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I would be without the city and it scares me to think of a life without the city.
    I don’t even know if I could live without the city…
    “Ella, life is about chances.  You have to take your chances.”
    I shrug my shoulders to Kate’s statement without answering and walk out of the apartment into the fresh tropical air, leaving the girls behind.
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 11
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    The girls don’t push the point any further and after a morning relaxing in the comfort of a day spa, the beach captures our attention for the rest of the day.  Its soft golden sand dances between our toes and we float gently along in the fresh breeze. 
    I feel free next to the water. 
    Listening to the waves gently push into the beach, I feel calm.  The calm rhythms of the beach remind me that there is so much more to life than just putting my head down and working hard.  There is a whole world out there that I have forgotten about.
    The afternoon disappears as we laze on the beach under the tropical sun.
    “I think you need to look down the beach,” Mel mumbles under her breath.
    My eyes look up from my book and I see a broad figure walking confidently down the beach. 
    It is not a figure I can mistake.  The silhouette is large and muscular, framed by the afternoon sun.  It takes my breath away.
    I try to hide under my book and avoid eye contact with the man that I was intimate with last night.  But he knows I’m here.
    I feel his presence walk up the beach towards me as I remain laying on my towel.
    “Hi,” he states in his deep voice.
    “Hi,” I manage to respond to him this time.
    “Hi,” Kate smiles, “And bye.”
    Kate stands from her resting place on the beach, gives me wink and nods to Mel.  They quietly walk away from where we are sitting, leaving us alone.
    I stand to face Clarke.
    “I meant what I said last night,” Clarke starts the conversation directly.
    “What was that?” I ask, but I already know the answer.
    “I want you to stay on the island with me.”
    “No, I can’t.  Sorry, Clarke but the city needs me.”
    “The city doesn’t need you.  It will only churn you up and spit you out the other side.  This island needs your beauty.  This island would appreciate you.”
    Clarke is right.  The city doesn’t need me.
    But I need it. 
    I’m not sure who I am without work and I am afraid that Clarke will discover who I really am.
    “I need you,” he continues, “I need you here.  When you were next to me last night, I have never felt so amazing.  I was complete.  Leave the city behind.  Stay with me.”
    “I can’t,” I struggle to resist his amazing charm.
    “Give me one good reason why you cannot,” he states strongly.
    “I can’t stay because you’re not the man I want,” the words fall out of my mouth and I am not convinced that they are true.
    “Not the man you want?  And who is the man you want?”
    “I don’t know.  I haven’t met him yet but I know that he is not a man living on an island.  The man I want will own half the city.  He will be successful in the stress of New York.”
    That is a lie, but I am trying to convince myself not to stay.
    “Success in the city doesn’t mean anything in the end.  Anyone can be successful in the city.”
    “That’s not true.  It’s hard work to succeed in the real world.  You wouldn’t know what it takes to be successful in the real world,” I defend my city.
    “It’s not the real world.  Surviving in the rat race is not how we are supposed to live our lives.  Out here is the real world.  Look around you – nothing could be more real than this.”
    “That is spoken like someone who has never experienced the world that I live in.  The city is a part of me and I can’t date someone that doesn’t understand me.”
    He looks to the ground dejected.
    “I’m sorry Clarke.  But we are not right for each other.  I cannot live with your lifestyle.”
    For the third time, I walk