“Carla,” Becca says to me, putting her arms up to her waist. “You know I love ya babe, but I can’t keep doing this.”

We’re on the N train and we’ve just left the last Manhattan stop.

Where are we going?

Brooklyn, baby.

“I can’t keep going to Barclay’s Arena to see Chase with you, hun,” Becca pouts. “Not when I work for Madison Square Garden. I dunno, it feels faintly like I’m betraying them.”

I roll my eyes. I mean I work for Madison Square Garden too!

“Besides, you know I had a date tonight. Next time you need to go to Brooklyn and you don’t wanna go by yourself, can you like take Ashley or something?”

I sigh. She’s got a point. I’ve been taking Becca a bit too many times to go see Chase for his rodeo at Barclay’s Arena.

But who knew it would be such a hit? That New Yorkers would embrace the rodeo the same way they embrace their thin crust pizza, their Pabst Blue Ribbon, and their buffalo wings?

Not me. I’m still a city girl, despite whatever you want to say. Sure, I’m riding a cowboy. But there’s hope for Chase yet.

“Well, Ashley is always so busy doing that whole fashion thing at Blush,” I tell Becca. “Natalie has her St. Albans press secretary job. Alicia is getting married soon. Christine has school like always. Lisa - who knows what her and Diesel are up to, probably robbing a Polo store or something.

Becca sighs.

“That just leaves you and me for now, babe,” I finish with a smile. But then I feel bad. I mean, it wasn’t long ago that I was complaining about the lack of men in New York. I try to empathize. “Hows it with this guy anyways?”

Becca shrugs. “I think he’s good. I mean it’s been a solid month we’ve been going out. And I think he’s not as busy now that he’s working at Carter Jeffries, but you know those investment bankers.”

I roll my eyes. Do I ever. I’m so glad that my man isn’t a banker. That his money comes from something real. Not figures on a spreadsheet.

“Plus I start this assignment soon going to Connecticut. So I think I’m going to be a lot more busy.”

Becca has a far off look in her eyes and I wonder what she’s thinking.

“You okay, babe?” I ask, not sure about whether she’s happy or sad.

She nods. “I’m fine,” she says. “I’m happy for you. But I wonder when I’m gonna find me a cowboy.”

“Grady?” I ask, referring to her recent guy. “He’s not hitting the spots?”

“He’s everything you think a banker would be,” she says to me. “And life is good.”

“But?” I ask, knowing that’s not the end of it.

“It’s just so…boring,” she tells me. “I’m just so bored.”

I nod. Becca has seen a lot. She’s done a lot. I can imagine that she’d be bored.

“But enough about me,” she says to me and her smile comes back. “Are you excited about tonight?”

I nod my head and smile. “Chase and I are looking at apartments tomorrow,” I tell her. “He wants to look at Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope.”

“Oh God,” Becca winces. “So not only do you have a man that’s Mr. Brooklyn for work, but now you gotta live there too?”

Oh my God.

“Brooklyn is awesome, babe,” I tell Becca.

“Carla Roman, you are a total Manhattan slut. How are you going to do Park Slope?” Becca asks me. “That’s too much of a settling down for you.”

“Well,” I tell Becca. “We’re actually looking for an apartment that we can settle down in, babe.”

Becca bugs her eyes out at me. “Settle down?” she asks me. “Like you mean, for good?”

At the back of brain, I bet Becca didn’t think Chase and I would last. I mean, he’s a cowboy. He goes places. On a horse.

But he’s actually so much more than that. So kind. So gentle. So…big.

“We love each other,” I say, and smile. “We want to spend our lives together.”

Becca stares at me for a moment. “I mean, I guess I could visit you in Brooklyn, if cabs take me or whatever.”

I smile and get an overwhelming desire to hug my friend.

“We can go to Barcade and have coffee beers and play Pac Man,” I tell Becca. “And we can go to Carrol Gardens and Williamsburg and have pizza at…”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re just gonna have lots of sex for like so long and then you guys are gonna spit out some rugrats and push strollers around Park Slope,” Becca says to me.

“But Chase will still have a cowboy hat,” I say with a smile.

Becca smiles at me. “He will. That’s for sure.”

We stare at each other for a long moment. I know what we’re thinking. Chase has become a large part of my life. I still love Becca. I still love my friends. We will still hang out. But a large part of my life has changed.

Forever.

It’s nothing to be sad over. It’s the way life goes.

I’ve met my lobster. My hero. My best friend. My lover.

And I couldn’t be happier.

;)