Author's note: as far as I know, there is no such service, so if there is I am not maligning them. I know a lot of people are convinced authors write about what they know, but we also have vivid imaginations. I have never used an online dating app, but I figured I could run my fictitious one whatever way I like. Sorry, I noticed some missing words in the last chapter. They were there on my iPad but didn't transfer over. Always the way when I don't transfer via the PC. Hopefully this chapter is better.

Barbara did not seriously intend to sign up to Soulmates Online, but she was curious. The blurb on the front page sounded reassuring. There were no pictures included on profiles as one of the aims was 'to foster a friendship based on mutual values, not physical attraction.' Slowly the website lured her in until she clicked on the apply button. A quick scan of the questionnaire from her copper's perspective convinced her that the site was not mining for data and could not steal her identity. Apart from the £10 joining fee that she could pay via her online money transfer account, the site took no details other than a single first name and a password.

Even so, Barbara was reluctant to use her real name. She did not want to be utterly dishonest either. She signed up with her middle name, Louise. She answered the questions truthfully rating her current state of mind, her childhood happiness and her broad political and social views. There were checkboxes for her preferred friendship level - Strictly Friendship, Friendship, Open Friendship, and Potential Relationship. Barbara was not even sure what Open Friendship was, but it did not sound like something she would want, and anything mentioning relationships sounded as if it would attract the desperate or the creeps. She selected the Friendship box.

After answering the 200 questions, Barbara had formed a new view of herself. She was not the relatively contented, independent woman she had imagined. Instead, she was lonely and unhappy, and her preoccupation with a certain Earl was mostly to blame. Tommy had been her only friend; the person she thought of when she woke and before she went to sleep. That obsession was unhealthy. Worse still, she knew that he did not return her feelings, at least not in a romantic sense. She had no hope of a future with him. Determined to find a more suitable friendship, she thumped her finger on Enter to submit her profile. Now she had to wait at least eight hours before the computer gave her a list of potential friends. Time to get some sleep.

Barbara woke to a sunny morning. Curious about her matches, she grabbed a coffee and her laptop and returned to her bed. She half-suspected that there would be no suitable matches. The grading system was blue for Most Compatible, green for Largely Compatible, and orange for Adventurous Match. Barbara was disappointed, but not surprised, to see she had no blue matches. There were three greens and four oranges.

She expanded the first of the orange matches. Herman was a 42-year-old Banker from Iceland who liked skiing and water sports. Barbara smiled. Herman was too adventurous for today. Daffyd from Wales was next. He was only 33, and was interested in criminal justice. She opened his profile. After serving five years in prison for larceny I... That was no to Daffyd.

Barbara took a deep breath then looked at Bill's profile. He sounded lonely but dull. He worked in his mother's tearoom in the Cotswolds and listed his interests as studying for trivia nights and reading encyclopaedias. Barbara wondered if the second was not in fact preparation for the first. She had visions of a large, bespectacled man in a fawn cardigan. "I'm not that desperate."

Michael was the last orange. He was ex-Army and 'recovering from psychological wounds which makes leaving the house impossible.' Barbara felt sorry for him, but that was not the type of relationship she needed now. She was tired of being an emotional crutch. All she wanted was a friendship based on equality.

She was just about to review the green matches when a chat screen popped up.

Hello Louise

She hurriedly read that it was from Malcolm, one of her greens. She wished now she had read about him first.

Are you there?

"Grr. Hang on." Sorry, new on the site. I was just having a look around.

Welcome! Do you like what you see?

Not sure yet. No blue matches.

Blue is for totally serious stuff. Green matches are the most fun. Do you want to have fun?

Barbara groaned. I am just looking for friends.

Aren't we all? Your profile says London. Do you like to party?

Not much. I am a civil servant.

ROFL. Aren't civil servants allowed to have fun?

Define fun.

Bit of chat, a bit of drinking, maybe a bit of dancing, a bit of romance.

I didn't think this was a hookup site.

Oh, you believed the spiel. Don't be naive enough to think people here are after friends. That's probably 2% of the people. Most are here to get laid.

I'm not.

Gathered that. CU.

The screen vanished. Barbara found Malcolm on the list. She was just about to check the No box when his profile disappeared. She felt mildly annoyed that he had No'd her first. It was not as though she had not expected that element among the members, but she had hoped some were genuine.

