Kari watched the waves rolling rhythmic along the sandy shoreline worn smooth by the receding high tide. Here and there, bits of broken shells and pieces of seaweed dotted the edge of the line of sand. An occasional gelatinous jellyfish added to the canvas. Kari was just stepping carefully through a large deposit of the invertebrates when she noticed a bit of familiar orange trapped just at the edge of the water. It was a poor starfish, destined to dry out and die slowly on the later to be scorching July sand. So intent on getting to the starfish, Kari neglected to watch where she was going and soon bumped into an early morning jogger.
"Umpf," Kari muttered at her blunder. "I'm sorry...."
Her voice trailed off then as she recognized the man she'd walked into.
"It's okay miss," The brunette male replied easily. "I'm Rob, but I think you already knew that, didn't you."
"No, ugh yeah," Kari stammered still not believing her eyes.
Before her stood WWE personality: Rob Van Dam. She'd followed the sports entertainment world for many years. There was no mistaking the one who was her main reason for tuning in to the Thursday night broadcast. For Kari, this was a dream come true. Then to her extreme mortification, she realized he'd been talking for the last minute and she'd not heard a word he'd said.
She managed to stutter out, "I'm sorry."
Rob replied with a low chuckle, his brown eyes sparkling richly, "Relax miss, I just was asking what your name was," He explained smiling.
"Oh, it's Kari," She responded quickly then added. "Kari Thomas, nice to meet you Rob."
"Well Kari, I have to ask," Rob stated next and inquired; "What were you staring at just then?"
"Excuse me?" Kari momentarily had forgotten.
"In the water," He filled in for her.
"Oh that," Kari remarked then looked down but small creature had vanished. "It's gone, it was a starfish. I guess it wasn't stranded after all."
"It was nice of you to try," Rob was compelled to comment.
"It's a futile effort really, but I can't help but try anyway," Kari mused more to herself, than at Rob.
"Hey, do you know a good place to get a full breakfast?" Rob asked suddenly.
"Sure," Kari smiled thoughtfully. "You could go to Marino's on Bay Avenue, they've got good food there. Anything you can imagine actually."
"Anything?" Rob repeated back to her. "Can you go along then? ...My treat?"
"Uh sure," Kari replied unable to come up with any reason objection to his request.
