Well, how about if I teach you, then?"

"Well...OK. Yeah, that might be fun."

"Fishing?" Jamie asked when Jo mentioned the subject to her. "You mean, like, sticking worms on hooks and stuff? Gross!"

"You don't have to come along if you don't want," said Jo. "But I'm going tomorrow with Doug and Clay."

"You mean Clay's gonna be there too? Count me in, then!"

The day started out pleasantly enough. Doug and Clay picked Jo and Jamie up and drove them to the bridge, where Doug baited everyone's hook and they all stood around waiting for a bite.

"You mentioned that you went to church last Sunday," Jo said to Doug.

"I go every Sunday," Doug replied.

"Where do you go, if you don't mind my asking?"

"St. Jude."

"I'm Catholic, too," Jo said. "Well, at least my family is."

"What about you?"

Jo shrugged. "Well...I used to go to church all the time when I was a lot younger, but as I got older, I sort of got out of the habit. A lot of it was that life just got a lot busier, and part of it was...well, I just started wondering whether all that stuff was really true, y'know?"

"Do you believe in angels?" asked Doug.

"I dunno. I never met one."

"I have."

"Huh? You mean you've met a real angel?"

"Sure have. His name's Earl. Remember my sister-in-law Grace that I told you about? He's her guardian angel. He saved her from a tragic accident several years ago, and he's been with her ever since then."

"You're kidding!" Jo couldn't believe her ears.

"I'll introduce you to him, if you like," Doug offered.

"Yeah," said Jo. "That's one guy I've got to meet."