The limo dropped us off at a very different location than the first one. Instead of being in a quiet section of town, like the restaurant, it was in the heart of the city. The brick building was surrounded by stores and restaurants and had a big neon sign in the front. The sign said, "City Sounds".   "Ooh! What place is this that you brought me to?" I asked.

  "This is the most popular club in town. They play live music, have a DJ and great cocktails too," he said. I was excited to go in but admit I was disappointed that he wasn't going to share more of his story. I did know some of it from flashbacks in the show, but not all of it. Plus, it was interesting to hear things from his perspective, which hasn't been seen before on "A Life's Journey" about his family's history. We were able to walk over to a table that I found out was reserved for him. It was relatively quiet at this point as it seemed like there was a break from the DJ or a live band. An attractive young man came over to our table and shook Kaleb's hand and pat him on the back. "Hi Kaleb! Is this the pretty woman you were telling me about?" he said. I blushed.

  "Hi Alex. Yes, it's Hope. I'm so glad you guys are able to meet each other. Hope, this is my good friend, Alex. We went to school together here in town and he owns this club."

  "This place looks amazing! It's nice to meet you." I said smiling. I went to shake his hand but Alex gave me a big hug. 

  Kaleb said to Alex quietly, "Is Rick here?" 

  I remembered that was the guy who his fiance cheated on him with. "Not yet, but the night is young. If he comes, I'll be sure to let you know. But, it's a Thursday, with his schedule he tends to come more on the weekends, but his schedule always changes, so who knows." I wondered if it was a good idea to be here then. I didn't want a repeat of the time we were in the diner together. 

  Kaleb noticed my worried expression and figured I was probably thinking about what happened with Rick and him at the diner. "Don't worry Hope. I wouldn't ruin our night like that. I had already told Alex to warn us if Rick is here and then we can leave before any confrontation happens," he said reassuringly.

  "Ok. Anyhow, do you know if there will be any live music soon?" I asked Alex.

  "Well, not tonight but our DJ will be back from his break soon and play some great dance music in probably 15 minutes," he said.

  "Great. That will give us enough time to get a drink and chat for a bit," I said cheerfully.  We walked to the bar and I decided to order the drink of the day, which was a strawberry mojito, which sounded very good. Kaleb got a beer and we went back to our table. 

  "I hope you don't mind that we don't talk about our conversation we had before. I rather do that in private," Kaleb said, reading my mind.

  "Of course. I understand. No problem."

  Kaleb told me about the history of this place and how they had one local band who became famous and have a single on the radio. When the music started, we sat the first one out but decided to dance after that. I was an okay dancer, nothing spectacular, but I could keep the beat. I wasn't sure though how Hope was. Luckily, it seemed like she was on the same level as I was, so I was relieved. We were dancing for a half an hour when I noticed Kaleb was staring at someone. I was nervous at first, because I thought it was Rick. "Is everything ok?" I asked nervously.

  "What? Yes, oh I just noticed my cousin, Evan. I was wondering if we should say hi." 

  I was wondering what he meant by that. "Uh, if you want to, I'm fine with that." He asked if we could walk outside because he wanted to tell me something private.

  "We get along well, but things were awkward when I decided not to work for my father's company and he did. He had this hope that we would work together along aside each other and help build the company to greater heights together. When I decided to go to the police force instead of working with him, he was very disappointed. It was supposed to be a secret initially, but Evan ran to tell my father, in hopes that he would stop me from becoming a cop. It didn't really work and I was angry at Evan for betraying my secret like that. We didn't talk much after that. When it was clearly obvious that I wasn't remaining at the company, my father wanted to bring in a successful executive from another company. He found this woman named Lara. He figured maybe she could be an enticement to me to stay at the company instead of becoming a police officer. She was very attractive, smart and sassy. My father knew it was just the type of woman I liked. I tried to date her but she didn't make herself available. I didn't realize it at the time, but she was working with my father as a part of a deal to advance her career and for my father to get me back at the company.  Then of all sudden she would change her tune and track me down by the academy and at the diner where she knew I'd hang out. I was confused about this sudden change of her behavior. I was taken in by her and didn't think much about it. Nothing though came of it beyond flirting except for one night she came to the bar where I was at and we started drinking and talking. Before I knew, I was taking her back to my place and we had sex that night. In the morning, she left early with a note for apologizing for being so forward and that this was just an one time thing. She ignored me after that until one day she came to me to tell me she was pregnant. I wasn't sure what to make of this. I hadn't even remembered that we had sex. I asked her for a paternity test because I didn't believe it was mine. It turned out the baby was mine. We became closer and started dating. It came out what my father was trying to do and she felt bad about it. She said that she went along with his plan but she never intended to seduce me to try to entice me back to the company as my father intended. She made me promise not to tell my father that I knew. I asked her if the pregnancy was part of the plan. She blanched when I said that and said that no, it was an accident. I was reluctant to believe her and we got in a fight. A day or two later, I found out she lost the baby. We didn't talk after that and neither did I give away her secret. I expected her to leave town but she didn't. A few months later she became involved with my cousin and that was very awkward for all of us. Eventually, though I got over it, as did they and my cousin and I became close again and I got along with Lara. My father finally seemed to accept that I was going to be a police officer and not part of the company. He decided he would groom my cousin to be the heir to the company with Lara by his side. However, when the whole thing went down with this case I had with the police force, my cousin worried that I would come back now that I was suspended from the force. I have no intention no matter what of going back. I'm not sure my cousin believes me."

