Ray decided to let the question surrounding his altruism fall by the wayside. It was something he'd rather not talk about so much as maybe reflect upon another time. So when she gave him an out of the conversation, Ray was more than happy to take it. "Me too," he agreed.
Patty took his hand, which surprised him, and her sudden excitement caught him off guard and happened to be more than a little contagious. Ray's grin grew and he moved with her when she started to pull him down the beach. Once she let go, Ray slowed his pace, but kept walking to continue closing the gap between them, curious to see what she had to show him.
His eyebrows raised and there was a fascinated light in his eyes as she held it out to him. "Oh, wow," he breathed, looking up at her for a second before looking back down at the starfish, reaching out with a tentative hand — he wanted to touch it, but he didn't want to hurt it — and running a finger down one of the legs. "This is so cool, I've never seen one in real life!"