Joy Slaughter's Blog

As Crossing the Line has soared in the charts, I've had so many people ask when more of the story will be available. So here's what's next for Barrington County!

1) AUDIOBOOK

I am currently recording the audiobook for Crossing the Line. I hope to have this completed very soon, and I think this will open up Barrington to an entirely new audience. I can't wait to meet all the new friends!

2) PREQUEL

In order to tell the rest of the story, we need to backtrack a bit and learn more about Martin's story and his relationship with Megan. It has been hinted at in Crossing the Line but never fully explained. Keep tabs here for more information. Title coming soon!

3) SEQUEL

This is what everyone is waiting for, right? This book will resolve the story for Nathan and Megan...and Martin, too. I have no timeline on these because of my current work on the Gavony series, but I hope to get to them soon.

Did I miss anything? What would you like to see?

Crossing the Line

NEW COVER! Now available on Amazon!

Hardcover coming soon!

FREEEEEE!

Enter to win a free copy of 'Crossing the Line'!
Use this link or go to the giveaway pages and look under "romance."

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/en...

And now with the book finished, I want to turn to the title.

Admittedly, if I could go back, I would call it something else. There are TON of books called “Crossing the Line,” and this one gets lost in the slush.

But I chose the title for the many layers of meaning it held, and this has been the working title since the beginning.

-Megan’s behavior toward Nathan over his leg crosses the line of polite society from the very beginning.

-Martin’s behavior toward Megan crosses the line of professionalism.

-Todd’s behavior toward Megan crosses the line of decency.

-When Megan confronts Todd, she is crossing the thin blue line.

-Megan’s and Nathan’s relationship crosses the line of marital fidelity.

-Sam’s behavior crosses the line of ethics.

There is some refusal to cross lines, but these are associated with healthful ideas:

-Martin refuses to cross the line of romance toward Megan again.

-Megan refuses to cross the line of sacrifice.

-Nathan refuses to cross the line of unhealthy relationship practices.

And there is the literal crossing of lines:

-Nathan crosses the line of safety when he travels outside the wire in Afghanistan.

-Megan crosses from one high-angle line to another when she is picked off by Nathan on the wall.

-The fire squirrels cross Martin’s line, to which he shouts, “Get off my line!”

So the title stuck. If given the chance, I’m not sure what I’d name it instead.

What do you think would be a good one?

Megan has grown into her new self. She is attending college, focusing on her own growth. She has learned her limits and become aware of her own weaknesses and how to work with strength around them. She has cut her hair (always highly symbolic of great change, lol).

Just as Nathan reached a place of health, she is now there, too. That is solid ground for a great relationship.

They meet once more in the context of high-angle rescue, and here the reader sees the culmination of the prusik knot motif that has run throughout the entire story.

We first see knots mentioned in Afghanistan:

_________________

‘Thompson shrugged but made no move to stand. “I was gonna buy a ring when I got stateside.”

“You’ve got more life to live before you tie the knot, man.”’

_________________

This establishes a solid goal for Nathan: he wants to “tie the knot” and marry a loyal girl.

The next time we see this theme is on the training wall. The high-angle rescue practice was the means of showing Megan’s and Nathan’s first ties to each other (

On page 71, the knots return:

_________________

‘Cool air washed over Nathan’s face as he walked into the EMS room from the humid truck bay. Megan, with brow furrowed, sat at the table with a rope, a carabiner, and a length of Prusik cord.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Trying to tie knots and questioning my career choice.”

_________________

Here we see Megan’s attempt to tie knots (note the plural) is deeply tied to her emotional state, confidence, competence, her career, and her relationships.

_________________He chuckled. “It can’t be that bad.”

She dropped the ropes, and the carabiner clattered across the table. “It’s pretty bad. I just want to be able to tie a good knot.”

_________________

Yes, her situation was bad. The abuse has not been revealed yet. Her confidence is a wreck, and she needs training in many areas.

But we see her goal: she wants to be able to tie a good knot in each of these areas. She wants to be free, to grow, and to have a solid relationship.