  "Oh wow. I'm not sure what to tell you if you should say hi. Do you think it would start a confrontation?" I asked.

  "My cousin is worried about his image especially being the reluctant heir of the company, so he wouldn't start something, but it could be very awkward and all."

  "I'll take your lead in whatever you decide to do." 

  We walked back inside and we noticed that his cousin and Lara were sitting at a table together. They didn't look our way at all. So Kaleb decided to ignore them too. So we continued with our night. Finally, he said, "Let's get going. I was hoping it was okay to go back to your hotel?"

  I smiled and said, "I thought you'd never ask."

  I wanted to ask more about his parents in the limo on the way back to the hotel, but he thought it wasn't the most appropriate place. And when we got back, he started kissing me, I forgot that I even wanted to talk to him about it. When we got back to my room, he had flowers and champagne for us. It was wonderful. And after another romantic and steamy encounter with Kaleb, we decided to indulge in the champagne. We relaxed for a bit and I was about to ask him about the rest of the story, but I noticed he fell asleep.  I knew most of the story already. I did at least know the part of how his father gave him a difficult time about becoming a police officer and his plot with Lara. His father finally reluctantly accepted his decision by telling himself that he'd probably only do it for a bit to realize he really didn't want to be one after all. I know when Kaleb didn't give that up, his father tried to get Kaleb fired by tampering with his case. He almost succeeded but Kaleb and Vanessa worked together to find out the truth and his father was shown to be the mastermind behind the trouble with that case. I don't know about the whole scandal though. I know no more than any viewer of "A Life's Journey" knew. I felt like he was going to open himself up to me but decided to hold back at the end. I was very disappointed because I thought we were becoming close and that he trusted me and it didn't seem like that was really the case. Another part of me told myself that this wasn't real and I shouldn't really be concerned about what he thought about me because we weren't really a couple either. I wrestled with my thoughts for a while until I fell asleep and then woke up at home. 

  I got up and saw Esme staring at me. "That was some intense stuff in that episode. I'm sure we can figure out how that night ended". I realized she didn't see the scene with Kaleb and me, Hope in the hotel room. I wondered where the show ended. 

  "So where did the show end? There was more that you didn't see."

  "It ended just after he told the story about his cousin and Lara," she said.

  "Oh I see. I thought we'd find out what happened with Kaleb and that darned police case that got him suspended." 

  "I knew we wouldn't find out about that. The show likes to tease at revealing some drama, but they like to hold off."  For a moment, I had forgotten it was a show and not real life. 

  "I'm torn. I want him to tell me what's going on, but it doesn't matter because we aren't really a couple and next time will be the last time I see him." 

  "You're right. You're not a couple, so it's probably better he doesn't "tell" you personally. There's no need for you to get yourself all invested in that when you will never see each other again."

  "Thanks for reminding me!" I said harshly.

  "Sorry. I'm just trying to be realistic. I'm not trying to hurt your feelings." 

  "I know. I'm wondering if I made a mistake to go back into the show knowing that I could get myself really attached and have to deal with the fallout when it's over." 

  "You knew that would be a risk but we agreed that was a risk you wanted to take." 

  "I know. I wonder if it was worth it." 

  "Only you know the real answer to that. Anyhow, why don't we watch some silly YouTube videos to distract us and then we can go back to our chores."

  "Sounds good to me. Let's do that."