That first evening in the hotel room with Jackson had gone reasonably well. Lisa was scared to have to share a bed with him, but he was polite and stayed as close to the edge as he could when they got into bed. She just wished that could be said for the position they woke up in the next morning. Jackson had moved to the middle of the bed during the night. Lisa had done the same. Lisa had her left arm draped over his chest. He in turn had his right hand entangled in her hair, like a kitten gently playing with a ball of yarn. Lisa woke up when Jack moved his hand and her hair moved as well. When she opened her eyes and realized the situation they were in, she inhaled sharply and suddenly removed her arm from across his chest. These actions caused Jackson to stir and wake up. He was surprised to see Lisa less than two inches away from him. He did sense her discomfort and confusion though. She seemed so shocked that she was paralyzed, so he quickly got up out of bed, which caused him to have a head rush, and headed for the shower. This left Lisa staring at the empty spot right beside her where another body had kept her warm for most of the night. She simply laid there as her mind tried to register how much she enjoyed being warmed by him.

After a few minutes, she got up to order something to eat while Jackson was in the shower. She ordered two fruit plates, one for herself and one for him. She hoped that he liked fruit. There was a knock on the door about ten minutes later. Lisa knew it was the bellboy with their food, so she had to strap her bump on to keep up appearances. It took her a minute, but the bellboy just waited patiently outside. She opened the door and the young man wheeled in the food.

"How are you today?"

Lisa smiled brightly at him.

"Very good, thank you. Oh, I'm so glad you came just now. I am so hungry."

The man looked down at her bulging stomach.

"I would expect so since you're eating for two!"

They both let out a little chuckle. Lisa actually forgot that pregnant women were eating for two. She was just really hungry, since she didn't have a snack last night when Jackson offered her one.

Lisa paid the bellboy the money for the food and gave him a ten dollar tip, since the hotel was a nice and expensive one, or at least she thought so. Just as the young man thanked her and closed the door, Jackson came out of the shower in a towel that only wrapped around his waist and covered only down to his knees. Lisa tried to look as disgusted as she could because she was disgusted, but was also surprised at how fit Jackson was. He had a nice upper body that you couldn't even catch a glimpse of behind his somewhat baggy dress shirts.

"Ugh! Couldn't you find a bigger towel?"

Lisa covered her eyes with her left hand, but like a child, left a tiny gap between her middle finger and her ring finger so she could see out. Jackson simply laughed at her actions.

"Come on, you know you're checking me out, right?"

Lisa scoffed as he continued to laugh.

"I could have, but I figured I'd better save the big towels for you, since women normally like to have two towels, one for their hair and one for their body."

Lisa merely hummed at him, although she was impressed that he knew that.

"So…where did you learn that little tidbit?"

Jack turned around so she could only see his back.

"I learned that from an ex-girlfriend."

Lisa didn't look shocked or surprised because she had figured as much. Now she didn't want to pry, but she was interested in what had caused them to break up.

"What happened to her?

Jackson let out a big sigh and turned around. Lisa could see that his eyes were full of pain.

"We broke up…"

Lisa averted her eyes to a spot on the wall.

"Oh…"

Lisa could hear Jackson struggling for words.

"Well…we…didn't…really…we had…a…"

She truly felt bad for him at that moment.

"It's okay Jack, you don't have to tell me."

He stayed quiet for a moment, pondering over what she had just said.

"Well, I think I should tell you what happened since you told me your sob story last year. It'll also explain why I react the way I do in certain situations. So, don't interrupt me and I'll tell you the whole story, but please, wait to ask questions until after."

Lisa nodded. Jack perched himself on the end of the bed across from Lisa, who was sitting in a dining room chair at the table, eating her fruit.

"Her name was Cathy. We met in the "business," if you know what I mean."

Lisa just nodded lightly as Jackson did the air quotation marks.

"We dated for four months with fun dates to the movies, the opera, and dinner dates. By five months, we were planning on moving in together. She had an assignment to do for "work" that day, but promised she would start moving her stuff in after she was done."

Jackson let out a nervous chuckle and put his head in his hands.

"It turns out the job was a trap set up by another company. She was raped...beaten...and then...shot in the heart twice with a forty-five calibre gun. They never caught the bastard who did it, we never moved in together, never got married, never had kids, end of story, and the end of my good life!"

Jackson stood up quickly and grabbed his clothes. In a huff he walked to the bathroom and slammed the door. Lisa jumped at the noise. She even shook slightly because what Jackson said put disturbing pictures in her mind. She also didn't realize what an emotional wreck he really was. He, like her, had had a traumatic experience. She now understood why he had said, "You realized it was beyond your control," when she told him that she had been raped. He said that to comfort himself more than her. He used it as a reminder to keep himself remembering that Cathy's death was out of his hands and there was nothing he could have done. Although Lisa didn't like being here with Jackson and would rather have been safe at home with her family and friends, she liked that she kept learning more and more about Jackson Ripner; most importantly that he was an actual human being.