_________________

“You did fine on Monday,” he said, picking up the rope and wrapping it around his hand._________________

Here he demonstrates his ability, not only with ropes, but to support her and lead her through the process of growth.

_________________She leaned her chin on her palm. “I didn’t have to tie any fancy knots, now did I?”

“Exactly.” He finished a stopper knot and dropped it to the table. “You don’t need fancy knots. When would you ever use them?”

_________________

We will see through the story that it’s not flashy moment of rescue that build strength, character, and confidence. It is slow growth. Learning the basics. Becoming self-aware and holding to personal values.

_________________

“What if. What if. What if,” she said. “I can think of a million things that could go wrong on the side of a mountain.”

_________________

And there you have it. The final scene has been foreshadowed from the beginning.

Throughout the book, we see Megan play with the Prusik cord in her pocket. It is always associated with an agitated state, whether flashbacks, anger, fear, or new thoughts she had never considered before. Her ropes are a place of safety.

She is persistent. Tying, tying. Trying, trying again. As we see her grow as an individual, we can assume she also grows in rope tying skills.

Finally, on the side of the mountain, her harness breaks. Just as she rescued herself from her marriage and her situation, she uses her trusty Prusik to save herself.

This is no story of a knight in shining armor (though he is there). This is a story of deep and gritty growth where the damsel in distress must pick up her sword and act.

But the Prusik isn’t finished there. We learn that Todd was the one who put her in danger on the cliff, and when he tries again, she uses the Prusik cord and steel rescue 8 fitting to fight him off. Her own rescue, her own skills. And for final triumph, she binds him with the Prusik and says, “I may do many things wrong, but I can tie a damn knot!” Success.

And then the prize. Nathan arrives at her side, and all is well.

The knot motif is one of my favorite aspects of this book. When the book was first released, each book came with a bookmark made of narrow Prusik cord. It was a nice touch.

The final chapter shows the high-angle team at work. Specialized rescue teams are common throughout the US, though organization style varies widely.

Some types include:

Extrication (

Search and Rescue

Dive

High-Angle

Cave

Wilderness

Beach/Marine

Hazardous Materials

Infection

Vehicle

Confined Space

Technical

Swift Water

Urban

Silo/Grain

Yeah, there are a lot.

Local Emergency Medical Agencies analyze a region’s particular risks and work together on training and funding. These teams are often staffed by individuals from multiple agencies (like we see in “Crossing the Line”) and funded by all of the areas they serve—a situation called mutual aid. This set-up makes specialized teams more accessible for a wider geographical area, but it does mean that response times are often long which can change the goal from rescue to recovery.

There are many volunteer opportunities—some require minimal training. Contact your local EMA or Red Cross if you are interested in helping.

Megan stared. The red drops on her skin, her pants, the carpet, blurred and sharpened and blurred again. “How much blood can I lose?”

When Megan accidently cuts herself on the glass from the broken vase, she asks this question. Though Todd listens to her words, she is really asking a different question.

“How much am I supposed to give to a relationship?”

This question doesn’t have an easy, pat answer. Some die for the people they love. Some choose to live difficult lives caring for disabled or ill partners. But is draining away slowly always appropriate? Right? Expected? In a patriarchal society, we can also recognize that women/femmes are socialized to give more. Where is the line? At what point does sacrifice change from heroic to self-sabotage?

Questions and considerations like this keep many people in abusive relationships. Like Megan says, “It would vary. From person to person.” Each of us struggles with how much to give before we call an end to something, whether that’s a relationship or a job or even just a conversation.

When it comes to decision making around difficult to define problems, talking with someone–a friend, elder, religious leader, philosophical counselor, or therapist, for example–can be helpful. Digging into which values you hold dear, and in what level of priority, can help build clarity, and clarity, in turn, can lend strength.

Megan finally understands that she is free of Todd. Her choice has been made.

But the action of leaving is the most dangerous moment of an abusive relationship.

“I can’t keep doing this. I can’t just work with you. I can’t see you in passing when we clock in, and I certainly can’t keep working 24 with you.” He brushed a stray hair out of her face. “Megan, I love you. I’m not aiming for second place. If we can’t be together, then I need to cut ties and move on. You’ve resigned from Retton County, and they said I could go full time. I can work there and not see you.”

