Page 24 of Between the Lines

CHAPTER NINE

“WHATDOYOU know about Crossing Lines?”

Jo rocked back and forth a bit in her chair. Unlike the hardware store special that was at her desk at home, this one was sleek leather, softly cushioned, and had wonderful support for the achy back that Jo figured most writers probably had.

She was enjoying the chair so much that it took her a moment longer than usual to answer John’s question. When he cleared his throat, she looked up, realizing that she’d taken too long.

“I looked it up,” she admitted, “after you emailed me. I read the Wikipedia entry on it and took a look at the site. But I’m afraid I didn’t really understand the specifics of it.”

“Did you download the app?” John asked. Jo shook her head, trying to hold back her grin.

“I’m sorry. I know most people would have, but I don’t have many apps on my phone at all. I use it for email and jotting down story ideas when pen and paper isn’t around. That’s it.”

“You don’t use it as a phone?” John’s expression registered horror at this, prompting Jo to laugh. He’d had to pause their meeting several times already because he’d gotten calls that he couldn’t ignore.

Jo was the opposite. “Hell, no. I hate talking on the phone.” She shuddered.

John stared at her, perplexed. “You’re a unique woman, Jo.”

“Is that bad?” She might have felt nervous, but she had a sneaking suspicion that John was one of the few people in the world who both wasn’t related to her and genuinely liked her.

“Not at all. It’s very refreshing.” His smile was very nearly dazzling, and Jo might have thought that he was flirting—except that she knew she very much wasn’t his type. Never mind that he hadn’t been too subtle in checking Meg out yesterday, but she wasn’t most people’s type. Antisocial tomboys with tempers weren’t in high demand.

“Okay. Where to start, then...” John stopped his pacing—he was constantly in motion, full of energy—and pulled a second chair up to the massive desk. “What dating sites are you on?”

Jo couldn’t hold back the laugh this time. John looked at her, perplexed.

“I’m not on any dating sites.” She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to interpret the look that John cast her then—not quite pity, but like he couldn’t figure her out.

She didn’t really like it. Romance was for other people. She’d mostly accepted it, until Theo had crashed back into her life. She was the one who was friend-zoned, considered one of the guys. On the rare occasions that another person seemed interested in her, she was too awkward to figure out the interaction—and she rarely found it worth it at any rate, since none of them ever made her hot and bothered.

She wasn’t about to express this to some slickly suited guy that she’d met yesterday, though, so she searched his face for a cue and decided to deflect. “I think my sister Amy is on this one, though. She’s on a few.”

“Amy.” He rolled the name over his tongue. “Is she one of the sisters I met yesterday?”

Jo refrained—barely—from rolling her eyes. “The sister you’re ever-so-delicately inquiring about is Meg. She’s a caterer with small-business dreams. She tells very dirty jokes, treats thrift-store shopping like an Olympic sport, and she’s single.”

John blinked, then ran a hand over the buzzed ebony hair on his head. “I guess I wasn’t that subtle, huh?”

“Not even a little bit.” Damn. Should she be more formal with someone who was now her boss? She wasn’t the formal type. And hadn’t he said that he liked the fact that she was unique?

Theo always had.

Do not go there, Jo.

“Okay. The Wikipedia article said that Crossing Lines is revolutionary. Can you explain that to me?” She tugged on the hem of the black tunic thing that Meg had shoved at her that morning. She was wearing it with some stretchy leggings that her sister had also strongly—forcefully—recommended, but she’d ignored the ballet flats in favor of her Converse sneakers.

“Okay. I’m going to explain as though you don’t know anything about dating sites, so apologies if any of this is redundant.”

Jo nodded. It won’t be. I know nothing.

“So on most dating sites—Cupid.com, PlentyOfFish, even older ones like Match.com and Lavalife—people set up a profile. They talk a little bit about themselves, about what they’re looking for, and then they conduct searches for matches with their criteria. Often the sites will have algorithms that suggest profiles that members might want to check out. Following?”

“Yes.” It sounded a little bit tedious to Jo. She spent enough time at her computer, and the thought of scrolling endlessly, looking for a partner, didn’t appeal to her.

“What makes Crossing Lines different is that it adds back a bit of the meeting-in-person element. You know, how everyone up to our generation was stuck meeting.” He grinned, tapped on the keyboard, then turned the monitor to show her the screen. “What our site does is connect you with people that you come across in real life.”

“I’m not following.” Wasn’t that just...meeting in person?

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