By: Nora Factchecker
Missed the start of the story? Catch up here (skip directly to Part One or Part Two), or read the full print edition at the wedding.
Welcome back, dear readers, to the part of the story where it becomes narratively harder to shepherd you through this ever-growing tale.
But never fear. We are now, as they say, cooking with gas. The seeds of this relationship had been planted in fertile soil, and all the ingredients were there to help it grow.
And grow it did.
Continuing with my separate interviews with the lovely couple, I find it hard to strictly believe the particular origin story Joey chooses to jump into when talking about the post–first date phase of their romance.
“I actually remember joking with friends in college that my perfect girl would be someone who wore J.Crew to a punk show—and would you look at that, she found me,” Joey says, casually scanning a folded food truck menu printed on orange paper. “Turns out it was more 'wears Everlane to the punk show', but potato, potahto, right?”
He pauses, then looks up. “Would you eat some fries?”
Now, I haven’t been able to independently corroborate whether Joey actually said that back in college. Did it happen? Maybe. What’s important is that I believe he believes he said it. And that it’s a fine anecdote—one that sets the table nicely for what comes next.
In her own interview, Macy adds some real-life color to what happened after their first date.
“We had a lot of fun dates after the Saves the Day show and were beginning to spend a lot more time together,” she says. “We went snowboarding a few times, went out to dinner a bunch… There was a really memorable picnic in Jefferson Park where they had a Talking Heads cover band and food trucks. Joey actually ended up with a photo in the neighborhood newsletter—dancing in front of the band.”
She laughs, then adds, “He looked like a bit of an idiot dancing down there. We’ve got the photo somewhere. He had frosted tips because his cousin Phoebe had dyed his hair blonde a month earlier and he’d just gotten a haircut.”
Joey, for his part, doesn’t deny it. He had that hair.
“I was really loving spending time with Macy and looking forward to each new date,” Joey says. “But I guess I was a little gun-shy about putting any labels on it. I had a conversation with a friend around that time that reminded me of the Seinfeld ‘You’ve Got Yourself a Girlfriend’ bit—where Jerry’s questioning of George leads to that iconic line: ‘I’m looking at a man with semi-daily calls and an implied date on Saturday night.’ And the conclusion? He has a girlfriend.”
He pauses, seeming to weigh his words.
“It’s really not the best comparison, though, because George was trying to get out of having a girlfriend. He was depressed to realize he was in a relationship. For me, I was excited—just nervous, and kind of surprised to find myself in such a lovely situation. It had been a few years since I’d been in something serious, and it’s scary to dive in headfirst. But I wasn’t upset that there was an ‘implied Saturday date’—to continue with the Seinfeld bit.”
Macy remembers that phase of their dynamic too.
“I was really excited about the relationship and giving it the energy and effort to make it go,” she says. “I felt like Joey was on the same page. But he definitely needed some patience and persistence to get this thing fully up and running.”
Joey later reflects on it with characteristic honesty.
“If there’s one thing I’d do differently, it’s that I would’ve been more open talking about my feelings for her earlier,” he says. “We were clearly dating for a while before it occurred to me that I was dragging my feet—not intentionally, just stuck overthinking it.”
By May and June, they were seeing each other nearly every other day. Saturday dates were a given—and more and more of Macy’s things were starting to show up in Joey’s apartment.
“It’s funny,” Macy reflects. “later that year when we were trying to pick a day to call our anniversary, we honestly didn’t know what to choose. The punk show felt too early, and we’d had a bunch of good dates before we were ‘official.’ We didn’t really know what to pick.”
Joey adds to this topic, “We found our anniversary date—July 28th—by looking back through my photos and finding a day we both loved. We’d had a nice little picnic in Jefferson Park that day. We brought dinner and a bottle of wine and just enjoyed the evening. Seemed like as good of time as any for an anniversary.”
The images that decided Joey and Macy's July 28th anniversary date.
He pauses, then continues.
“I really loved that spring and the way Macy and I got together. It was a slow build that created a really strong base for our relationship. I found it really romantic—even if I was a little late to fully ask her out. Or go steady? What do people say here?
“Anyway, by the time we were official, we really knew each other. She’s my best friend. And I feel like knowing her as a friend first was a huge part of that. She’s the person I like spending time with the most—she’s my favorite hang.”
Two Dates
Not wanting to slow the story down too much as we approach the big signposts on the road to June’s wedding, I asked each of them to share one favorite memory from that stretch of time.