The other greens looked suspicious. Paul was a computer programmer from Leeds whose interests were mostly indoor sports related. From the tone, Barbara had a fair idea of the sport he had in mind. Jose was a Spaniard living in Essex and looking for a 'potential life partner.' "In other words, you need a visa," Barbara said shaking her head.

She had not expected much, and yet had still been disappointed.

In Manchester, life was slow for Tommy. Fraud was intellectually stimulating, but dull in comparison to murder. Each night he ate alone in a cheap restaurant or the local pub then returned to a lonely hotel room with its blonde wooden furniture, muted print of a beach scene and nothing but free-to-air television and his single malt. Tommy missed Barbara. Almost every second thought was about her. More when he was alone. She had not contacted him, and he was worried about where she was and what was going on in her head. As soon as he was back in London, he was going to see her and try to convince her that to him, she was his world.

If being apart had brought him anything, it was the awareness that he loved her. It was a complex, wonderfully frustrating love, but love nonetheless. He feared it was also teaching him that it was not reciprocated.

After her time in Wales she wanted to retain her fitness, so Barbara decided to walk through Regents Park. Halfway around the circuit, she sat on a bench and turned her face to the sun. It was a warm, still day and the birds were warbling happily in the trees. As hard as she tried to focus on the moment and the beauty of the park, she could only wonder where Tommy was, what he was doing, and whether he missed her. She was still angry with him yet felt as if a limb was missing.

"To hell with you, Lynley."

"Man trouble?"

"Huh?" Barbara turned. An older woman with a small, black, hairy dog had joined her on the bench. "Oh, sort of. It's complicated."

"Love always is, but it's worth it."

"Is it?"

"Always. You just have to remember why you love them and persevere. Come on, Bronson, it's time I took you home for lunch."

Barbara watched the woman toddle down the path. "If it hurts like this, I don't think it is."

Barbara spent the afternoon cleaning and sorting her flat. She amassed enough rubbish to fill three plastic garbage bags, and another was full of items for charity. "I should take a photo and sent it to Tommy, he'll never believe... grrr! Stop that, you idiot. He's gone. Get that into your head."

Sitting on her couch she flicked on the television. She had no idea what was on as she could not see anything through blurry eyes. Barbara took several deep breaths then wiped the unwanted tears from her face. She had to look forward, not back. She opened her laptop. There were three new contacts and one was blue.

"Why not?" She hit the button to open a conversation with Glen, an electrician from Hempstead.

Hi

Hello Louise. I just saw our match pop up. How are you?

Well thanks. And you?

Yeah good. So have you been on the site long?

No, I joined yesterday.

That's good. I've been here about a month.

Made any friends yet?

A few promising options. Tell me about yourself.

Not much to tell. I'm a civil servant.

There must be more to you than just your work.

Barbara frowned. No, my work is my life. And Tommy, but was he work or something more? Tell me about your life, Glen.

They exchanged pleasantries for another fifteen minutes. It was hard work. Much harder than she had expected.

What are you looking for in a friendship, Louise?

I don't know. What do you want?

Someone I feel at ease with and can chat to. Don't take this the wrong way. I am sure you are a wonderful person, but this feels strained, almost like a police interrogation. We don't seem to be clicking. I'm sorry.

Don't be. That's okay. Have a good life.

You too. Take care.

The chat screen disappeared taking her hopes that she would ever find a friend. Barbara closed the lid of her laptop.

She waited two days before trying again. Barbara had one more blue match and several greens. She was reviewing Andrew's profile when a chat window opened. Jack, one of her orange matches, popped open.

Hello Louise.

Hiya

Are you up for an adventure?

Barbara groaned. Not really. What did you have in mind?

What's your favourite sex position?

"Really? You think that sort of line works?"

She was about to type a rude response when more words appeared. I thought you might be up for meeting by the river. We could do it doggie style with

Barbara slammed the lid of her PC down.

Unable to sleep, Barbara opened her computer. The Friendship setting seemed to attract creeps too. She changed her profile setting to Strictly Friendship. Instantly most of her matches disappeared. Interestingly Andrew was still a match. She finished perusing his profile that she had begun to read earlier. He was two years older than her, lived in London but travelled a lot for work as an insurance investigator, and liked dogs but could not own one because of his work. He sounded a little bit more interesting than the standard profiles she had read earlier that all said 'likes to read, likes to travel'.

She was contemplating contacting him tomorrow when his light turned green. He was online. "In for a penny, in for a pound."

Barbara promised herself that if Andrew was a creep, she was removing her profile.