Your Time

Chapter 36

Ben and Billie were both over at a friend's house while Adam, Emma, and their parents watched a movie. They were once again watching Star Wars, the third time this week. But as Harrison always said, 'you can never watch Star Wars too many times.'

They were watching Rogue One, Emma's favorite movie. The kids lay on the floor next to their father who was sitting up. That gave Carrie and Leia the whole couch. Carrie sat with one arm rested on Leia's back and her feet on her husband's shoulders where he'd been massaging them for the entire movie.

Once the movie was over, Adam turned to his dad and asked, "wanna arm wrestle?"

The last few weeks, their oldest son had been obsessed with trying to beat his father at arm wrestling ever since they had a competition in school which he'd won.

"Come on dad. Please?"

Adam still hadn't beaten his father yet.

"Oh alright."

Harrison met Adam at the coffee table where they each took opposing sides. Carrie and Emma followed the boys over. "Arms up," she told them.

They both placed their elbows on the wooden table. When they gripped each other's hands, Carrie asked, "any bets?"

The first few times Adam and Harrison went at it, Adam lost $50 to his father. "No mom."

"Harrison?"

"Nope."

"Okay."

She held their hands together, counting down from three. "Three, two, one." At one, she released their hands and they began.

Adam made a little progress on his dad at first, but was quickly brought back to the starting position. A few seconds later, his hand was halfway to the coffee table. Then they all heard the thud as it hit.

"How many times is that?" Harrison asked.

Adam sighed. "Twenty one."

"Adam move over."

He did. Now Carrie sat across from Harrison. "My turn."

"Alright sweetheart."

They laced their hands together and after Adam's countdown, tried to push each other's hand towards the table.

For the first few moments, neither of them made any progress. He wasn't moving her and she wasn't moving him. At first, Carrie thought he was just teasing her by not trying to crush her right away. But as a few more moments went by, she realized he was struggling. Harrison, the linebacker, was struggling.

After a minute of the two of them being locked at the starting position, she made some progress. It was only a few inches, but it was progress against him. By the look on his face, she could see he was really struggling. And it made her smile. He wasn't letting her beat him.

"Let's see what you got hotshot."

He looked at her before moving their hands an inch back the other direction. "You're kicking my butt Carrie."

As he took a deep breath, she made major progress. Carrie was only a few inches away from beating him.

"Come on mom!" The kids encouraged. "You can do it!"

Harrison found a new strength inside him, moving their hands all the way to the other side, so hers was only a few inches from touching the table.

"Damn you."

He smiled.

As Carrie fought hard, to keep herself from being beaten, she slowly turned the tide in her favor, moving their hands back to the starting position. He was giving it his all to go the other way, but she was beating him.

Very slowly, Carrie moved his hand toward the table until it hit with a thud. "Now who's talking?" She teased, wiping her hand off on her shorts.

Harrison did the same. "Good job."

"The win streak is over."

"It sure is."

After seeing his mom beat his dad at arm wrestling, Adam challenged Carrie, who beat him in less than a few seconds.

"Really mom?"

She laughed. "You asked for it."

•••

Later that evening, Harrison and Carrie were laying on the floor as all the kids laid on the couch watching yet again another Star Wars movie. He slipped his fingers under her tank top, tickling her sides.

"Harry stop!" Carrie protested with a giggle. "It tickles."

He put an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. "You like it."

"No it tickles."

From experience, Harrison knew that her sides were the most ticklish. And he would repeatedly take advantage of that. "Harrison stop it."

"No."

Carrie grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands out from under her tank top. "And this kind of touching does not need to be happening right now. That's for later. At night. When the kids are asleep.

He gave her that lopsided grin. As she pushed his arms away, he pushed back, rolling her over onto her side. When she sat up and pushed at his chest again, he grabbed her wrist and flipped her on her back.

"Wanna wrestle?"

"Let's go since we're already at it."

Harrison started out with the advantage since she was already on her back. But Carrie was able to push him off so they could both regroup. When he sat up, she crawled over, wrapping her arms around his waist and attempting to tackle him on his back. But he caught her legs and flipped her onto her side.

"Harry!"

She was pinned. His arms held hers down and his body weight was enough to keep her from rolling out from underneath him. "Looks like I win this one."

"Not yet."

Carrie somehow was able to push him off with her foot. They were back to how they started. He came at her this time, lightly tackling her by wrapping one of his arms around her leg and the other around her waist. It was an NFL tackle.

But his momentum took him too far, as he rolled over her. With the roll, she somehow ended up laying on top of him. Carrie used her legs to pin his down and grabbed both his wrists with her hands and pinned them down until he couldn't move.

"Looks like I win this one as well."

Harrison playfully rolled his eyes before kissing her.