They didn’t name the same one—and I feel obliged to share both. Not only because they’re charming, but because I wrote them down, and I’m not about to waste a perfectly good notebook page.
Don’t like it? Write your own exposé and present it to them at the wedding.
Macy’s pick: a spontaneous Winter Park overnight.
“Joey planned a solo camping night to Winter Park for us that I remember really fondly,” she says.
By this point, Macy and I have ordered our final coffees to go, and we’re strolling casually through her Denver neighborhood. Among the trees and the steady stream of couples walking dogs, babies—or, in a few cases, both—Macy continues.
“We’d just been there for his birthday a few weeks earlier—he’d rented a big house, and a lot of his friends came. I met a bunch of them for the first time and we had a blast. But we’d talked about wanting to go back, just the two of us.”
“So we get the gear ready—well, Joey really gets it ready—and he has this spot in mind along Vasquez Road. But when we get there, every dispersed campsite is already taken. I mean all of them. It was kind of insane.”
“Instead of turning back, Joey pulls out his phone, maps out some other areas, and we just start exploring. We end up driving for 45 minutes, but honestly, we’re loving it—just being on these unfamiliar roads together. Eventually, we find this amazing spot with a view over the mountains and no one else around.”
“It was early fall, the trees were perfect, and we got everything set up just in time for the sunset. Joey kind of pulled it out of thin air, but it worked out really well.”
She laughs. “We’ve done a lot of solo camping since—it’s one of our favorite things to do as a couple. That was the start of it. Oh—and Joey cooked a really good meal. That was a big box checked. Figured I might keep him around after that.”
Joey’s pick: the great pillow fort surprise.
“One of my favorite memories from that time was when Macy secretly built a pillow fort in my apartment,” he says, grinning. “Like, without telling me. I had no idea.”
“We had plans to have dinner with my parents at a restaurant downtown, and she asked if she could swing by my place firts to grab something before meeting us there,” he says. “I don’t know how she had the time, but she built this elaborate pillow fort—Christmas lights, standing lamps, I think even a ladder—and made this super cozy spot on the floor in front of the TV.”
“Dinner was great. We came back to finally watch this movie we’d been trying to get to for weeks, and I walk into the living room and just—bam. There it was. It was such a fun surprise.”
“There was no build-up, no inside joke about forts. It was just Macy being Macy. Going the extra mile to make the night special. So much fun.”
Time spent together on either side of March 2020
By early 2020, things were humming along. But as any reader who’s lived on Earth recently knows, something big was on the horizon.
“That fall and early winter were great,” Macy says. “We saw some fun bands—The National, Alvvays, Your Smith, Frenship. We were getting into a nice rhythm, just enjoying being a couple.”
Joey remembers one concert in particular.
“I believe Macy nearly 1) left me, and 2) fully left her body at that The National show at Mission Ballroom,” he says. “Matt Berninger [lead singer of The National] came out into the crowd—literally right next to us—and sang an entire song in a spotlight. To be fair to Macy, it was a majestic moment. I don’t blame her for being starstruck. I’m just glad he wasn’t handing out his phone number.”
By that February, they were planning their first out-of-state trip together: an ill-fated visit to L.A. to see The Strokes at the Forum scheduled for late March. Weekends were spent snowboarding, and more and more, their days—and futures—were becoming intertwined.
“I think we were actually hanging out the night that famous Jazz-Thunder basketball game got suspended mid-game because of COVID,” Joey says. “Macy’s sister Marina was actually at that game—her family’s from Oklahoma City.”
The lockdowns that followed could’ve tested a relationship still under a year old. But instead, something else happened.
“I don’t remember thinking about it like that for a second,” Joey says. “I was just really, really happy to have someone as fun and loving as Macy to go through it with.”
“We had a lot of fun coming up with different ways to entertain ourselves during those months,” Macy adds. “There’s a lot I look back on really fondly.”
She pauses, then adds simply: “It was obviously a weird and stressful time. But the way our relationship grew—and the ways we found joy in it—that’s something I’ll always remember with love.”
What About Kenzie?
At this point in the story, I hit a snag. There’s a whole lot of life they lived between 2020 and where I’m planning to have Part Four pick up.
One especially important moment? The discovery of what would become their first shared apartment—though it didn’t start out that way. During this stretch, both Macy and Joey moved: Macy into a new place of her own, and Joey—crucially—into the home they’d eventually share.