And with that line, we finally see someone with some healthy boundaries!

“I can’t keep doing this.”

Nathan recognizes red flags with himself–things that make him uncomfortable.

To set boundaries, we don’t need to hyper fixate on the behavior of others and how they violate rules or norms. Instead, we can look within to our own levels of comfort. If we are uncomfortable, then oftentimes a boundary has been crossed.

“If we can’t be together, then I need to cut ties and move on.”

Nathan is ready to make a change to support himself.

Boundaries are set for our OWN behavior—Nathan demands nothing of her. Though they may be in reaction to someone else (such as Megan’s wishy washy nature), boundaries are set by our own decisions and actions. It’s not “I have a boundary so YOU can’t [insert violating action],” rather, it’s “I have a boundary. If you [insert action], then I will respond by [insert self-supporting action].”

His words are an ultimatum of sorts. Either she goes with him or with Todd, but he is not waiting around anymore. As he answers the radio for the next call and walks away, we symbolically see that he means what he just said–he is leaving. He has grown through this experience into a stronger way of being that supports himself.

Setting boundaries is an important part of self-care, one that Megan has yet to learn. Self-care is not only bubble baths, chocolate, and escaping with a good book–it’s a radical undertaking to create a life that you escape from by choice and not from necessity.

Megan’s stress level is now interfering with her job performance. She fails to recognize a diabetic crisis in a patient who then ends up in hyperosmolar hyperglycemia (HHS) or “high blood sugar.” In fact, it’s so high, the machine cannot even read it. This condition causes the patient to drive on the opposite side of the road and wreck his car. Megan is shocked, but even then, she has tunnel vision on scene and only sees him…and does not recognize the presence of another patient.

One problem with HHS is that there is very little she can do in the ambulance besides start an IV. She begs medical control for some further treatment…but there’s nothing to do. He will need an ICU stay to stabilize again. She is left to worry over her mistakes.

Reporting mistakes is a touchy subject in medicine. On one hand, they are very serious and can lead to loss of life, yet if they are punished too harshly, they will be hidden and never addressed.

This is where the concept of Just Culture comes into play. This is a quality improvement program that helps build an organization that addresses mistakes in full awareness of systemic issues rather than only individual failures. It allows for the humanity of individuals and takes intent into account.

Healthcare organizations that incorporate Just Culture allow their employees to come forward, address mistakes, and work for an answer that will prevent problems in the future. It works for growth–not punishment.

Many EMS services do not have robust quality assurance/improvement programs, let alone Just Culture. From Megan’s actions and Nathan’s sidestepping of the problem, we can see that Barrington County is one of those services.

One of the difficult things to explain about abusive relationships is that of “crazymaking.” This is a type of blame shifting and gas lighting that abusive partners do that makes the survivor doubt themselves, question themselves, or wonder about their own sanity.

https://www.lifehack.org/.../ten-examples-crazy-making...

This article mentions 10 ways abusive partners accomplish this:

1. When your partner convinces you that something happened when it didn’t (or vice versa)

2. Passive-aggressive behavior

3. Everything is somehow your fault

4. Projection

5. Non-verbal body language sends a dismissive message

6. Making you doubt your perceptions

7. Hypocritical behavior

8. It’s all about control

9. Subtle brain-washing

10. Setting you up to fail

Pages 282-284 are nearly a full expression of this list. The reader now sees clearly that the tumor did not fully explain Todd’s behavior, if it did at all. Perhaps the habits are too deeply learned or perhaps the tumor never affected him in that way at all.

Like many people in these relationships, Megan has trouble seeing his behavior for what it is. Her concept of what is occurring and the ideals she is believing in do not align with reality. Nathan and Martin discuss the issue. Once more, we see the deep regard Martin has for her, a consideration so strong that he is reluctant to step back and admit that Megan prefers Nathan over him. Martin, like Sam, encourages Nathan to trust Megan to do what’s best for her.

He knows that true change cannot be imposed and must come from her.