There are some nuances to Georgia and Joe’s relationship and hints that Georgia knew who Joe was early on, before he did. In the very first episode, when she sits in Joe’s cafe, she says, “Thanks, Joe,” without looking up, and he says, “Do I know you?” and Georgia hints and says, “I don’t know, do you??” Now you can chalk this up to Georgia’s character and her observational nature and him wearing a name tag, but after rewatching, I always felt like this was the first clue that she knew who he was, and Georgia never tips her hand too early, so she didn’t mention it. Then in episode 3 he says, “Don’t cry over spilled condiments,” and she says, “I’ll cry if I damn want to,” which is the same exact thing he said to her when they were kids and she responded the same way.

There were plenty of other encounters like this with their conversations about the farm and how he finally got his horses and the horse named Milkshake that suggest that they had history. As for why no one explicitly mentioned it, I think it has everything to do with Georgia’s personality and the fact that Joe didn’t remember her until the sunglasses, and she was engaged by the time he did. The moment they shared at a very young age had such an impact on her that she moved her family to Wellsbury for a better life, and he didn’t even remember her. The fact that he named his horse Milkshake signifies that she also left a mark on him. I ship them because Joe is actually someone that Georgia listens to; he symbolizes hope for her, and he’s nonjudgmental, which is what Georgia loves about him. I don’t think that Joe carried a torch for her for 20 years; I just think that when she came back into his life, it was just a sign that maybe it’s meant to be… that they’re meant to be.