So far, the trip had been pure torture.

Well, she was probably exaggerating that, but it felt like it on so many levels in so many situations.

The drive down had gone smoothly. They never lacked for conversation, and they'd kept it pretty light. It had been easy to laugh during the drive when Lisa had needed to stop almost every half hour to use the bathroom. She had tried to limit her fluids without completely dehydrating herself, and she'd still needed to stop that often. That, in itself, had been challenging with the wide open spaces and lack of civilized towns. Jack had been a good sport about it, but she knew it was aggravating; it was aggravating her, but he hadn't said a word. Then, she'd looked ever so graceful trying to just about roll out of the car to get to the bathroom. They had originally planned to take Jack's truck, and she'd been excited to ride in it, but she could barely climb up into it, so they'd moved to her car.

So, she was miserable, but she was also 35 weeks pregnant, a day shy of 36 weeks, and she was totally miserable.

They'd finally arrived in town with Lisa starving again. She'd packed some sandwiches for the ride since they were traveling over lunch. That had ended up being a good decision, and Jack wasn't one for stopping at a lot of restaurants. He was a creature of habit and chuckled when she offered him turkey and Swiss or turkey and Swiss.

Once they'd arrived in town, both had spotted a local, upscale steakhouse, and that had been the perfect dinner choice for Lisa. Jack ordered a local ribeye, and Lisa ended up with another delicious burger. She couldn't get enough of them, and it was quite funny to her. Most other things didn't even sound very good to her, but something about a juicy, medium-rare burger was just perfect.

So, not all of it had been torture. Dinner had gone well. They'd eaten early because both were exhausted from the trip down and well, for Lisa just being so extremely pregnant and uncomfortable.

The torture was back now, with yes, still needing to use the bathroom constantly all night, but also in the current situation. Their "situation" was so complex and probably a mystery to both, but it was a comfort to be around Jack; she did love him, but trying to explain to others that love wasn't enough, she had trouble doing that. She'd tried to explain to her Aunt Evelyn, who after a couple months off the grid, had called her just the other day to see how the pregnancy was going. Evelyn was an odd bird; she popped up all around the world, traveling and enjoying life, but she did love Lisa like her own, which was still so wonderful with her own parents already deceased. Evelyn was in Papua New Guinea, about as far removed from civilization as could be, with limited everything. She'd called just that once, and Lisa didn't know when she'd call again or from where that might be. Evelyn had been concerned about Lisa and simply didn't understand the mess with Jack. Saying they weren't together, but that he was so very wonderful and helpful, Evelyn didn't get it. Lisa wasn't sure she did all the time either.

Even with things the way they were or weren't, Lisa very much enjoyed being around Jack. When she'd booked a lakeview room at the nicest place in Whitefish, she had been put on the cancellation list first; nothing was available, which was no surprise. This auction was big and drawing in some of the biggest and best in the industry, herself included. People in her work circle all enjoyed luxurious, yet quaint hotels as this one was. She'd simply waited too long to book, and really, she wasn't interested in staying anywhere else. She loved this place when she came to town. It had an on-sight restaurant she planned to eat at tomorrow, a gorgeous outdoor seating area, walking paths down to the lake, and just a beautiful sunset view of the lake. Thankfully, a few days ago, a room had opened up, and she'd been promised it had two beds. The torture was partly in that, the room, in fact, had one king bed. Fine, whatever. It wasn't an issue. Jack had looked tired, dragging their things to the room and then, falling into a dead sleep while she'd gotten a shower. Now, she was going through another level of torture because his snoring was on a new level. He snored like this when he was exhausted, and until he'd shown her the loft and the baby's cradle, she hadn't realized just how exhausted he was too. Based on his snoring, he was beyond exhausted.

They were both carrying a lot on their shoulders, and while they were talking a lot, they weren't necessarily talking about thoughts closest to their hearts.

Lisa threw back the covers and rolled herself out of bed to the thermostat. Thankfully, the room had air conditioning, something a lot of places in this part of North America did not have. She was roasting, and she knew it was due to the baby. Lisa turned it down to the lowest setting 62 degrees, and she used the bathroom one more time before trying to get some sleep. She so badly wanted to pinch Jack's nose about the snoring, but she was very appreciative of all he'd been doing for her and hoped that at least one of them got some rest.

As she started to drift off, her mind started to wander, and she groaned, realizing that if Jack had fallen asleep that fast and that early, he'd probably be up before dawn, and he wasn't a quiet person moving about. Her short night of sleep might be even shorter, but what was it to her anyway? She'd probably have to use the bathroom anyway, would likely be hungry, so maybe they'd just have a very early breakfast watching the sun come up over the mountains.

She couldn't even read. She'd left her reading glasses in her car where she'd used them a few times to check the map in places where even the GPS had gone out due to the remote areas. Plus, Jack hated that GPS, and she knew it, so she'd tried to appease him with the maps. Now, though, she could really use those reading glasses and didn't know where Jack had put his.

Before she fell into any deep sleep, though, Lisa now needed antacids. That had been another joyful thing to add to her pregnancy annoyances, that she had heartburn all the time. She first thought it was from the burgers, and she'd cut those out for almost a week, but the heartburn had been just as bad, whether she was having a salad, turkey sandwich, or a burger. So, the burgers had been reinstated to her menu, thankfully.

Bathroom trip done. Antacids taken. Jack still snoring like a wild animal…

Torture. Pure torture from the now, two males, in her life.