“Joey was looking for a place, and I kind of took it as a personal challenge to find him the perfect spot,” Macy tells me. “I sent him this listing at lunch one Tuesday and told him he should go see it today—maybe even be ready to make an offer. It seemed perfect for him. And I mean, I’d be spending a lot of time there, too.”
Joey, to his credit, didn’t hesitate.
“I went to check it out, and it was special,” he says. “The layout, the backyard space, the location—walking distance to my favorite bars and coffee shops. It’s on this quiet, residential-feeling street lined with huge ash trees, but if you walk seven minutes, you’re right at the party. I made an offer that day and got lucky.”
He grins.
“It’s been over five years now, and we still love the place. We’ve kind of burrowed in like a tick.”
Which brings me back to the original problem: How do you capture years of steady, happy growth without turning it into a boring timeline—or writing so many pages no one makes it to the end?
So I did the obvious thing: I asked Macy for help.
"So you find Joey the apartment, he moves in, and then you two are off to the races. I know a lot happened before you officially moved in together—summer of ’22, right?”
“Yup! That sounds right—it was around then.”
“So how do we cover that intervening time?” I ask. “Do we deep dive into the big trips? Meeting your family, the visits to L.A., New York, London...?”
She thinks for a moment, then says, “We haven’t talked about my dog yet. What if we just cover Kenzie and leave the readers with that?”
An extraordinarily good call. I’m very glad I asked you, Macy.
“Wow, I’m a little offended this is the first time she’s coming up,” Joey says, returning with fries from the food truck and munching happily.
I steal one.
“Kenzie is an amazingly good girl, and I love her deeply,” he says. “I’ve been telling Macy forever that I’m proud to be the guy dating Kenzie’s mom.”
Macy expands: “We actually share custody with my ex, Alex, and his wife, Steph—who will both be at the wedding. It works really well. They’re great co-parents, and Kenzie just ends up with more people who love and support her.”
“I adopted her right after college,” Macy adds. “I didn’t know what I was doing, but she’s always been easygoing. She’s got a huge personality—and okay, maybe I’m biased, but I think she’s the cutest dog on the planet.”
Between fries—come on, man, slow down a bit, they’re not going anywhere, I think, watching him polish off another handful—Joey grins and continues.
“I met Kenzie when she was already an adult, so I’m not trying to get her to call me ‘Dad.’ It’s like if your mom remarried when you were in your thirties—nobody’s calling Jeff, or whoever, ‘Dad.’”
He leans forward, a little more earnest now.
“Plus, Alex is already her dad—and he’s a great dog dad. I just want to be someone she trusts. Someone who walks her a bunch, loves her unconditionally, and provides excellent treats. What I’m really gunning for is to be the first call she’d make if she needed to get bailed out of jail. That’s the level I’m aiming for.”
He pauses.
“Macy doesn’t love it when I say that. But please keep it in.”
Addendum B: Meeting Marina
Last month, I shared a quick interview with Joey’s brother and best man, Timmy. This time, I reached out to the Maid of Honor—Marina, one of Macy’s older sisters.
“What did you think of Joey when he first started dating your sister?” I ask.
“Well, he’s a bit different,” she says. “But he was clearly really into Macy, and I found that charming. I’ve actually been calling him my brother-in-law for about four years now. So I don’t know if you want to give me credit for this wedding, but I’ll take it.”
“How did he react when you first called him that—years before he proposed to Macy?” I ask.
“Oh, I don’t know. He didn’t seem to mind,” she says with a shrug. “I just knew he was going to propose and be part of the family eventually. I was certain. Why wait on them to make it official?”
Then, with the energy of someone making an important public service announcement, she adds:
“Also—please note to your readers—I expect to see everyone bringing it on the dance floor at the wedding. I know a lot of y’all are from New Hampshire, and I’m suspicious that means you don’t know how to bring it.”
She pauses.
“Prove me wrong,” she finishes, dead serious.
And with that, dear reader, we leave you to reflect and recover before Chapter Four, coming June 1st. It will cover the lead-up to—and through—Joey’s proposal to Macy in March 2024.
In the meantime, don’t forget to check out the Complete Works to catch up on any parts you missed—or revisit your favorite moments. And remember: the full series will be available in print (limited edition!) at the wedding this June.
And no—I wasn’t joking ealier. We’re absolutely accepting exposés from wedding guests. If you’ve got a chapter of your own to add to the Macy + Joey lore, send it to joeyplunkett [at] gmail [dot] com. He’ll pass it along to me, and I’ll consider it for inclusion in the limited-edition print version.
Till next time,
Nora
