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IN THE BEGINNING, JOEL DIDN'T TRUST JOSIE. But how could he? He thought the way that he and Tess were doing things was just fine. Then (to him) out of nowhere, Tess approached him and mentions that she knows someone who might be a good fit to work with them. The fact that she said it so casually was part of what angered him. Sure, she started the whole thing, but it would've been nice to be consulted first.
After the first time they worked together, he was a little less skeptical. Josie clearly knew what she was doing. But he was still nowhere near ready to trust her. Once she went back to her place, Joel all but interrogated Tess on her new friend.
"She's not a new friend, I've known her about six months," Tess confessed one morning when Joel asked how she was able to trust someone she just met.
"But—"
"And before you ask, I didn't tell you about Josie right away because I needed to see for myself without your judgements and criticisms. If I didn't think she would be a good fit, then I wouldn't have to worry you. But I'm telling you, Joel, she knows what the fuck she's doing. We could really use someone like her. Besides all of that shit, she's genuine. You know how hard that is to find these days."
Despite all of that, it took Joel a long time to be comfortable around the woman Tess quickly grew fond of. For a while, Joel wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to trust her. He realized he was being unreasonable, after all like Tess said, Josie clearly knew her shit. And she hadn't done anything to warrant his skepticism.
The first big turning point in Joel's feelings towards Josie came one evening when he was walking home. He turned a corner and immediately stepped back out of sight when he saw Josie talking to a girl.
Joel swore his heart would beat out of his chest right then and there. From the back, the young girl looked nearly identical to Sarah.
"You take these, okay? Make sure you and your mom get some extra food," Josie slipped some ration cards into the girls backpack. "Promise me you'll go straight home. Don't stop and talk to anyone, alright?"
The girl held her pinky up, and Josie's face lit up as she held hers up too, the girl making a silent pinky promise that she'd go straight home. Whenever Sarah suspected he wasn't telling the truth, she'd make Joel pinky promise. So it was in that moment that his feelings towards Josie shifted ever so slightly.
After witnessing that, Joel stopped bugging Tess. He decided then that she was right. Josie was good. Not just in their little operation, but a genuinely good person.
