For disclaimer--- see first chapter…thanks
"Well there's no use dwelling on it," Rob quipped out loud to no one in particular. "Gotta move on and put her out of my mind."
But that was something that proved to be quite difficult as the few wonderful memories of her that he possessed kept replaying in his mind. The taste of her soft lips on his haunted him until finally it was time to go to the autograph signing. Soon, Rob was so focused on signing pictures that the thoughts of Kari were mercifully banished from his mind. Or so he thought....
"Hey," A young female admirer in front of him complained; "I said my name is spelled C-A-R-R-I-E, you spelled it wrong."
Rob blinked up at the pimply-faced teenager in confusion then looked down at the photo. Sure enough, a quick glance confirmed that he had indeed spelled her name wrong...that he'd addressed it to K-A-R-I.
'So much for putting her out of my mind,' Rob thought as he pulled another photo of the stack.
As he concentrated on spelling the young fan's namely correctly, he got an odd sensation of being watched. Looking over his shoulder towards the nearby parking lot, Rob saw a familiar figure walked hurriedly towards a black Jeep.
"Kari," He breathed.
"What?" The teen reacted and popped her gum loudly.
Rob realized he'd spoken out loud then so he covered quickly and thrust the picture back into her brightly manicured hands, "I said here you go Carrie."
"Be right back," Rob addressed the next person in line.
As the young fan returned to her gaggle of friends by the concession, Rob rushed off in the direction of the parking lot.
"Kari wait!" Rob called out when he came within earshot.
Unfortunately, she'd already shut the door and was pulling out of the lot quickly. Rob's shoulders slumped over dejectedly as he watched the vehicle disappear from sight. Knowing it was futile, he then returned to the signing table where he worked for another hour. Finally, it was time to go and Rob returned to the motel not really in the mood to do anything else that day...
Later that night across town, Kari was having difficulty falling to sleep. She kept seeing him every time she closed her eyes. She had a sick feeling in the pit of her soul that she'd given up a chance at something wonderful. Tossing and turning, she got little rest during the night that seemed to last forever....
Rob stared blankly at the television set, his eyes burning from lack of sleep. He'd had none that night and wondered how he was going to get through the three hour signing session scheduled for the next afternoon. The time was 4:03 am the last time he'd checked.
'Man, it's going to be a long day today if the signing gets rained out,' Rob thought as he listening to the driving rain outside. Now if he could only get some rest...
Shortly before seven, Rob abandoned his attempts at slumber and headed for the shower. As the warm water poured down on him, he had a moment of sharp realization. He would not get any rest until this thing with Kari had been resolved. He was going to find her and persuade her to give it a try. He wouldn't take no for an answer. After pulling his soft brown locks back into his characteristic ponytail, he grabbed his keys and headed for the door. Pulling the door upon, Rob was shocked and amazed as he saw Kari standing there.
